Building a Year-Round Merch Strategy: Ideas to Keep Your Brewery’s Fans Engaged

Merchandise is more than just an occasional offering for special events or new beer releases—it can be a year-round revenue stream that keeps your fans engaged with your brand. By building a strategic, year-round merch plan, your brewery can continue to delight customers, create seasonal buzz, and boost sales throughout the year.

In this post, we’ll explore how to build a year-round merchandise strategy that keeps your fans excited and engaged, no matter the season.

1. Plan for Seasonal Releases

One of the best ways to keep your merchandise fresh is to align new products with the seasons. Offer summer-specific items like tank tops, beach towels, or sunglasses in the warmer months, while fall and winter are great for cozy hoodies, beanies, and scarves. Seasonal merchandise taps into your customers’ lifestyle needs while staying relevant and fresh year-round. You can also create seasonal artwork and collaborate with artists to give fans something new each season.

2. Use Limited-Edition Drops to Create Urgency

To maintain excitement around your merchandise, consider offering limited-edition drops throughout the year. Whether it’s a special collaboration or a one-off design tied to a seasonal beer release, limited-edition items create a sense of urgency for fans to buy now before it’s too late. These drops can also be timed around holidays, special brewery events, or anniversaries to drive sales and keep your fans coming back for more.

3. Offer Core Merch All Year Long

While seasonal and limited-edition items are exciting, it’s also important to offer a core line of merchandise that fans can purchase year-round. Classic t-shirts, hats, and pint glasses with your brewery’s logo are must-haves for any merch lineup. These evergreen items not only give your fans something they can always count on but also reinforce your brand identity and keep your brewery top of mind.

4. Rotate Merchandise for Special Events and Beer Releases

If your brewery frequently releases new beers or hosts events, tie your merchandise offerings to these occasions. Create special designs around new beer releases, or offer event-specific merch to commemorate festivals, tap takeovers, or anniversary parties. Rotating your merch to reflect what’s happening at the brewery helps keep fans engaged and provides another reason for them to visit your taproom or online store.

5. Create Subscription Boxes for Year-Round Engagement

If you want to take your merch strategy to the next level, consider offering a subscription box. Brewery fans love to feel connected to their favorite brands, and a quarterly subscription box filled with exclusive merch, limited-edition beer releases, and other goodies is the perfect way to keep them engaged all year. This strategy not only builds a sense of community but also provides a steady stream of recurring revenue for your brewery.

6. Keep Fans in the Loop with Email and Social Media

Once your year-round merch strategy is in place, it’s important to keep your fans informed. Use email newsletters and social media to promote new drops, seasonal releases, and limited-edition items. By building anticipation and excitement around your merch, you can encourage fans to visit your website or taproom more frequently. Don’t forget to share behind-the-scenes content, like sneak peeks of new designs or production updates, to keep your audience engaged.

Bout It Makes It Easy to Manage Year-Round Merch

At Bout It, we make it easy for breweries to offer seasonal and year-round merchandise through our Merch As A Service (MAAS) model. From design to production and fulfillment, we handle the entire process, so you can focus on crafting great beer while keeping your fans engaged with high-quality merch all year long.