I’ve been working on getting my site ready, and had a question about something that I hope somebody can help me with. I’m anxious about getting my site up, but I am concerned about having enough designs to go live with the site. I have been doing some work on layout, color scheme, etc, and had really planned on waiting to go live with it until I felt that I had enough designs for customers to choose from. What is a good number of designs to have ready to start a site with? How many did you have to start with? I plan on adding new designs every 2 weeks for the first 3 months my site is up, then see how sales are going. Tell me what you think!
Customers do like to feel like they have a "choice" when shopping your site, but if you plan to continually add designs, even starting out with 5 or 6 is a good place to get going so you can at least start your search engine marketing efforts. By the time you add several more designs, you'll be more established in the search engines.
I would agree with Rodney on this. If you have a few good designs then go for it.
Always add new designs, even after 3 months. Keep your customers coming back to see what's new.
And how many t-shirts of each design would you recommend to start with?
Depends on your budget
If you only have the budget to start out small (maybe 25 per design), then start out small. If you have the budget for lots of shirts, get lots per design (maybe 100+). If you're doing screen printing, then you're generally going to have a better profit margin if you buy larger quantities per design.
You may want to start small and use some of your "inventory budget" on marketing so you can get the shirts you do have on the site sold
Thanks for the help. I think I'm going to go with 10 designs to start with and have 30 shirts per design ready. I've already got 6 designs, and have ideas for a couple more that I need to iron out. Does that seem okay?
Thanks for the help. I think I'm going to go with 10 designs to start with and have 30 shirts per design ready. I've already got 6 designs, and have ideas for a couple more that I need to iron out. Does that seem okay?
Sounds good to me. Make sure you've got the sizes covered (don't forget the XXL market). Also make sure you leave room in your budget for some advertising/marketing.
What is a good number of designs to have ready to start a site with? How many did you have to start with? I plan on adding new designs every 2 weeks for the first 3 months my site is up, then see how sales are going.
I started with two paintings as digital files (I was learning how to use the digital camera to make the files too) - I opened a basic shop at CP, then I added a couple more paintings and went to a Premium Shop and added the first dragonfly. I try to add at least one design per week ... and I've added many for this Christmas season because I had no Christmas designs at all.
I think it depends on if you are doing it online like at CP or offline creating screen-printed etc yourself.
I'm starting my site with 15 designs and releasing one new design per week, just to keep things updated. I have a total of over 70 designs so I wanted something to last me through the year in case I got artist's block or something.
I’m anxious about getting my site up, but I am concerned about having enough designs to go live with the site.
Hi sound like we're both at the same point. I did a few of designs and decided I was going to initially print 50 off of 4 designs only. I printed one with a local printer which was not good so I went to see another printer who gave me some good advice. He told me to print more designs but less of them and to produce a lot more varied designs than I had. All my designs were originally very simple and graphic. He pointed out that I could either do really well or nobody would like them. His advice was to use the first run as a test to see what people like, see how many orders you get then you know which direction to go in. I am know planning initially to print 8 designs about 25 each. Good luck Comin'OutSwingin let us know how you get on.
I originally posted this a few months ago. I had already been selling my shirts to friends, friends of friends, family of friends, etc. At the time, I only had 3 designs and they were on t-shirts. Since then, I have added long sleeve tees, hats, and hoodies. I also now have about 10 differents designs.
The site is still coming together. I had hoped to be live by the end of March, and that still seems like a real possibility. But as far as the designs go, I now know that having just a few to start with is not a problem at all. Especially if they sell pretty well!
I'm about to go live (looks like in two weeks) and I'm starting with 6 designs of 100 shirts each. It's a bit staggering to look at the pile of boxes from the printer in my house, but the savings at that quantity was significant. Hopefully, they'll sell... I'm planning on adding more designs, but I'm not sure how that schedule will work out. Adding new designs at a rate of 1 every 2 weeks, for example, sounds good, but that rapidly multiplies into serious numbers and budget outlay for printing. Hmm. I need an investor. Perhaps Dubai?
i know that this thread is old but my story is i just started with one design
when i say just i mean a week ago
releasing a new design each month which is cool as i have the pr guy from a club promotions company that i'm sponsoring and he's promoting the site to everyone he know (and the club night is once a month)
anyway just my 2 cents
i feel that one new design a month whilst adding new colourways in between will keep things fresh and a nice way to remind people with a monthly newsletter (so it's not spammy)
appart from that it allows me to add accessories such as stickers, keyrings, truckers caps, stubby holders, etc
How many designs for starting site? 
