In the over 41 years we’ve been in business, Custom Sportswear has offered Field Day T-Shirts to schools in every way imaginable. From three-day programs to year-round sales and everything in-between, we’ve done it all. What we found over those 41 years of experience and listening to feedback from our customers (e.g. — people like you) is that the most successful T-shirt sales are in-person and last just two weeks.
Now I know that seems counterintuitive. Wouldn’t it make sense that if you had an online store open all year long you’d get more sales and more profits? Experience has taught us that the answers to both those questions are a resounding “no.”
So why is that? Well first, let’s think about why you’re having a Field Day T-shirt sale in the first place. It’s to build excitement and that’s easier to do when your students and families can see those products in person. When you can see and touch the product, you get a better sense of what you’re buying and have confidence that what you see is truly what you get.
Then there’s that sense of urgency. We’ve all seen what happens during the holidays when shoppers go crazy over the latest and greatest, must have holiday gift. That shopping frenzy is caused by the combined product demand and deadline of the impending holiday. You can create that same urgency by limiting the length of your T-shirt sale. Year round sales and bulk ordering don’t have this because the product is always available. With no need to act quickly or rush, there’s no urgency or excitement and buying field day tees just becomes another task that’s pushed to the backburner to be forgotten.
One of the biggest misconceptions we hear about year-round, on-demand t-shirt stores is that they’re more profitable and lower cost. This is simply not true. Not only do the products wind up costing you more money to produce, they tend to cost your students and their families more money for shipping as well. That’s because they’re not produced as efficiently as the larger orders placed during your deadline-driven sales. In addition to the lower profits and higher costs, you’ll often find longer turn-around times, lower quality and even less product availability at these year-round, on-demand stores.
So as you gear up for your Field Day T-shirt sale, consider why you’re holding the sale and then what kind of sale, deadline-driven, year-round or bulk ordering will best serve your needs and then give us a call.