Ok, it’s pretty easy for our group of 30 somethings to get excited about a beer event. So we poured a few back and let our imaginations soar and to develop a full line of merchandise for this annual beer tasting event. Historically, the event offered a single design offered on multiple shirt colors and a hat. This year we shook things up and pushed to a new level with a much more robust effort.
Merchandising Design Efforts
Merchandise Planning
We began by reviewing past sales and design efforts. We also incorporated audience research to understand the demographics of the audience in attendance and who had purchased shirts in years past. Also considered are the different types of merchandise items that will be most successful. In this case shirts were deemed most successful in the past so we placed emphasis on apparel so we researched appropriate shirts and garments to meet the customer needs and price point.
Design Strategy
After understanding the sensibilities of the audience at hand we began concepting appropriate designs for the event. As with most endeavors we work to find creative options outside of just putting the logo on everything. For this particular event there is an annual graphic created to promote the event which was incorporated into some of the designs.
Retail Strategy
The retail strategy brings it all together to offer a merchandise solution to our client. It wraps up design with garment selection with pricing. There are many variables that go into this such as the number of colors and locations we will be printing, which all add to the price. It is a balance between producing a desirable product for a compelling price while maximizing profit for our client partner.
This project resulted in a hybrid approach offering garments online via a pre-sale model and also event day retail sales. The benefit of the presale is twofold. It allows our client to test the products to determine which are most successful, informing their final order for event day to help ensure they have the right designs, sizes and shirts most in demand. Additionally, pre-sale items are printed on demand, minimizing the upfront investment and risk put upon the client.
Website Store Buildout
For this event we built out an e-commerce system to take orders online. The storefront was developed with shopping cart so buyers could purchase tickets and merchandise through the same storefront. Orders placed will be printed and shipped based on our fulfillment schedule, 3 intervals leading up to the event.
Order Fulfillment
We will be printing the pre-sale merchandise in-house and fullfilling on demand. Basically, each month we pull all orders and print and ship to order. We take care of everything and are able to package everything up on behalf of our client for a transparent delivery. We also offer premium services such as custom tagging, bagging, folding and packaging.
Check out the full line at the Wild Brew Shop!
Please reach out to us to discuss your upcoming event. All of our merchandising partnership are custom tailored to offer you the best value and service possible.