How to Set Up Merchandise

Adding Merchandise is a great way to upsell additional items (shop products, stock or inventory) to customers and increase your revenue.

In this article we’ll guide you through setting up a new Merchandise item, updating existing Merchandise items and cross-selling tools.

What is Merchandise?

Merchandise in Spektrix are purchasable non-Ticket Items. For example:

• Programs
• T-shirts
• Memorabilia
• Additional fees
• Parking passes
• Drink tickets

Merchandise can be sold via the Sales Interface and online. Merchandise can also be recommended for specific Events at checkout in both the Sales Interface and online. For example, recommending a show’s program as an add-on when purchasing Tickets to that Event.

TIP: In some cases, some add-on items might be more suitable as a Supplementary Event. Supplementary Events are set up as Events which you can then link to other Events. Supplementary Events would let your organization manage capacity and pricing for the add-ons. For example, you can link parking passes to Tickets to an Event Instance so they are limited in quantity for the Instance.

In Spektrix, you can set two delivery methods against Merchandise: COBO/Will Call or Post. Postal deliveries can also calculate any postage and packing/shipping and handling fees for each Merchandise item.

You can also add and track additional information for your Merchandise items. For example, you can add Merchandise Attributes to indicate which performance an Item is for. You can also add a Merchandise Reference for each Item in your Basket/Cart in the Sales Interface. For example, indicating the color or size of each item.

The Merchandise feature in Spektrix also lets your organization track and record the Cost of Goods, selling price and stock quantity.

In Spektrix, you can segment on Customers who have purchased Merchandise items.

You can also report on Merchandise sales with Standard Reports, for example Merchandise Analysis, or even create Custom Reports.

Setting Up New Merchandise

TIP: Setting up new Merchandise takes place in the Admin Interface. To access the Admin Interface, you’ll need the General Administrator Role. If you don’t have this Role, ask the Settings Administrator in your organization to add this Role to your User Account.

To add a new item of Merchandise, go to the Admin Interface > Other > Merchandise.

Here you’ll see all Merchandise items on your system:

Here you can search Merchandise by Name and/or Quantity. You can also uncheck the Active? box to include Merchandise items currently not on sale. Once you’ve set your search parameters, click the Search button.

To add a new Merchandise item, click Add at the bottom-right of the screen.

Here are the steps for setting up a new Merchandise item:

1. Setting up Basic Details (Required)
2. Adjusting Stock Quantity
3. Adding Website Content to Sell Merchandise Online
4. Linking Merchandise to Related Events
5. Choosing Cross Selling Options
6. Creating a Merchandise Ticket Design

1. Add Basic Details

After clicking Add, the New Stock Item screen will appear:

Add the following details:

1. Name (Required): Give your Merchandise item a descriptive name. This will appear in the Sales Interface and online.
    
2. Description: Provide optional information about the Merchandise item.
    
3. Image: Upload an optional [.jpg], or [.jpeg] image that will appear in your Sales Interface, and depending on your integration, on your website. The image file size should be 4MB or under.
    
4. Image Alt Text: This box will appear once you have uploaded an image and will let you enter an image description for web accessibility.
    
5. Cost Price (Required): Enter the amount an item costs to produce. This is mainly used for reporting purposes and will not be visible to the customer.
    
6. Sale Price (Required): Enter the Price of the Merchandise item. This is visible to the customer.

   TIP: If you are required to charge Tax or VAT on your Merchandise item, this should be included in the Price. For more information on VAT, read VAT in Spektrix (UK and Ireland). For more information on Tax, read Tax in Spektrix (US and Canada).

   
    
7. Postage and Packaging?: If shipping is made available, enter the amount for the cost of shipping per Merchandise item. When a Customer selects Post as the Merchandise’s Delivery Method, this value will be automatically added to the Merchandise item. This is separate from any Delivery Commissions. If you’re not planning to ship any items, you can enter 0.
    
8. Track Stock Quantity?: Check this box if you’d like to track stock quantity. This will enable the Stock Quantity line and the Adjust Quantity button on the Basic Details and Merchandise screens.
    
9. Stock Quantity: This will appear when you check Track Stock Quantity?. When adding a new Merchandise item, the Stock Quantity will start at 0. The number can be adjusted after completing this screen.
    
10. Tax Code: Select the tax code for the item that can be used for financial reporting. For more information on VAT, read VAT in Spektrix (UK and Ireland). For more information on Tax, read Tax in Spektrix (US and Canada).
     
11. Ticket Design: Merchandise Ticket Designs can be used for receipts or Merchandise Vouchers. Select a design or None. For more information on creating a Merchandise Ticket Design, check the section Create a Merchandise Ticket Design.

    TIP: You can only print a Merchandise Ticket Design from the Sales Interface. Merchandise Ticket Designs are not available as Print at Home/e-tickets or Digital Passes. In order to print a Merchandise Ticket Design, you must request for the feature to be switched on. Please contact Support.

    
     
12. Active?: Check this box to make the Merchandise item active. This will make the Merchandise item visible and available for sale.
     
13. Merchandise Attribute: Add any Merchandise Attributes, including required Attributes.

Once you’ve entered the required information, click Add.

The Merchandise will be added to your system and will be available for sale on the Sales Interface.

Additional screens will be available in the Item’s Stock Item Details screen. These are optional details and settings:

1. Adjust Quantity (button): Increase or decrease the quantity of your Merchandise item.
    
2. Website: Indicate if you’re planning to sell your Merchandise item online. Add content for the Merchandise’s page on your website.
    
