Educators, administrators, coaches, and PTO volunteers have a LOT going on as we prepare for a new school year. Sometimes school spiritwear is the last thing on our minds. However, back-to-school season is a great time to make school-branded apparel available to students, parents, and school staff!
Here are a few of our Do’s and Don’ts to make your back-to-school online apparel ordering a success!
DO establish consistency from year-to-year.
Our best performing online stores are with schools that do a consistent online store schedule year after year. The 3 most ideal times of year for solid online school store performance are:
Back-to-school (August-September)
Before Christmas (close before Thanksgiving to allow for Pre-Christmas fulfillment)
Spring-Summer (when people start thinking about nice weather again)
For some middle schools and especially high schools, the start of athletic seasons or other activities is a great time to promote activity-specific apparel.
We are creatures of habit. Consistency is king!
DON’T forget to include staff-friendly apparel options!
While our focus is always on students this time of year, DON’T forget that school staff has school pride too! Educators, administrators, and other support staff represent your school throughout the community before and after school. Branded apparel builds confidence and a sense of unity which are great traits for anyone working with our children. Polo shirts, fleeces, jackets, oxford shirts, and headwear are great staff picks. Bonus: Don’t forget to include some ladies cut items!
DO promote your online school store aggressively!
“If you build it, they will come” is NOT from a movie about online school spirit stores. We need you to actively share your online school store link! The most common ways to share are via: 1) E-mail, 2) Social Media, 3) E-Newsletters, 4) Internal Staff Communications, 5) School Apps, and 6) On your school/team website. We can provide promotional images upon request!
DON’T try to sell everything through your online school store!
Online stores are a great way to get a wide range of apparel items into the hands of your students, families, and staff. But there is a limit. Don’t overdo it! Too many designs, too many options, too many color choices and your buyers
will get overwhelmed and become indecisive.
DO keep it simple!
For most schools we suggest offering 1 screen printed shirt design, and 1-3 embroidery designs per ordering period. Usually 10-20 products per store is best. We suggest using our countdown clock so everyone knows when the store will close. Keep stores open for 1-2 weeks to give a sense of urgency and collect a rush of orders at once.
DON’T get discouraged by negative feedback… sometimes negativity is a great suggestion in disguise!
Someone might give you negative feedback after you run your online store like, “I was really bummed that there weren’t any wicking t-shirts!” Don’t get discouraged. Thank them for their feedback! What they really said was, “Next time, I think it would be really awesome if there were some wicking t-shirts.” Sometimes negative feedback helps identify a great opportunity!
DO remember that masks will continue to be an in-demand item for the remainder of this school year.
Masks are still a hot seller regardless of your personal politics. For schools that are requiring facemasks, including branded facemasks in your online store is a no-brainer. Even in schools were masks are optional, there are situations where masks might still be required such as class field trips, athletic events, competitions, and other functions off of school grounds. The 1930 Badger B-Core 3-Ply Mask is one of our favorites!
Contact our Mountain Promotions Sales Team with any questions or to place an order:
Ph. 920-564-3806 / orders@mountain-promotions.com