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 hundred 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.

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

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. . 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.

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.

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!