3. Related Events: Select Events to Link your Merchandise item to. Enabling this will recommend the Merchandise item to Customers while purchasing Tickets to the specified Events.
    
4. Cross Selling Options: Set how many Items are recommended. This can be based on the number of Tickets (for example, recommend one program per Ticket or one food voucher for every three tickets) or a fixed quantity (for example, one parking pass).
    
5. Audit: The audit screen tracks the editing history of the Merchandise item.
    

2. Adjust Stock Quantity

If you’ve opted to track stock quantity, you can add stock quantity, from the Basic Details screen. Click the Adjust Quantity button on the lower right.

The Adjust stock quantity pop-up will appear:

In Adjust by, enter the quantity you’d like to adjust by and click either the Increase or Decrease button.

For example, if you’d like to add an initial stock of 100, enter 100 and click the Increase button.

Click OK to save and return to the Stock Item Details screen.

3. Add Website Content (Online Merchandise)

If you’d like to sell your Merchandise item online, click Website on the left menu.

From the Website screen, click Edit to add Website details:

1. Displayed on Website: Check this box to display your Merchandise item online.
    
2. Allow Postal Delivery on website: Check this box if you’d like to make shipping available.
    
3. Website Content: Add content using wikitext. This could be a description of your Merchandise item, details about shipping or collecting the Merchandise item and/or other relevant details. Click Preview to preview your website content.

Click Save to make the Merchandise item available for purchase on your website. Click Cancel to discard any unsaved changes.

TIP: If the Merchandise item is Active and the Displayed on Website box is checked, the Merchandise item will be made available online immediately.

4. Link to Related Events

To automatically recommend the Merchandise item to customers purchasing Tickets to a specific Event, click Related Events on the left menu.

TIP: The Merchandise item must be Active to be recommended in the Sales Interface. The Displayed on Website box must also be checked to be recommended during the online purchase path.

From the Related Events screen, select an Event from the dropdown and click Add. Repeat this step for each Event you’d like to include:

TIP: When you add one or more related Events, a customer will only need to add Tickets for at least one of the Events for the recommended Merchandise item to be displayed.

If you’d like to remove an Event, click the red X button next to its name.

Once you’ve selected your related Events, you’ll then need to move onto the next step and choose cross selling options.

5. Choose Cross Selling Options

Cross selling options display the default number of recommended Merchandise items along the online purchase path.

TIP: In the Sales Interface, the Sales User will need to manually input the number of Merchandise items.

To set up online cross selling options for the recommended Merchandise item, click Cross Selling Options on the left menu.

Click the Edit button to select how many Merchandise items should be recommended by default:

The options are:

• Always the same number of items as event tickets: For example, one program for each Ticket added to the Basket/Cart.
   
• Always _ item(s): When selecting this option, enter the number of items for each Order. For example, one parking pass per Order.
   
• Always _ item(s) for every _ ticket(s): When selecting this option, enter the number of items and the number of Tickets in each Order. For example, one food voucher for every two tickets.
   

TIP: The default number can be adjusted by the Customer during the online purchase path. For example, a Customer can add an extra show program to the default number.

6. Create a Merchandise Ticket Design

To select a Merchandise Ticket Design, you’ll need to first create a Merchandise Ticket Design, if you haven’t done so already.

Merchandise Ticket Designs are created in the Admin Interface > Document Designs > Merchandise.

The Merchandise Ticket is designed using the Ticket Design Tool. For more information on how to create designs, read The Ticket Design Tool article.

Available fields for the Merchandise Ticket Design include:

Other available fields include:

• Order Details
• Customer Information
• Pricing Information

TIP: In order to print a Merchandise Ticket Design as part of the sale, you must request that the feature be switched on. Please contact Support.

Editing Merchandise

You can update your Merchandise item by following these instructions:

1. Click on its name in the Merchandise screen.
2. Select the menu item on the left where you’d like to make changes.
3. Click the Edit button to make changes.
4. Click Save to confirm changes or Cancel to discard any unsaved changes.

Edits to the Merchandise item won’t affect any previous purchases. For example, the price of a previously sold Merchandise item will still report at the Price at the time it was charged.

Changes made to the Merchandise item will be tracked on the Audit screen:

Changes can be tracked by the most recent or oldest update and include the User, Action and Date of Action.

Updating Stock Quantity

As purchases are made through Spektrix, the stock quantity will automatically adjust. For example, if a customer purchases two mugs online, the stock quantity will be reduced by two after the purchase is confirmed.

However, you may need to manually adjust the stock quantity. You can increase or decrease your inventory in two ways:

1. From the Merchandise listing page: Click the Adjust Qty button next to the Merchandise item:
   
   

   

   REMINDER: If the Track Stock Quantity box is not checked, you will see a dash in the Quantity column and the Adjust Qty will be greyed out.

2. From the Basic Details page: Click the Merchandise item name. From the Basic Details page, click the Adjust Quantity button in the bottom right.

The Adjust stock quantity pop-up will appear:

• To add stock: Enter the number to increase by and click the Increase button.
• To remove stock: Enter the number to reduce by and click the Decrease button.

Click Ok to save the changes and the new stock quantity will be updated.
 

Key Takeaways and Further Reading

• Merchandise are purchasable non-Ticket Items that can be bought through the Sales Interface or online.
   
• Merchandise can be linked to related Events and be recommended at checkout when a Customer purchases Tickets to the related Event.
   
• Recommendations during the online purchase path can be based on the number of Tickets in the Basket/Cart or at a fixed quantity.
   
• You can track stock quantity for your Merchandise item and increase or decrease the quantity manually.

Learn how to sell Merchandise by reading the article Selling Merchandise.