Gym Motivation T-Shirts: Best Practices And Bestsellers In The Fitness Niche On Amazon Merch On Demand

gym shirts merch by amazon

The US gym, health and fitness market was estimated to be over $35 billion in value in 2021. Forecasts indicate that it’s expected to reach almost $36.6 billion this year. With so many people headed over to gyms to improve their physical health, what is the scope of the market on Amazon Merch on Demand? Is it a worthwhile niche to enter in terms of profitability? And if so, how should you position your merch to ensure you stand out from the crowd?

Let’s explore the answers to these questions below.

How big is the fitness niche on Amazon Merch on Demand?

We used Merch Informer’s “Products Search” module to explore the best-sellers ranks (BSRs) of gym and fitness-related t-shirts on Amazon.com.

Our research shows that the BSR for the keyword “gym” is quite high at 6,718,175. Naturally, we narrowed down the search by inputting similar keywords used by customers in this niche.

We were able to pinpoint the following contenders and their BSRs:

  • “exercise” (7,049,257)
  • “workout” (6,954,144)
  • “fitness” (6,581,317)
  • “weightlifting” (5,752,588)
  • “bodybuilding” (4,894,965)
  • “powerlifting” (3,979,991)
  • “bodybuilder” (2,399,189)
  • “weights” (2,107,414)
  • “training” (1,297,679)
  • “strength training” (192,268)

However, when narrowing down the search further, it appears that tank tops are faring better than t-shirts with the results showing some of the following: “gym” (5,981,444), “workout” (5,977,170), “fitness” (5,931,044), “weightlifting” (4,595,177), “training” (4,014,703), “exercise” (3,616,040), “bodybuilding” (2,278,426), “powerlifting” (1,989,523), “weights” (1,625,338), “bodybuilder” (1,221,938), and “strength training” (81,017).

This would indicate that not only are tank tops performing better than t-shirts in terms of BSR and sales, the best performing tank tops are those that relate to “bodybuilding”, “powerlifting”, “weights” and “strength training”.

We’re definitely no experts in these matters, but it’s clear as day that the fitness niche on Amazon Merch on Demand is catered towards more dedicated gym-goers. That is to say – bodybuilders who prefer to lift while wearing tank tops.

Keywords, search volume, and BSR

To get an even more detailed overview of the niche, we also explored related keywords, their search volume, and BSR for t-shirts.

  • “Gym”: search volume – 67,845; BSR – 6,718,175
  • “The gym”: search volume – 6,106; BSR – 922,048
  • “In gym”: search volume – 4,167; BSR – 3,676,514
  • “No gym”: search volume – 4,101; BSR – 861,423
  • “Gay gym”: search volume – 2,859; BSR – 59,316
  • At the gym”: search volume – 1,617; BSR – 332,985
  • “In the gym”: search volume – 1,591; BSR – 421,225

From the above, it appears that two- or three-word keywords are stronger, and have a lower BSR with a higher search volume, as opposed to one-word keywords. This is a strategy you may want to emulate in your offering.

As for the keyword count – or how many times a keyword appears in listings – we discovered the following saturation: “gym” (2,873), “workout” (1,564), “fitness” (1,094), “training” (419), “lifting” (365), “weightlifting” (341), “exercise” (325), “weight” (249), “bodybuilding” (232), “weights” (215), “trainer” (211), “bodybuilder” (139), “powerlifting” (132), “cardio” (128), “sports” (128), “yoga” (124), “muscles” (118), “running” (113), and “deadlift” (110).

Listings saturation

Next, we headed over to Amazon.com to determine the number of listings for some of the high search volume, low BSR t-shirts and tank tops.

A search for “gym tshirts for men” brings back 8,000 results. Other results include: “gym tshirts for women” (5,000 results), “gym tank tops for men” (3,000 results), and “gym tank tops for women” (10,000 results).

It would appear that the market is not oversaturated as yet with a much lower listings count than many other more competitive niches.

