Looking to increase your merchandise sales? In one of my previous posts, I talked about how merchandise can be a nice source of revenue for many artists. Before I get to the details of how to sell merchandise, I need to clarify one thing though: Most of your merchandise sales are going to be in your concerts. Unfortunately, websites and Facebook sales do happen, but they are sporadic and not a very reliable way of revenue. So instead of putting your merchandise on your website and waiting for something to happen, focusing on your concert merchandise game will help you make so much more money!

1) Give autographs!

When you sell CDs or other items in concerts, it makes it even more memorable to write something for your audience members. Plus, nothing says ‘limited edition’ more than an autographed album with a personal message for your fans. Moreover, when you give autographs, people in your audience will be far more encouraged to buy items.

 

2) Be ready to take alternative payment options

A large majority of audience members buy merchandise with cash, but after all, we are only humans and sometimes we forget to bring some cash with us. Imagine this: You just watched a great artist play and you want to buy one of their merchandise to support them. So, as an artist if you have a Square card reader or another smartphone integratabtle credit card reader, you can sell merchandise with a charge less than 3%. If you wanna up your payment game to the next level, you can also accept Bitcoin!

 

3) Time your call-to-action well

One of the trickiest things about making call-to-action to sell merchandise is your timing. If you make an announcement at the beginning of the show, people will forget. Too much repetition can also be repulsive for the audience. A great spot is when you make your announcement before the last song. Keep it short and simple, and of course be humble.

 

4) Make yourself available for your audience, but don’t do it too soon

Imagine you walking to a store, and a shop clerk stops following you around between different sections: T-shirts, pants, shirts… You get nervous and just leave the shop right? Well the music equivalent of this is when people are looking at the selection of merch on the table and you’re looking down on them, literally breathing down their neck. Don’t do it! The best way to approach this situation is to give some time to your audience members after the show before approaching the merch table. This gives the audience members time to decide what they want to buy, and when you finally arrive at the merchandise table they are ready to buy and pay you!

 

Adva Mobile is a marketing services and technology company for creative artists. Using Adva’s mobile services, you can let your fans learn about your latest creative work, run contests, take surveys, reach out to your superfans and engage with them.

Alper Tuzcu is a Berklee College of Music and Denison University alumni, and a Boston based guitarist, songwriter and producer. His new album ‘Aurora’ was released on October 19, 2018 and his debut eclectic album ‘Between 12 Waters’ featuring 8 different vocalists is available on Spotify. In addition to being a musician, he regularly teaches workshops and masterclasses internationally. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter, and for more information you can visit his website www.alpertuzcu.com