by Robert Mattocks
1. Location, Location , Location ! - Try and work with the venue you are playing at to make sure that you are in an area that people will see your merch! Higher traffic areas near a bar or the entrance seem to be the best places if space will allow.
2. Backdrops and Banners placed above are always good to let people know that you are there when walking through a crowd of people.
3. Be sure to display your prices in an easy place to read. After a successful show it helps that people know how much everything is by display, saving time during the rush keeps the sales flowing and time spent answering questions down.
4. Have at least one or more band member present at the merch booth right after the show! The fans want to see you! Your job isn't really over after you've broken down your set. Try and get everything off stage and arrange for others to assist in load up.
5. Keep a variety in your merch. Different shirt styles of the same print, different color schemes, designs, etc... Give people options to choose from so someone doesn't skip on buying your shirt because of something as simple as hating yellow shirts.
6. Mailing lists - Keep a mailing list at your merch booth to stay in contact with your fans! You may also get other merch sales after the show if someone didn't have any cash at that time!
7. Run a show special, or combo deals for
8. Have something on your merch table that is FREE... People love free stuff.. even if its free candy... It gets people to come over and look at what you have.
9. Think outside the box. Do something crazy to get people to come over and interact!
10. Put a tip jar out to help out the people running your booth, or to help get a few extra bucks for gas to the next gig!
11. What if I run out of a particular size or item? Its always a good idea to try and anticipate the selling out of a product, but its hard to always tell how long items will stay in stock. Create a form that you can have someone fill out to mail them the item when you get stock in.