Impressions - Team & Spirit Apparel - Fall 2014 - 21

managing a school store; they want a hands-free, stress-free
way to sell merchandise and raise funds.
Emphasize the possibilities for exposure an online store
offers. No more photocopy ﬂ iers with low-quality images; customers see exactly what they're buying. Nor do they have to go
through the hassle of getting checks to a collection point to pay
for purchases. Beyond the merchandising capabilities of the
online store itself, opportunities for promoting it (and your
business) via social media like Facebook and Twitter are endless and economical. "Share-ability" is a major advantage of a
virtual store, making it possible to bring in customers with the
click of a link in an online newsletter or social network page.
Give an overview of the mechanics. Clearly describe your
role with respect to the online store, including what you will
provide and do, and the cost to your customers. Make certain
they understand the level of their involvement in setting up
and maintaining the store, and what's expected of them to
help make it a success. Explain how and when they'll be paid,
and let them know about options you offer in terms of incentives, shipping and custom delivery, etc. Then, give them an
idea of the timeframe involved.
Once the customer decides to get involved, the most important things to do are to get a commitment from the team or
organization to promote the store and nail down the particulars of the arrangement, including agreeing on a fund-raising
percentage. Explain that you will make the store available
without a set-up cost and send the customer a check at the
end of every month; in turn, the customer needs to promote
the store everywhere, including posters, ﬂ iers, print ads and
social media. Then together, examine the client's needs and
the options for meeting them.
A fundamental question is the purpose of the online store
- is it a spirit store to serve the organization on a long-term

basis, or is it event- or sport-related and time limited? This
factors into how the store is set up online. Will an extension
of your domain name, followed by the group or team name,
sufﬁce (zero cost to you and easy to conﬁgure) or would it
make more sense for the organization to have its own domain
name with various product categories? If the store will be a
long-term program, a custom domain name offers more of an
opportunity for branding and identity building.
The more special you can make the store, the better. The
easier an online store is to promote and share, the better the
response is likely to be. This factors not only into things like
URLs, but also into the design and content of the store itself.
The goal is for it to reﬂect the team or organization's brand
and identity.
Products should complement the organization and/or
event. "Keep it simple" always should be the rule. Make sure
you are leveraging all opportunities, considering the target
market and merchandizing to it appropriately without going
overboard, especially with products. Cover the main categories and sizes, and offer premium and economy options.
In addition to garments featuring variations on the team's
colors and art, the online store offers an excellent opportunity
to showcase promotional items, like ofﬁcial branded garments
and accessories with event names. Offerings can include
point-and-click preprinted purchases or high-margin, easyto-decorate items, such as stadium blankets or cushions.
Although the client has ﬁnal approval, part of your role is to
serve as a merchandising consultant, keeping your customer up
to date on the latest, most exciting new products. Every time you
bring a commission report and a check is another opportunity
for you to remind your client that you are part of his team.
This is relationship building, and it is what a lot of the big
online organizations can't do. You can help position your customer to choose the right art, products and pricing to support
this opportunity and yield the greatest return.
Again, a successful online store is all about commitment
- both on your part and the part of your customers. Even a
relatively small organization can yield surprisingly high profits thanks to the broad net and low cost of an online store.
Web stores are still in their infancy in the team arena, with
only 5%-10% of decorators offering them. But that ﬁgure is
rapidly growing and accelerating, and the opportunities for
aggressive strategists are great.

J.P. Hunt is one of the founders of Inksoft, a company that offers
a comprehensive business suite including an online designer,
ecommerce platform, and other business tools. He also is the
vice president of sales and marketing. Hunt has a bachelor's
degree in advertising and marketing from Northern Arizona
University in Flagstaff, Ariz. He continued on to complete a
master's degree in business administration. You can contact
Hunt at jphunt@inksoft.com; visit the website at inksoft.com.
A Supplement to Impressions

Fall 2014 * 21

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Impressions - Team & Spirit Apparel - Fall 2014

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