There are many reasons you want to sell more of your gym’s branded items:

1. Proshop items are profitable! This is a great way to bring in extra revenue for your gym.
2. This is a great way to keep your brand in the front-of-mind for potential customers. There’s nothing I love more than seeing a Twisters shirt in the grocery store—well, there is one thing: Seeing a Twisters shirt on a kid at school!
3. When people buy apparel, they are showing loyalty to your business and an intent to stay for a period of time. This indicates strong potential for retention.

For many years, I knew these things, but my proshop was little more than a few T-shirts here and there and a wholesale leotard program (unfortunately, I can’t recommend that anymore with the changes the company made to the program). I would hear Dan or Shelley say how great their proshop sales were and how they had this item or that item sell out last week. I tried some of the tactics they were using, but with such a huge percentage of our gym attending only once per week for recreational tumbling, I wasn’t seeing much return.

Tips for Planning Your Proshop

Fast forward a few years, and I can now confidently look back and say Dan and Shelley’s ideas worked. It took some time, but I just needed to figure out how to adapt their ideas for the recreational market. It was simpler than I expected.

Focus on Pre-Order Items

This was the first thing I did. I stopped taking huge risks on items that had a minimum order of 50-75. I wasn’t going to purchase in hopes that I’d have plenty of people who loved the item as much as I did. So, I shifted my sales to almost entirely online. If you didn’t preorder an item, it wasn’t likely you’d be able to get it. If I needed to sell 25 and I only sold 22, you might get lucky and get one of the three remaining items I purchased to meet the minimum, but those would probably be youth larges to fit the masses.

Systemize Proshop

I started using my website way more effectively. The proshop feature on my site became the number one way to sell items. I was no longer passing out flyers and hoping people would stop by the front desk. Instead, I’d post flyers and email my gym members with a quick link to make an easy purchase. If it’s not simple, people will forget or procrastinate. When this happens, you don’t sell things, so make it simple!

Plan Ahead

Today, I have a subscription box, and we’re always planning ahead. In addition, I have certain times of the year that I advertise and sell things like warm ups, backpacks, team apparel and end-of-season apparel. I don’t do a lot of guessing because I’ve trained my parents to know what to expect and when to expect it. If you want a warm-up jacket, you’ll need to order it in October. If you want it in February, you’ll have to wait. This ensures I always meet my minimums and creates a demand. I am also strategic to ensure I’m offering and receiving the most expensive items right before Christmas to ensure I’ll always have plenty of them ordered.

Create an Internal Marketing Plan

This is something gym owners don’t do enough at all! When I was in the Air Force, there were three audiences we did our media for: Internal (Airmen), External (Media) and Community Members (Local Civilians). In your gym, you should be marketing to three audiences as well: Current Members, Prospects and Non-Avatar Community Members. The types of marketing you do for these three audiences is vastly different.

In this case, we’re talking about our current members. They’re the people who are going to be buying your proshop items over anyone else. Do you have a solid marketing plan to reach your current members? (Hint: Email is part of it … but email alone is not enough.)

An internal marketing plan includes things like:

• Email and SMS marketing
• Flyers and posters strategically placed around your gym
• Announcement TVs
• Verbal announcements
• Ambassadors and “influencers” in your gym

A large part of effective internal marketing is simply packaging it in a way your current customers can appreciate. I make it as easy as possible to order. Every internal sales poster has a QR code in the corner that links directly to my website for sales. It has the order closeout date, the apparel’s specs, customization options and the approximate date the item will arrive.

A great proshop doesn’t have to take up tons of space in your gym or cost you a fortune. You just need to offer items your parents actually want and make ordering simple. You’ll also need suppliers that can actually live up to their word and deliver on time with the expected level of quality.

Your proshop is more than just a way to sell T-shirts—it’s an extension of your brand and a tool for building loyalty and revenue. Start by creating a plan that works for your gym’s unique audience. Whether it’s offering affordable pre-order items, streamlining your sales process, or crafting a killer internal marketing plan, small changes can lead to big results. So, what will your proshop plan for 2025 look like?