How to sell t-shirts in an oversaturated market

Everyone and their mama sell t-shirts including me. I think it’s the easiest way to make easy money without a lot of overhead. I mean all you gotta do is pay for the design, upload it to a site, and boom you have a business. Easy right? I can’t tell you how to sell shirts but I will say that selling my shirts has been a great way for me to make at least a few hundreds a month. I want to tell you how to sell t-shirts in an oversaturated market and why niching down, yes I said niching down, can help you make some coins.

How to sell T-shirts in an oversaturated market

First, let’s watch a video to understand what it means when things are oversaturated

When I first started the t-shirt company I had 0 help. I asked around and no one wanted to tell me anything. It was like a big secret. I gave you all the secrets in this post. I started last year and to date I have made a couple thousands. The one thing I did was niche down. All the way down. I don’t niche down my blog but I do niche down my shirts. I decided to come out with a shirt that represented who I was. Let’s talk niching down.

Niche

Come up with a shirt line that represents who you are. God is dope sells hundreds of shirts from a simple saying. Trina of Supermom sells hundreds of shirts from a simple saying. What do you want your shirts to say? Simple is best. You don’t need a lot of shirts you just need that one that speaks volumes then grow from there. Doing shirts about my Geechee culture sets me apart and I stand out. Now I don’t stand out to a lot of people since my shirts aren’t understood unless you are from Charleston but my shirts gets people talking. What does your shirt say? Trust me someone knows someone that is geechee so that is a start. When you niche down you aren’t competing with other shirt companies you are only competing with those in your specific niche. That narrows the competition all the way down. Let’s break it down. Let’s say you want to sell shirts and you were born in the late 70’s. Shirts from that era would speak to those that are that age and you have set yourself up to have a market of people in their 40’s. You are selling a shirt that represents you but stands out from others. Let’s say you are a mom of boys. It would be great to have shirts that speak to just the boys where your shirt my say he’s a mama’s boy and then have it pointing at the boy whose shirt may say Yes I am. You get the drift.

Solve a problem

Now this one is hard to do. I’m trying to not let my heritage die because we are slowly dying out. The answer to that is to keep the language going through shirts. That solves a problem! You can sell shirts but sell other things that might solve a problem. I have a problem finding cute phone cases for my android (yes I’m team android) you might sell cases but sell a few phone cases specifically for my type of phone. Masks are in right now. That’s a problem you can definitely solve if your mask makes a statement while also keeping you safe. One of the things in the t-shirt business is finding the right shirt that doesn’t fade out. If you can give them quality without compromising the price then boom you have solved a problem. I also solved a problem with my big girls. I’m a big girl and I hate tightly fitted shirts. I don’t sell them (unless you on my newsletter more on that later) because they make us look like we are 3 months pregnant.

Offer something different

One of the things I am doing is having people sign up for my newsletter. If you do you get to pick any type of shirt, mug, or hat you want with any design in any color. So if you want my aight now shirt in a sweatshirt you can have that in any color as long as you are signed up to my newsletter. Boom I am offering something exclusively for listening to me talk twice a month. You can offer frequent buyer programs, buy 2 get one free, exclusive shirts once a month. I actually started that exclusive shirt thing and it didn’t work out for me but I may offer it again for the winter with a few sweatshirts in some fab colors. It didn’t work because I wasn’t as well known but now that I have grown a bit I might offer it. It will be the same design just in different looking shirts.

Customer service

Come closer…..let me tell you what wins every time in an oversaturated market…..Customer service. This is what a lot of people lack. This is also the make it or break it thing that will set you apart no matter what you sell. Here is what I do. When someone buys from me I first email them and thank them. I say something like I love the color you bought or thank you for ordering from me how did you hear about my shop. Something to get the conversation going. I make sure to thank them and let them know if they have any problems to please contact me. Now I realize that I’m small and this is easy for me to do for now but I want to continue this as I grow bigger even if I have to hire help to do so. I also send a cute thank you card in the email as a special touch. This goes a long way because they will remember me and then tell their family about me and that’s how I get to the money.

Here are some other tips to sell in an oversaturated market

• Use models to promote your shirt. If you can’t find models use placeit.
• Wear your shirts everywhere and stand out. You wearing it gets you sales which helps your shirt in a big market
• Stay on top of trends. Things change all the time. Know when your shirt may be old school and stay on top of new school sayings.
• Have more than the basic colors. I hate black shirts way to linty for me but I also like colorful shirts besides white and red. I sell these colors but I also like sky blue, berry pink, orange, etc.
• Figure out how to tell the story. Stories sell
• Build your audience first. I can’t tell you how sad it is to sell shirts to no one. You might have a great product and think it’s saturated but you didn’t take the time to build your audience first. Some people can sell shirts today and pots tomorrow all because they have a built-in audience.

Now that I have given you the tea. Go forth and make some shirts!