Customers are lining throughout your store, waiting for their perfectly crafted quadruple, large, almond milk, no foam, caramel drizzle latte with starry-eyes.
Fortunately for you, you’ve read this article and know how important it is to have merchandise throughout your business to increase sales and maximize revenue. What’s that? You haven’t read all about the benefits of selling merchandise within your store and its money-making potential? Keep reading to hear about 5 Tips on Selling Merchandise in a Coffee Shop.
Selling merchandise does not only open up a new floodgate revenue, but it increases your brand value. Your business is not just the products you sell or the services you provide to your customers, it is so much more than that. The brand of your business is the decider between success and failure. When building your company, it’s important to look at all internal factors that could have an effect on your brand, which is why offering aesthetically pleasing merchandise to your customers is important.
Not putting any thought into what merchandise you’re offering to your customers can hurt your business more than carrying no merchandise at all, which is why it’s important to think about these 5 tips when selling merchandise in your coffee shop.
1. Starting with the Right Logo Goes a Long Way
The logo of your business is so incredibly important in creating aesthetically pleasing, “must-have” merchandi
Depending on how your customers react to your logo, it can go viral within seconds throughout all forms of social media like Instagram or Facebook. You want to make sure that the logo of your business is one that your customers will want to wear out and about. To read more about the importance of a logo and what you can do to create or update yours, consider reading, 10 Things to Think About When Designing a Cafe Logo.
2. Understand Your Local Market
Are you located on a college campus? Close to the beach? In a bustling city?
All of these factors go into the type of merchandise that you should carry. Located on a college campus? Consider mass-producing aesthetically pleasing stickers that maybe one of the art students created or fun mugs that the students can use in their dorms.
Are you located close to the beach? Maybe think about smacking your
If you’re close to office buildings, producing
3. Managing Inventory Correctly
If you have to force it in there, it should not be there. With your merchandise, it is important to create value. The best way to create value is to make a demand. What’s the best way to create demand? Make your customer’s think that there is a limited supply.
If people see too much of a product out, they will not want to buy it. They will think that if there is that many out now, then it will still be there the next time they come. If they only see one or two out, they might believe that this is their last chance to buy that marbled coffee mug that they have been eyeing for the past three minutes while in line.
Pro-Tip: If the product is collecting dust, don’t let it stay dusty. Make sure you regularly dust off your products, because you would be surprised how many businesses neglect to wipe down their merchandise after some time.*
4. Placing Merchandise in the Right Spot
Grab-and-go items work perfectly upfront by the register. Products such as stickers, decals, bookmarks, and even single-use flat pouches of your delicious coffee would sell great right up next to the register.
When your customers go to check-out, they will already have their wallets out, increasing the chances of them adding on a few small items. If enough customers throughout the day add on these knick-knacks, imagine the increase in revenue, all because of a small product. If your a business that has a credit card minimum, small grab and go items will go a long way for customers when they try to hit that card minimum.
Read more on what you can sell in your coffee shop with our article here Things to Sell in a Coffee Shop Besides Coffee.
5. Supply Your Customers with what They Want
Don’t let merchandise that isn’t selling collect dust. Keep track of the items that fly off the shelves. The items that are a little more hesitant to find their forever homes, stop ordering them for the time being. Put them on sale and make room for new and fresh items.
Being a coffee shop, your main priority is the taste of your coffee, service, and space of your business. The area in which you will have free to display your merchandise will most likely be limited, so it’s important to have things that are selling actually be for sale. From time to time, bring in fresh new ideas to keep the customers wanting more. Create new sticker designs, mug colors, hat styles, or even special bagged coffee flavors to keep your regulars buying your coffee and merchandise consistently
Keep Branding on Your Mind When Selling Merchandise
Selling merchandise in your store elevates the ambiance, increases brand awareness, and produces more revenue. When done correctly, selling items from stickers to mugs can be a huge success in
That’s all we have for the 5 tips on selling merchandise in your small cafe or shop. If you have any other ideas for some cool merch to sell in-store let us know in the comments below!
If you’re still here, you might also like our other articles too, here are two popular ones for you: Tools for Tracking Employee Performance and How Much Does it Cost to Start a Coffee Shop.
Brand My Cafe helps small & medium-sized businesses, cafes and foodservice brands grow their identity through custom coffee cups, coffee sleeves & more. Join our exclusive Facebook group Restaurant Brand Builders to brainstorm ideas with passionate other passionate owners!