Generally my designs get lots of really great comments from people, but since I started adding my designs on here, the most i’ve sold is 10 shirts over along period of time … Is it that I’m not marketing them properly or is it that although people like them generally they’re not something that they would buy? are they too expensive?Please, any feedback would be gratefully recieved :DCheers everyone!
ellismorleyphto
For me it’s the fact that, a couple of concert memorabilia Ts aside I have never paid more than £10 for a shirt… more often than not there are sales with 2 for £10 or £15 at most. If I were to pay more for a shirt I would be worried about wearing it and with limited wall space, it is not like I could display them.
A LOT of T designs that I have seen here would make awesome square postcards… or square fridge magnets, as they make on Zazzle. I have even added some (non white) stickers to my basket, although whether I not I follow through with that purchase must surely depend on the fact that I am not a child and if I can find a place for stickers in my new home that I am building (inside at least) more or less from scratch.
I realise that the price has nothing to do with the artist it is the base price of costs etc from RedBubble I do not even dispute that price and definitely do not have a problem with the mark up for the artist. I do however feel that to spend that much on a T I would first need to try it on to make sure that it DID fit perfectly and I would also need to know that I would wear it all the time but somehow just somehow not spill curry, cola or any other potentially destructive thing on it. If I HAD to have a personalised T I would go to a local print shop with my own design/photo/whatever and a £3 or £4 shirt…. that’s not to say I will NEVER buy one from RedBubble, just that I have doubts that I would.
It’s definitely, for me, nothing to do with your designs themselves :-) They are great!!! ☺☺
Bleee
thanks for that Ellis … i have bought a couple for my own use and i must say they have done extremely well with the various destructive foodstuffs :D
(and thanks for the compliment about my designs too!)
Michael Lee
It’s all about exposure. If your average Joe was as aware of RB as they were of Just Jeans, or whatever retailer you have in your local mall, your tees would sell hundreds. It’s hard to get over that internet hump and get your products out there competing on a level playing field. I only thought of looking for a t-shirt online for the first time a year ago because I wanted a specific shirt that I couldn’t find elsewhere. That shopping experience opened up RB to me and here I am now devoting more time to an internet hobby than I ever thought possible.
You’ll probably never be able to come close to closing the gap between the exposure disparity without opening your own shop in the real world. Which brings me to my next piece of advice. It seems to me that if you want to make the most of your sales (and this is second hand advice but makes sense none the less) you have to get your product out into the real world and advertise your product. You might not get people rushing at you with cash but you want people to remember that your products are there next time they want a great new shirt that’s unique and stands out in a crowd.
Bleee
true Michael, thanks for the reply, to be honest, i never started this to get rich quick or anything, it was a fun thing to do outside my normal working day, but if I can make a few quid out of it then great .. i have often thought about spending some money and having a load printed and taking them to the local market or something …
Does anybody use ebay or other online selling device to sell their designs/prints etc?
Michael Lee
Also what I’ve found is the fastest way to increasing your sales is for one of your designs to be featured by RB. My stuff was noticed by the glorious powers that be and two of my t-shirt designs were featured. My views went through the roof overnight and I saw my sales of just two shirts and two greeting cards jump up to about twenty t-shirt sales in under a month. Not a lot of money considering the effort but it certainly shows how powerful exposure can be. Being featured means for a couple of weeks your design will be on the first page of results when a customer clicks on the t-shirt link on the home page. Sales increase of 6000% (based on the number of sales per month)! It wears off after a while but that kind exposure has lasting impacts on you search rankings.
How do you get featured? I’m not sure how I got featured to begin with, so I’m not that much help. You need first to have a quality product of course but you also have to get noticed by either RB staff of possibly a community host. I really don’t know for sure.
Bleee:
yeah, i’ve had a couple of features, but still my most popular shirt has sold 10 …
Michael Lee
My marketing is exclusively done within the confines of RB. I know I should expand out but I’m just too comfortable here. It would be interesting to see if anyone has made the leap to selling on eBay successfully.
Bleee
Ihave heard of people going the ebay type route, i wonder if anyone has had any success with it?
Diesel Laws
My experience:
Parody, Band Shirts or Really funny designs are the strongest sellers. My top 5 sellers fit into this category on the internet. What sells in a shop is completely different to the internet. There was a time I was marketing my tshirts through my website also and getting more exposure but since I have dropped my shirts from my website I have noticed reduced sales (of course) but have constantly still sold the parody designs at least one per week.
The good thing also for you is that images – cartoon/illustration images seem to sell the best I have found – so hopefully you can use some of that advice and start smashing the market :D
Keep in mind also that it doesnt hurt to send a link to your designs to tshirt blogs etc.
:D
Bleee
even one a week would be nice Diesel ;)
I’ll hunt down these tshirt blogs and see if it makes a difference, cheers man
cubik
I’ve seen cross selling done between here and Etsy, something which I’m sort of doing with my canvas-based art, but not yet with my t-shirt designs.