LaCroixTees

I am looking to sell at a Model Railroad Show.

The promoters have told me that last year's attendance was 3000-3500 adults plus 2000 kids under 12.

(I am thinking a lot of grampa's bringing their grand kids... but just a guess.)

I plan on having youth sized shirts in this design:


And two adult shirts (in sizes S thru 2XL):



and


I am looking for suggestions for...

1. Number of total shirts to bring?

2. Size allocation?

I have another train show I can attend in May... so if I overestimate, I just have to store the extras for several months. (I am not printing at the show, so it's a "print before you go" situation.)

This will be my first crack at selling at a show, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Brett

 

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lizziemaxine

Cute designs and hopefully you will sell a lot of shirts. But you may want to consider offering some other designs that are less cute but still relevant to model trains. I have a friend/customer who makes his living building trains and scenery for model train collectors. These people are very serious about what they do and they spend a lot of money doing it. Cute isn't a word they use a lot.
Good luck with whatever you do.

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LaCroixTees

I guess I can tell the whole story...

Made these shirts with my Father-in-law in mind... he is a train buff, loved the shirts, and offered to bring them to the train show, since him and his buddy are renting a table.

Since a table is only $65... I thought I would rent a table myself, bring the shirts... and figured that I could display them better and offer a larger variety that way... resulting in more sales.

So... not doing this to make a killing... just want to try my hand at selling these shirts to a train crowd.

Just not sure how many to bring to an event like this...

Brett

 

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csw

So many new threads opened that yours got buried. Bump it back up and hopefully you will get a little more feedback from folks who have been there and done that.

First I would see if their is anyway you could offer a pre-order to event attendees. We handle a lot of youth sports events. We will create a tourney/event - T and offer a pre-order. We will then bring 10% over the pre-order for onsite sales. On site sales cost a little more than pre-orders.

Probably better to underestimate the demand then to be stuck with boxes of inventory. If you are running low at the event you can offer a show special and allow folks to order a shirt that you could ship to them in the days following the event.

Even if you don't sell a ton of shirts the event could still be a success if you are able to meet someone or several someones who would like to use your services in the future. Good Luck

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LaCroixTees

Pre-ordering is not an option, since this is just a model train show... tickets sold at door.

There have been many discussions about Adult size ranges and percentages... il.e. more in the L and XL range than S, M, and 2XL.

Just not sure if you are selling to kids, what kinds of youth size ranges to bring.... Maybe just an equal number of each size and hope for the best.

Then there is the question of how many Adult shirts to bring if there are 3000 attendees. Even if I had a sales goal of 2% (60 shirts)... you don't bring 60 shirts and hope you sell every single one do you? Is there an overage... ie. you want to sell 100, so you bring 150? etc...?

Again, since these are not date or event specific shirts, any that I don't sell can get boxed up and brought to the May Train show.

Brett

 

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AdVanceNetworks

Brett,
This one of those grey areas we all have difficulties with. Some get aggressive and print 15% to 20%, and others would do as you suggested and go with 1% to 2%. Me I would go somewhere in the middle and press between 144 and 240 shirts.

I would print a majority in the larger adult sizes and medium child sizes so that as you run low you could sale them into a close size, and be prepared to take orders if you run out.

Also people like event shirts so print a couple dozen with the event date and logo on the back and see how that goes (get permission from the event first) you could fall into a bigger pound!

If you get stuck with a couple shirts its not that bad seeing as you already have another event in your future and they are not tied to the event. Also you can sell your leftover stock on ebay.

Hope this helps!

Good Luck!
Next year

 

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