Articles

Branded Merchandise on your Art Group Website

Offering your customers branded merchandise – t-shirts, baseball caps, tote bags, mugs, and so on – is a great way to promote your art group. People who buy your “gear” become walking advertisements, and they tend to be loyal supporters. Selling branded merchandise can also be profitable!

In the past, the hassles often outweighed the benefits. You had to buy the merchandise upfront, stock it, keep track of inventory, and handle the sales. All that has changed with an online service called CafePress. CafePress lets you set up an online “store” for your merchandise. They use a sophisticated “print on demand” technology, so there are no upfront stocking charges . They handle all sales (including shipping and even returns), and pay you a small fee for each sale of your merchandise. You provide the artwork, and you have complete control over what items to sell. There are significant discounts for bulk orders, so you can even buy “branded” merchandise for your members, controbutors, or staff.

CafePress is not a flash-in-the-pan Internet company. We have been dealing with them since mid-2000, and we’ve watched their product line and services grow and improve.

It’s easy to set up a CafePress store, but it does require the ability to handle graphics files, a fast internet connection, and a bit of “internet savvy.” If you're comfortable with this, click the banner below and get started right away.

Or, if you need some help setting up your CafePress store, we recommend LunaGraphica, a full-service design and advertising agency that can get you started for surprisingly little!