Pricing

Pricing is one of the key deciding factors when a customer chooses to purchase a t-shirt or a tank top. As a result, it’s always worthwhile to pay attention to the lowest, average, and highest prices for gym, health and fitness items on Amazon.com. With the help of Merch Informer’s “Products Module”, we can conclude that the prices for gym-related items are the following: lowest ($15.27), average ($20.27), and quite a surprisingly high figure for the highest price at $108.99.

What are some of the best-selling merchants doing right?

From the outset, it’s clear that the designs of gym and fitness-related t-shirts and tank tops, are ripe with humor. This is especially true for tank tops.

Items in this niche also tend to have American patriotism themes and politically-related slogans, with the colors of the American flag flying left and right. Most of the background colors are black.

In addition, successful sellers focus on tank tops as opposed to t-shirts, which aren’t bringing in as many sales.

In terms of keyword usage, best-selling merchants have incorporated high search volume, low competition keywords in their titles and descriptions by including words such as “workout”, “gym”, and “weightlifting”.  

As for pricing, most of the best-sellers ask in the region of the average for this niche, which is around $20.00.

What is the profitability in the gym & fitness niche?

We selected a few best-sellers to determine their range of potential profitability and anticipated turnover.

First up, we have “Donald Pump Swole America Trump Weight Lifting Gym Fitness Tank Top”. Created by Visit the Wowsome! Store, this item has a BSR of 188,741. With 13 sales at a price of $22.19, this seller has made around $288.47.

The second best-seller offers the “Biden Can’t Ban These Guns gym workout funny weightlifting Tank Top”. Brought to audiences by Can’t Ban These Guns Second Amendment Gym Designs, this item has a low BSR of 217,694. Priced at $21.99 and making nine sales, this seller is walking away with $197.91.

Our recommendations

If you are ready to enter the health and fitness niche on Amazon Merch on Demand, there are a couple of things you should know and strategies, which you should apply.

Here’s our brief breakdown.

When it comes to listing optimization, it’s crucial that you carefully study the keywords used by competitors to get in front of an audience. Once you have identified keywords with a high search volume, and a low competition score, you can proceed with your own listings.

Focus on tank tops, as opposed to t-shirts, and go for the hardcore gym-goers instead of the casuals. General keywords to use include “gym”, “workout” and “fitness”, but also “bodybuilding”, “powerlifting” and “strength training” if you want to target the most active buyers.

Remember that stuffing a title and description with keywords is a big no-no. Instead, you should aim to sound as natural as possible, while giving your audience the right information. This will also help you rank higher and appear in search results.

Pricing is another crucial strategy that you can employ. In the analysis above, we mentioned that the highest price for some gym-related t-shirts goes over the $100-mark. This is quite excessive for the Amazon marketplace and you need to carefully tailor your offering to your audience by pricing right. Start out by pricing near the average. If that doesn’t work for you over time, consider lowering your price by a dollar or two. Alternatively, if you find your sales peaking, consider upping your price (again by one or two dollars) to see if you can capitalize on your success.

Fitness and health don’t have to be serious topics. In fact, humor can and should be incorporated in your designs. Whether you’re making fun of a politician, using a patriotic theme, or simply making light of someone’s big muscles or biceps.

Finally, we get to the ratings and reviews. These serve as crucial social proof that other buyers on the Amazon marketplace have purchased your product and are satisfied with it. There’s no better way in our digital age to get a recommendation than receiving a positive review. The new alternative to word-of-mouth marketing, gaining positive and numerous five-star reviews will significantly help your Amazon side gig thrive.

In conclusion

The potential for profitability in the gym and fitness niche on Amazon Merch on Demand is big. However, it’s advisable that you don’t enter this niche without doing research. From our findings above, for example, we discovered that t-shirts (irrespective of how clever the design is) are not performing as well as tank tops. Tank tops offer the functionality and ease of movement that many gym-goers need. Therefore, studying your market is crucial.

Let Merch Informer be your partner in the research process. With millions of valuable insights at your fingertips for only $9.99 per month, you’re much more likely to rank at the top and boost your sales efforts.

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