How to Start T-Shirt Selling Business on Amazon?

You have decided to sell t-shirts on Amazon. That’s a great idea! 

Every month, about 200 million individuals visit Amazon for buying things online. 

And, being a marketplace, Amazon makes it simple for newcomers to get started in eCommerce without having the technical knowledge. So, without having to know how to establish a store from the ground up, they will be able to set up a business on Amazon. 

So let’s pair that market with a product that will never go out of style. Yes, you have guessed it right. 

It is the t-shirts that are considered to be an evergreen product. Selling t-shirts is getting more lucrative. Custom t-shirts with printed slogans, logos, as well as quotes are becoming more popular.

Tips to Start Your Own T-shirt Printing Business

I’ll walk you through the process of starting a t-shirt business on Amazon through this particular guide. 

Must Read: 12 Steps to Starting an Online T-Shirt Printing Business

Let’s take a close look at how to sell t-shirts on Amazon.

1. Establishing an Amazon Store

To start selling t-shirts on Amazon, you must first create a store. In this regard, you should first focus on creating an Amazon seller account. Then, decide on a selling strategy or plan that best suits your business. You have the following options:

• Individual Plan: It costs about $0.99 per item sold. Small businesses selling less than 40 goods per month, as well as those just starting, would benefit from this plan. 
• Professional Plan: The monthly fee of this plan is about $39.99. It is considered to be the best option for businesses that sell more than 40 items per month and want to advertise their products as well as use sophisticated selling tools.

There is one exception to this, if you sell using Merch by Amazon, you won’t have to opt for any of these selling plans. We’ll get to that later.

You’re ready to go on to the next steps once you’ve set up your seller account.

2. Selecting a T-Shirt Fulfilment Provider 

To operate a successful Amazon t-shirt company, you’ll need some t-shirts or inventory. There are a variety of methods to source products for your t-shirt store, but these three are the most common and well-known among Amazon sellers.

• MBA Or Merch By Amazon 

Amazon contributes to providing two fulfillment options, of which the first one is known to be Merch by Amazon or MBA.

To get your designs printed, you must first fill out a survey. In this way, you would be able to request an invitation from MBA. Tell them a bit about yourself, your design ideas, as well as any past product-selling or-designing experience you have.

You create a t-shirt design, upload it, as well as set your design price once MBAs have reviewed as well as approved your request. Every time Amazon sells a t-shirt with your design, you’ll be paid that amount. The rest is handled by Amazon, including selling, printing, packing, as well as shipping.

You won’t have to pay for a selling plan with MBA since Amazon will sell the t-shirts on your behalf under their brand. 

While this is the most cost-effective option, it also gives you the least control over your items. You don’t get your storefront. Also, you can’t communicate with customers, or advertise your products. 

• FBA Or Fulfilment By Amazon

The method used by Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) differs from that of MBA. T-shirts, as well as other items, are sent to FBA by your end. FBA then takes care of storing your inventory, packing your orders, as well as shipping them out to your customers. 

FBA charges you fulfilment as well as storage fees whenever it comes to this particular fulfilment alternative. 

• Opting For The Assistance Of A Print-On-Demand Company

Another option is to opt for the assistance of a print-on-demand firm that supplies bespoke clothing to online store owners. 

You have the option of having your designs printed or embroidered on t-shirts with these service providers. They will then pack as well as ship your t-shirt orders to your customers. 

All orders are fulfilled on demand through these companies. This implies you won’t have to pay for your inventory upfront. You just have to pay for the tees you sell.

Now, it’s time to start designing when you’ve decided how you’ll fulfil your t-shirt orders.

Also Read: Top Wholesale Blank T-shirt Bulk Suppliers in USA

3. Designing Your T-shirt 

It’s time to discover your inner artist! This is perhaps the most fun part of the overall process. In this regard, you should focus on using your niche as an inspiration to find your design idea. 

Do you like working out as well as want to sell motivational t-shirts to other fitness enthusiasts? Perhaps you love houseplants and wish to sell t-shirts to other indoor gardeners? So, you can make a t-shirt design out of anything.

Here are given a few of the design ideas which you would be able to implement in your design:  

• Motivational quotes 
• Animal-themed designs
• Vintage visuals
• Inside jokes as well as niche-related puns
• Photo collages 
• Holiday-edition designs 

In a nutshell, there’s a lot of designs options that you can choose from. 

Put your t-shirt up for sale on your Amazon store after you are done with your design. 

Also Read: What is T-shirt Design Software? Benefits of T-shirt Design Tool

4. Getting Discovered On Amazon

Amazon can be called a massive playing field with the availability of a huge amount of competition. 

With 1.9 million active Amazon sellers, it is very easy to get lost in the marketplace. 

That’s why, to get noticed by Amazon shoppers, you’ll need to adopt an effective strategy. The following are the most important steps you should take to improve your discoverability.

• Devote Some Of Your Time On Amazon SEO

Let’s imagine you’re an Amazon shopper, who is looking forward to purchasing a t-shirt that displays your love for books. 

You visit the website as well as enter “book t-shirt” into the search bar. Finally, you click on the enter option. You will now get to see thousands of bookworm t-shirts to choose from. 

