How do you display your merch?

natehusky · December 05, 2012, 04:37:26 PM

Looking for ideas. Any suggestions ?

chille01 · December 05, 2012, 04:53:23 PM

We got one of those old hard shell suitcases. One that can stand up on end. Got a few of those battery powered puck lights – they look like LED hockey pucks and are cheap. Safety pinned the t-shirts to the inside of the suitcase, Velcro/gaff taped the CD's inside as well, and attached the lights to the top. Keep enough t-shirts, LP's and CD's for local shows inside it. When we get to the venue, we pick a table, open the suitcase up and stand it on end. The T-shirts and CD's are already on display because they are attached to the inside. Stack a couple of LP's and extra CD's on the table, and extra t-shirts of we have more than one design. Stash the extra stuff under the table. Prices are marked on index cards and already attached to the inside of the suitcase. The lights make the stuff easier to see and draw the eye, and are battery powered so we don't need to fuck with outlets or extension cords. It's portable and easy, and takes about 30 seconds to set up and take down.
We definitely sell more stuff when we set it up, then when we just say "we got shit for sale, come see us..." on the mic.

bass sic · December 05, 2012, 05:52:26 PM

My old singer was pretty handy with a saw, so he built a pretty cool road case like box that had wheels, handle and opened up like a transformer. T shirts hung on rods and the whole thing had a lockable plexi glass front so we could leave it displayed while we played. It was pretty easy to load out at the end of the night.

Lumpy · December 05, 2012, 08:35:18 PM

Quote from: chille01 on December 05, 2012, 04:53:23 PM
We got one of those old hard shell suitcases. One that can stand up on end. Got a few of those battery powered puck lights – they look like LED hockey pucks and are cheap. Safety pinned the t-shirts to the inside of the suitcase, Velcro/gaff taped the CD's inside as well, and attached the lights to the top. Keep enough t-shirts, LP's and CD's for local shows inside it. When we get to the venue, we pick a table, open the suitcase up and stand it on end. The T-shirts and CD's are already on display because they are attached to the inside. Stack a couple of LP's and extra CD's on the table, and extra t-shirts of we have more than one design. Stash the extra stuff under the table. Prices are marked on index cards and already attached to the inside of the suitcase. The lights make the stuff easier to see and draw the eye, and are battery powered so we don't need to fuck with outlets or extension cords. It's portable and easy, and takes about 30 seconds to set up and take down.
We definitely sell more stuff when we set it up, then when we just say "we got shit for sale, come see us..." on the mic.

That's pretty awesome. I hate trying to look at stuff in the dark.

mortlock · December 06, 2012, 01:40:44 AM

pretty much just put it out on a table in the place we are playing..its in a box inbetween shows.

Volume · December 06, 2012, 07:00:48 AM

We stole the idea from The Midnight Ghost Train recently. It's two black plywood boards hinged together. Cds, t-shirts, patches and whatnot are fastened to the board along with prices. We're getting some lights for it too and make some kind of handle so it's easier to carry, it's pretty big.

AgentofOblivion · December 06, 2012, 11:10:55 AM

What do you guys charge for t-shirts? My band is working to get some printed now but are struggling to decide how many colors to use since the screen printing set up fees increase quite a bit per color, and for a small quantity of shirts it's very difficult to break even at prices we consider reasonable. If we print 20 three-colors and sell all at $10, we lose about $44. If we get a two color shirt and do the same we break even.

Do you recommend printing about the number you think you can realistically sell, or more to keep an inventory and reduce costs of re-printing?

natehusky · December 06, 2012, 11:35:06 AM

Quote from: Volume on December 06, 2012, 07:00:48 AM
We stole the idea from The Midnight Ghost Train recently. It's two black plywood boards hinged together. Cds, t-shirts, patches and whatnot are fastened to the board along with prices. We're getting some lights for it too and make some kind of handle so it's easier to carry, it's pretty big.

that actually looks great!. So far I'm liking this the best. Husky used to do something similar but not on plywood .

natehusky · December 06, 2012, 11:38:25 AM

Quote from: AgentofOblivion on December 06, 2012, 11:10:55 AM
What do you guys charge for t-shirts? My band is working to get some printed now but are struggling to decide how many colors to use since the screen printing set up fees increase quite a bit per color, and for a small quantity of shirts it's very difficult to break even at prices we consider reasonable. If we print 20 three-colors and sell all at $10, we lose about $44. If we get a two color shirt and do the same we break even.

Do you recommend printing about the number you think you can realistically sell, or more to keep an inventory and reduce costs of re-printing?

i say go for inventory , you just never know , I'm thinking the reason musket king doesn't sell as much merch is that one just laying it out doesn't grab much attention & we don't have anything recorded to sell. Yeah that's got to be the reason

lordfinesse · December 06, 2012, 04:47:46 PM

Yeah I'm liking that ^. We need to put something together like that.

jibberish · December 09, 2012, 01:59:08 AM

my sister has inkjets for printing shirts. no screen overhead costs. 1 costs the same as 100. printing black/dark shirts properly costs more because there is a white underlay under all the image areas. but I think you stay ahead even at $10

you could spec out a small catalog of merch items without spending a penny. order items for immediate needs without warehousing a pile of shit
she is bailing out of the mall so she will have more time to focus on custom clothing vs running that stupid store. also getting someone to help her company with its web presence. you could sell merch drop ship from your website and never even see the merch. how convenient is that. just cash checks.

Andrew Blakk · December 09, 2012, 09:55:15 AM

Great advices! We're the worst merch sellers ever so I'm really soaking it up!

The Mangoo-stuff looked really good imo...

AgentofOblivion · December 10, 2012, 04:14:56 PM

Quote from: jibberish on December 09, 2012, 01:59:08 AM
my sister has inkjets for printing shirts. no screen overhead costs. 1 costs the same as 100. printing black/dark shirts properly costs more because there is a white underlay under all the image areas. but I think you stay ahead even at $10

you could spec out a small catalog of merch items without spending a penny. order items for immediate needs without warehousing a pile of shit
she is bailing out of the mall so she will have more time to focus on custom clothing vs running that stupid store. also getting someone to help her company with its web presence. you could sell merch drop ship from your website and never even see the merch. how convenient is that. just cash checks.

Cool. Do you mean she bought a printer to handle it or she takes it to a place that does it for her? If she bought a printer for it, any idea what kind or around how much they cost?