We are a school of 600 and we still sell pre sell. That way we know ahead of time of what we need and possibly order a few extras in the more common sizes, for parents if they missed it. If your having an event where you could get samples to show it doesn't have to have your logo on but the same quality of shirt/sweatshirt you will sell alot more. The parents know what they will be getting.
I also found going through a local company they had better pricies than the bigger ones. We have gone through Pro forma for years and they have always given us good prices.
Cindy<br />
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<br>"People have the right to be stupid, but some abuse the privelege."
We are bigger than your school, but I think I can give you some ideas.
First of all we invest in a quantity of inventory so that we have the items on hand(unless we run out of something). I decide how much to order at the beginning of the year based on sales from the previous year.
Second we have a minimum order quantity with our vendor of 12 items, so if I need to order a size/style I tell the "customer" that I have to have a minimum of 12 items and will let them know when the order is placed.
Since you seem to have really low sales volume, you might want to have some inventory available at the start of the year and then do a flyer sale around the holidays(this is our 2nd largest sales time after registration/open house). You could also be looking at a demographic that feels that $12 is too much to pay. The vendor I use gives us a really great deal, so we sell our kid's size tees for only $8 and adults for $10. This gives us a profit of $3-$4 per shirt.
How do other small elementary schools (200 kids) handle the sale of school tee shirts/bumper stickers/water bottles/sweatshirts etc? We don't have room to keep a big inventory, and sometimes going through the ordering process via flyer/contacting the local company to place the order/pick up and delivery, seems more trouble than it's worth for 3-5 items of clothing.
We've tried a sportswear table at school events and have sold a few items. Maybe people just dont want a school t shirt? The price is just $12.
Any suggestions on how to make this easier or more successful would be great!