Now, you’ll probably compare some of the best outcomes. You will not, however, browse through all of the product listings. Due to this particular reason, Amazon sellers must have their listings show up at the top of search results. Otherwise, they would fail to reach customers. 

This is where Amazon SEO contributes to play a very important role. Amazon SEO entails a variety of tactics for increasing your listing’s visibility in the marketplace by pushing it higher up in the search results. 

• Include Eye-Catching Product Photos

Add high-quality product photographs to improve the shopping experience of your customers. It will be simpler for them to locate what they require as well as to be happy and satisfied with their buy.

To capture Amazon customers’ attention, make sure your t-shirt photographs are:

• High-quality i.e. well-lit, clear, and not pixelated)
• Exhibiting your t-shirt to its best potential (extra lifestyle photos and design close-ups)
• Compliant with Amazon rules i.e. no extra text, white backgrounds, and no drawings or illustrations. 

 

• Promote Your T-Shirt Listings 

Whenever you create an Amazon seller account, you’ll have access to Amazon Seller Central. It is an interface specifically for Amazon merchants. 

You can utilize three methods within the Amazon Seller Central to enhance your posts i.e., Sponsored Display, Sponsored Products, as well as Sponsored Brands.

• Sponsored Products: These are product listing ads. Your Amazon t-shirt listing will display on page 1 of product category pages, page 1 of search results, and as related products with Sponsored Products.
• Sponsored Display: It is much similar to the previous option. The difference is that this one is a bit more customizable, and it places the product advertisement both on Amazon and anywhere else on the web. 

This ad will take them directly to your listing whenever they click on it.

• Sponsored Brands: It is a cost-per-click type of promotion. Sponsored Brands ads display on top of Amazon search results as banners. You can focus on including a custom headline, your logo, as well as multiple products to your banner. 

 

• Create A Buzz With The Help Of Social Media Marketing

Social media is one of the most effective strategies that you can use for raising awareness of your products. Keep in mind that you must devote specific attention to each of the social media networks. 

People have distinct expectations for each of the social media platforms in terms of the content they want to see. Copying posting the same material across all platforms would not be effective.

Also, remember to check your accounts regularly to see whether customers have sent you reviews, questions, or other messages. 

What Does Merch By Amazon Do?

Merch first creates a product page on Amazon where customers can purchase your designs. They’ll take care of the shipping, the production, as well as your customer service. Prime shipping is available on all Merch products. 

However, this is still a mystery, not everyone is eligible to participate. Before you consider selling your designs with Merch, you must first request an invite for collaboration. Amazon reviews your request as well as claims that this is due to the high demand.

As a POD vendor, you don’t have to worry about losses or inventory risks. Merch provides analytics tools to review your income, top-selling products, as well as consumer behavior. 

Pro Tip: Buy one of your products to ensure that your design is compatible with the product you’ve chosen.

Before publishing, you can utilize a private connection. You can choose to publish your products only for direct links, which means Amazon customers would not find them. In this manner, you can test your design before putting it on the market.

Merch is non-exclusive, which means you can put your designs on as many websites as you like. 

Most Purchased Designs

As per a study conducted by Merch, the following designs are most likely to be sold:

• Distressed designs
• Design specifically on dark products (The product color selector of Merch is organized based on sales)
• Silhouette characters 
• Bold high contrast colors

Search for the Emerging Trends

All that you need is to make designs with the most popular quotes as well as the trendiest hashtags. In this regard, you can concentrate on emerging trends. 

To know about the latest trends, you can keep a close eye on social media influencers.

Also, keep up with the popular TV series, music as well as movies. Focus on checking the event calendar, consider the holidays, as well as concentrate on creating seasonal designs. 

Restricted Design Uploads

You can get fewer or more uploads based on your tier as a Merch seller. Now, what exactly is a tier? It’s considered to be that hierarchy grade that Merch assigns to every seller. It allows you to upload a particular number of designs a day.

For instance, to move up from the tenth tier, you’ll need to sell at least ten products. Admissions to higher tiers are based not just on sales but also on the quality of your products. 

Tiers:

• 10
• 25
• 100
• 500
• Pro (by invitation)

Merch Is A Global Opportunity

You can showcase your design in diverse countries for instance on amazon.com, amazon.de, and amazon.co.uk. Various countries may approve your design. You will be paid in that country’s official currency. 

Wrapping Up

Last but not least, you need to be patient!

But, you should keep in mind that success on Amazon does not happen immediately for most t-shirt retailers. Making the first sale requires patience as well as time, ranging from one day to a month, and sometimes even longer.

However, what if you have done everything right and your t-shirts are still not selling? Well, if this is the case, then it is suggested that you should never give up.

As long as you stay profitable, you should focus on lowering your pricing. Try out different t-shirt designs and stay updated with the latest trends. It’s not over for you and your tees just because something didn’t work the first time. 

In this regard, you can consider opting for the assistance of a print service provider. Many of them provide you with all of the tools you’ll need to advertise your t-shirt company. 

Moreover, if you’re looking for establishing an online store for your t-shirt business, drop an email to info@wtpbiz.com and book a personalized demo of our t-shirt design software.