Musician Merchandise

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Please note that although the term "merchandise" typically refers
to all products sold by a band other than CDs,
we believe that the information provided in this report
will be useful for selling both merchandise (t-shirts, stickers, etc.) and CDs.

The merchandising web page is a very important component to a band’s website. The two main functions of merchandise are to provide revenue to the band as well as to offer products that fans will wear/use which can provide free marketing for the band.

What goes on the merchandising webpage?

Product description - The product description can be done with text and/or graphics (but remember not to overload the web page with a lot of graphics since they take longer to load). For each product on your page you should have the name and its price prominently displayed so it is easy for the customer to find. It is very important to the purchaser that the link to a product is clear so he/she will know how to select it and move on to the purchase stage. There are many design options you can use to display your products. Many artists, such as Phish, provide a page of thumbnail pictures of their products with purchase information, which allows the customer to click on the thumbnail to see an enlarged view of the product.

Purchase procedure - First and foremost, the most important thing about doing e-commerce on your website is to make it easy for the customer to buy. If you want your customer to use a credit card to purchase your product you will need to set up a relationship with an online credit card billing vendor. In addition, if you do credit card billing it is important that you have a secure server and that your customers are aware that their information is being processed on a secure line. In case a customer is not comfortable with sending their credit card information over the Internet, you should also offer a fax, phone or email option and postal address for mail requests.

To find out more information about online credit card billing and the process it takes to get this on your website, link to Web Developer’s Virtual Library article called "Accepting Credit Cards: Getting a Merchant Account."

An example of a musician doing credit card billing is Robert Earl Keen. If you do not want to do credit card billing on your website, you can see that websites such as Jerryjeff.com are still able to be successful at selling merchandise by just having customers phone, fax, or email the product information they wish to purchase.

Confirmation - Once the purchase process is completed you will want to provide your customer with a confirmation page so that they know the process was completed. On this page you can provide a reference number for their order so they can contact you if any problems should occur.

Helpful tips:
Below are some tips from Good Reports’ "In Search of E-commerce" paper that can help guide your band through creating a successful merchandising web page:

Make the buy button very clear.
Don’t ever let the customer think the order is placed until it is.
Don’t use graphics to display text.
Keep the design simple and uncluttered.
Don’t require the customer to download plug-ins before they buy.
Offer a fax, phone, email, and/or postal address option for customers who do not want to use their credit card on the Internet.
Above all, make the website easy for your customers to buy.

Should you handle fulfillment for the merchandising webpage yourself?

Fulfillment through the web is like regular mail-order fulfillment. It is only successful if the ordering process is easy and your customer receives their order quickly without hassles. Therefore, it is important to:

Make sure orders go out as quickly as possible - The sooner a customer receives your merchandise, the happier the customer.

Make sure the customer is aware of how long it will take to receive the order - Customers want to know when to expect their product.

Email your customer if there is a problem - They’ll be much more understanding if you let them know why you haven’t sent the items yet.

Email them the day the order goes out - "It’s in the mail."

Ensure that you have proper stock to fulfill orders - Think carefully about what items you offer for sale on your website. Will you still have stock of the black t-shirts in 3 months, in the four sizes you promised? If you run out of a particular item or size, update your website with big "Sold Out!" and a potential date when stock will be replenished. Use the website to help your customer decide what to buy and what is available."

When creating the merchandising web page for your band, you have two choices for fulfillment: outsource the function to a vendor or do it yourself. To understand a little more about fulfillment and the key questions you need to ask yourself before determining whether you should outsource this function or do it yourself, visit Allbusiness.com's article on " What exactly does a fulfillment firm do?" Below we have outlined some advantages and disadvantages of both options.

Managing the fulfillment of the merchandising webpage yourself:

ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
Control	Set-up and maintenance can be very technical for e-commerce websites
Ability to respond to fans	Responsible for maintaining quick and reliable delivery to customers
Do not have to pay someone else to manage	Responsible for ensuring that website is running correctly

Examples of musicians that do their own merchandising fulfillment are Robert Earl Keen and Phish.

Outsourcing the fulfillment of the merchandising webpage:

ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
Easier option if not technically inclined	Less control over the fulfillment process
Cheaper ISP costs	Lose ability to receive direct customer feedback
Ability to provide advanced functions due to technological know-how of the designer	Lose the ability to offer a personal touch, such as sending an autographed CD

An example of a musician that outsources their merchandising webpage is Metallica. If you click on "Metallistore" from the main page, you find that you are sent to the link www.metallicadirect.com which is a merchandising website set up for Metallica by Artist Direct.

There are many websites that offer online fulfillment to bands. A few of these are Artist Direct Network and Winterland. In addition, companies like Amazon and ebay are also making it easier for bands to get their products online. The process of setting this up through Amazon is very easy. What you do is:

Buy a UPC code from the UCC.
Get a CD manufactured with the UPC code on the label or top spine sticker. You can also print UPC labels and attach them to each CD.
Sign up in Amazon's Advantage Program and make sure that there is a bank account for the contact name or company name you list.
Ship the CDs to Amazon in protective packaging and they will do the rest.

This process takes about two months to complete. An example of a band using Amazon's fulfillment process is the Commodore 64's. Using fulfillment sources such as Amazon can be expensive. Make sure you are fully aware of what charges and fees will be taken from the selling price of your merchandise. Knowing these charges will help you make better pricing decisions if you choose this option for fulfillment. Also, enter into any contract with caution and make sure you are clear on how you will receive the revenues generated from the sales of your merchandise.

Tracking customers and promoting your website

The majority of bands that are online use email as a way of tracking or keeping in touch with their fans. This is the first place to start since it provides you a way to contact people who have visited your website to let them know of an upcoming show, changes to your website, send an e-newsletter, or find out other information about your band. In addition, an email address allows you to continuously promote your band and website to get people back to the website and draw traffic.

The best way to get a fan’s email address is to ask them for it when they visit your website or request them to write it down at your shows. Although email is a quick and easy way to communicate with your fans, it is important to remember that you do not want to continuously spam them, so it is important to offer an option to them when they provide their email address to find out if they want to receive regular updates on the band.

If you are interested in finding more information about your fans other than their email address, you could develop a password-protected membership area for fans to join by providing you general information. An example of this approach can be found at www.metallica.com in their "Members Only" section.

Another option is to use cookies to track the people that visit your website. Cookies are small text files a website can use to recognize a repeat visitor to its website. Cookies are not programs that come onto a user's system and damage files. For more information on cookies and how to create them, you can link to Web Developer’s Virtual Library article called " Cookies: Our Misunderstood Friends."

Overall, it is very important that you constantly promote your website by providing the website address at shows, on CDs, t-shirts, etc. The use of the Web is an easy way to provide your current fans with information as well as a source for potential new fans to find you.

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