Seasonality In Merch by Amazon T-Shirts: Learn How To Exploit It Or Let Your Competition Beat You At It

Selling print-on-demand merch on Amazon may be a side gig for some, but for experienced sellers who know what they’re doing, it could easily turn into a full-time job. A lot of sellers rely on print-on-demand t-shirts or other merch to make them profits that couldn’t even be dreamt of at a nine-to-five job!

But how can this be done and can you also grow your sales to this level?

To do that, you need to think strategically and consider timing. Seasonality is a popular factor that can influence sales in any other type of business. So, is it relevant to print-on-demand merch on Amazon? Can holidays or seasonal trends affect sales? And if they could, what can you do to take advantage of this and turn it into an opportunity?

There are a lot of questions to ask and we have all the answers ready for you.

Is There A Factor Of Seasonality To POD Merch On Amazon?

Yes, there is.

But we must take a step back first.

When talking about print-on-demand merch on Amazon, you can sell several types of products. These include t-shirts, hoodies, pop sockets, phone cases, throw pillows, and more.

But let’s look at the biggest category of them all – t-shirts.

T-shirts sell all year round. Unlike winter gear, which naturally booms towards the end of November and continues selling until February or even March, t-shirts are popular in any season. However, the specific niche of these products is a whole different story. If you’ve read any of our previous posts, you’ll know that niching down is a holy grail that can dramatically boost your sales and popularity among buyers.

What does this mean? That seasonality varies in the different niches and themes.

Let’s look at a few examples.

School

As you know, school starts in September and ends in June. And yes, you can expect to sell more t-shirts if you’ve listed your school designs on Amazon around the start of August. But we also noticed another seasonal trend related to school – “100 days of school”.

How?

By using Merch Informer’s Movers and Shakers feature (we’ll show you how in a bit).

The 100th day of school is at the end of January or the start of February, depending on the school. It’s also a pretty big occasion for most students and teachers. We looked at a few top-selling t-shirts with this theme and found all the proof that we needed that this is truly a seasonal trend. BSRs or Best Seller Ranks of т-shirts with 100 days of school themes started dropping like crazy around the 15th of January, meaning that more buyers were making purchases.

Let’s now look at a particular product. One of the best-sellers in this niche is the “My Teacher Survived 100 Days Of Me Funny School” t-Shirt with a BSR of 345,229 on the 7th of January, and 11,915 on the 2nd of February. Talk about money-making potential!

If you have this information on time, you can take advantage and list a few related designs for your merch to enjoy booming sales.

St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is a popular holiday celebrated around the world on the 17th of March. It’s one of the examples of how seasonality and timing matter for your Amazon merch sales. Why? Because we looked at the data provided by Merch Informer. We discovered that the top-selling products with St. Patrick’s Day designs saw tremendous drops in BSR from the mid of February, with a sales boom at the start of March.

But let’s be more specific. Using the Merch Hunter tool, we looked at what the best-sellers were for the keyword “St. Patrick’s Day”. One of the results that popped up was “Happy St. Pat T-Rex Day”. It went from a BSR of251,847 on the 6th of January to a BSR of 8,694 on the March 1st.

What does this mean?

A huge jump in sales.

And why are we giving this example specifically? Because it shows how important niching down is. This product not only takes into consideration the upcoming holiday but combines the occasion with one of the most popular kid elements as of late, the t-rex. As a cherry on top, it sells for $19.95, which is not bad at all.

What this means for you is that you can combine seasonality with a specific niche to become even more competitive and offer unique designs that people love.

Easter Holidays

Easter is another opportunity to hone in on a seasonal trend and grow your merch sales. The holiday is in April and it’s one of those special occasions when people shop more for gifts and decorations. For you as a seller, this means it’s a gold mine.

Let’s look at what the insights have to say.

When looking at Merch Hunter, we saw a cool design – the “Cute Bunny Face Leopard Bow Tie” T-Shirt.

The product had a BSR of 1,430,921 on the 27th of January and a BSR of 100,395 on March 3rd. So imagine selling a product that goes from a Best Seller Rank of over 1 million to almost under 100k BSR. The difference in sale numbers speaks for itself here.

Again, as in our previous example, what makes this t-shirt especially unique and attractive is the fact that it has combined a holiday with a a cute element (in this case a rabbit/bunny). This is an opportunity you do not want to miss, if you’re serious about making money on Merch by Amazon.

How To Spot Seasonal Opportunities With Merch Informer

Now that you know that seasonality matters, you’re probably wondering how you can quickly spot these seasonal trends and take advantage of them. There are three Merch Informer features that you can use to spot seasonal trends and always stay ahead of the pack:

• Movers and Shakers – A tool that is specifically designed to help you stay ahead of trends, holidays, and seasonal spikes
• Merch Calendar – Your go-to place for inspiration on official and unofficial holidays
• Merch Hunter – A feature you can use to double-check your theory and see how products have performed over time

Let’s Go Through An Example Together.

Say that your merch sales on Amazon have been low in recent months and you’re looking for a way to attract more buyers. You’re not sure what niche or design to choose and you’re in search of some inspiration.

The first step is to go to Merch Informer’s Movers and Shakers tool. By running a search on a specific category, you’ll be able to see the products that have started to sell like crazy over the past day, week, or month. In other words, the tool will help you discover trends quickly by showing you the products that have had dramatic changes in BSR or Best Seller Rank in a certain time period. The lower the BSR, the higher the number of sales a product has generated.

By performing a search on shirts, we noticed a recurring theme. A number of t-shirt designs related to African American themes showed up. For example, the BSR history of a t-shirt with the text “I am my ancestors’ wildest dream” shows that this product started selling like hotcakes on the 3rd of February.

The t-shirt after this one was also African American-themed, with a flag and the text “Black History”. Sales for this product boomed from the 30th of January until the end of February.

Why is that?

Because Black History month starts on the 1st of February and ends on the 1st of March. This means that merch related to this theme is bound to receive some good attraction. And for you as a seller, this means a massive opportunity. Black History month is every year. If you want to tap into this trend and enjoy more sales, you can have your African American-themed merch ready to sell by the start of January. List it on Etsy at the middle of the month and watch your sales grow as the 1st of February approaches.

You can double-check how other products from the niche have performed by looking at Merch Hunter. Type in a keyword that is related to the holiday, trend, or occasion and look at the BSR history of the top-selling products. This will show you when the most sales were registered. You can also use the Merch Calendar to get a full picture of when certain holidays are and always prepare in advance.

After all, creating a great design takes some time and you want to be sure that you’re ready on time to enjoy the sales peaks.

Note: These results will constantly change depending on how well a shirt or niche is doing on Amazon so make sure to check back regularly!

How Can You Use Timing To Grow Your POD Sales?

As a merch seller on Amazon, you want to have the comfort of knowing that you can make decent sales throughout the whole year. However, seasonality can hurt your performance if you fail to grab the opportunity and turn it into an advantage. For example, let’s say that your products are only based on the St. Valentine’s niche. You probably enjoy a lot of sales in January and February, but what about the rest of the year?

Being aware of seasonality and taking into account the different seasonal trends and holidays, will guarantee a steady income all year round, without any dramatic dips in your sales numbers.

By using the insights that Merch Informer offers, you can be ahead of the trends and ahead of the competition. You can create your designs to meet buyers’ needs, growing not only your sales but your portfolio as well.

In Conclusion

There is seasonality in the print-on-demand merch business and as a seller on Amazon, being aware of it will make a difference in your sales record. By using the various Merch Informer tools in unison, you will be able to gain valuable insights on seasonal trends and prepare to launch the products that you know will sell.