Spring Forward With New Merch Ideas
Depending on what part of the country (or world…sorry Australia) you’re in, your definition of Spring may differ.
On March 19, the vernal equinox – the official start date of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere – arrived at exactly 11:06PM EDT on Tuesday, March 19. As of this writing, it’s a few days after, here in New York City, and it’s been colder than a penguin’s tuxedo for the past week. The only thing that seems to have sprung forward here is the clock.
That said, Spring is a time of rebirth, of hope, of blooming, and romance. Whether or not the thermometer reflects this is irrelevant when it comes to merch opportunities – somewhere in the shopping world, a customer has the season in mind, so here are all themes that you can employ in your Merch by Amazon store.
FLOWERS
“Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking.”
Amanda Priestly (Meryl Streep), The Devil Wears Prada
Yes, it may seem an obvious choice, but only if you’ve lived through a punishing winter will you understand the desperation with which one hungers for the sight of a single bud on a branch. Flowers can be the most welcoming sight after hibernating, and cocooning for three to four months of the year bring echoes of the pandemic lockdown for three to four years of one’s life. Do not underestimate how that weird period in our history has created sense memories for the world.
Even if it’s still cold outside, you can warm up a customer’s igloo with spring-themed throw pillows. Some folks (well, my wife) change out accent pillows seasonally to freshen up the house and get in the spirit of the time of year. Amazon offers two sizes of throw pillows: 16” x 16” and 18” x 18” and either size makes a big difference depending on the size of the room or the furniture within it.
Floral patterns can produce a similar visual cue as flowers themselves when properly positioned. Here are a few examples of Merch By Amazon (now called “Amazon on Demand” in listings) designers – 2-4 pillows in a room can brighten up one’s living space like a spray of fresh cuttings.
Even if it’s not the kind of weather to go outside with just a t-shirt by itself, you can signal the onset (or desire for same) with a bright illustration of horticultural beauty. Now, unlike the pillow format, Merch by Amazon’s print area for t-shirts is limited to 4500 x 5400 pixels, so be creative with the limited space.
Below are some examples of eye-catching floral designs that – importantly – use negative space to free themselves of the limits of Amazon’s borders:
Also, keep in mind the wide variety of colors available in Merch by Amazon apparel – they can act as an additional shade in your design’s palette, as shown in the example above right.
Sweatshirts and hoodies are great for those last chilly breezes that punctuate early mornings and late nights of the season, such as in the examples below:
BASEBALL
“A man becomes preeminent; he’s expected to have enthusiasms. What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? Baseball!”
Al Capone (Robert DeNiro), The Untouchables
Even before they got paid the big bucks, the appearance of players on newly-cut grass heralded Spring and the coming of warmer times.
Whether you go to the occasional game with a hot dog and a cold brew or have season tickets and have stats float in your head like Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, you know that the sport is the Great American Pastime. It is the great gathering of loyal but long-suffering fans (“Hi, my name is Joe, and I’m a Mets fan.” “Hi, Joe…”) who spend their lives rooting for the home team.
Of course, Amazon abounds with official team merchandise (and we need to stress, DON’T MAKE MERCH WITH OFFICIAL TEAM LOGOS – that’ll get you thrown out of the game), but there are many ways your customers will want to display their affection for the team.
The dawning of the season alone is enough to give enthusiasts a reason to celebrate, as shown in the examples below:
And, even though there is no shortage of official team merchandise, there are some kinds of messages that fans want to express that would never make it out of the pitch (sorry) stage in the design departments of the leagues. Again, I offer my poor Mets as an example with this brilliant design that takes the classic “Let’s Go Mets” slogan and flavors it with the exasperation of fans with the addition of a simple letter:
2024 SOLAR ECLIPSE
“I knew that the only total eclipse of the sun in the first half of the sixth century occurred on the twenty-first of June, A.D. 528 o.s., and began at three minutes after twelve noon.”
In Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court, the time traveling protagonist uses this historical knowledge to convince his medieval executioners that he had the magical power to blot out the sun, and therefore was too important to be beheaded.
Why is this a momentous occasion? Because after this one, there won’t be another one visible across most of the contiguous United States until August 23, 2044. That’s almost as long a wait as the typical Mets fan has for a playoff, so those who want to mark the occasion will certainly want to let the world know that they were part of a community that bore witness to it.
It can be as important a once-in-a-lifetime event as that band reunion no-one ever expected (I will, sadly, go to my grave never having seen Led Zeppelin perform live) or the groundbreaking of an important memorial. Like those events, someone’s gonna be selling merch outside, so all the more reason you should consider creating souvenirs around it like the examples below:
Seasonal merchandise can be tricky, but the creativity and cleverness of the examples within should provide ample inspiration for you. Spring in 2024 continues until Thursday, June 20, which still gives you a full three months to tap into your own creativity and cleverness. And with the speed and reach of Merch By Amazon, you can plant the seeds that will make your revenue bloom.
