Discuss the process of getting your t-shirt line into brick and mortar stores and selling offline. Topics include industry tradeshows, events, line sheets, sales reps and other retailing tips and advice.
I sell my products at motorcycle shows, skate shows, etc. For now, I'm just using pen and paper to track inventory as each shirt sells at events. I was thinking about using a laptop but wanted to get opinions on what everybody else uses. Any special programs?
Thanks!
Why do you think a laptop will be faster, or better, is probably a more accurate question? Is it speed you are looking for?
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I use this free POS (Point of Sale) software on a notebook while doing event sales. AveraSell POS retail software with credit card processing - Home
Have a bar code scanner, receipt printer and cash drawer.
The software can handle color and sizes.
I have over 10 designs from 1 to 5 shirt colors and sizes from youth xs to adult 6X
I get a nice report at the end of day with a breakdown(size, color, design) on what sold.
I think most businesses of any size need their sales data on a computer to analyse, re-order etc, so if possible you might as well get the data input at the source, then you don't have any duplicated effort after the event.
It might not necessarily be a question of "what" to use, but "how" to run your sales at the events. Before getting into it, I have a few questions:
- How many people are on your team?
- How many locations are you selling at during the event?
- What resources (i.e. electricity, internet connection, etc.) are provided at these events?
- How much volume are you moving per event?
- How long do the events last?
- How many SKUs are in your product offering?
I am sure there are plenty of portable/remote POS systems you can invest in, but depending on your answers to the questions above may not be necessary at the stage your business is in. It might be a simple solution like 1) separating all the goods by style, by size, and by color first, 2) counting your inventory before an event, 3) selling the available product straight from each product's bin, and 4) counting what you have left at the very end.
Great Post. We pretty much use a method similar to the one you describe in your last paragraph. Have played around with POS software at some of our events with mixed success. The major plus for us to get a POS system going would be an immediate count on our inventory, etc. (i.e. you are running multiple location events over a weekend with a few more the next weekend and need to restock asap. You have folks at events that always sell well for you but get back to you about Tuesday or Wednesday with counts).
Managing Inventory During Events 
