How to Set Up a Tennis Club Merchandise Store That Runs Itself

Most tennis clubs that have tried to sell merchandise ran into the same problems. They collected size requests via email, placed a bulk order with a local screen printer, paid upfront, and then dealt with a pile of problems: shirts arrived late, sizes were wrong, members who wanted a shirt missed the window, and unsold inventory sat in a storage room.

The effort required to run a merch program this way is significant. Someone has to coordinate sizes, manage payment collection, handle distribution, and field questions about order status. For volunteer-run clubs, this administrative load kills the program within a season or two.

The Bear Grips model removes all of that friction. You never collect money, never touch a shirt, and never manage sizes. The shop handles all of it automatically.

Here is the complete process to go from zero to a live tennis club shop:

1. Sign up at Bear Grips Pro Shops. Free plan is available immediately. VIP at $59/month unlocks the full catalog.
2. Upload your club logo. Transparent PNG at 300 DPI or higher is ideal. The setup tool walks you through the upload.
3. Choose your starting products. Recommended: polo shirt (men's and women's), performance tee, hat. Start with 3 to 5 items. You can always add more.
4. Set your retail prices. Bear Grips charges the base cost. You set the retail price. Any markup is your club's profit, paid out to you.
5. Copy your shop URL. Your shop gets a unique URL like shops.beargrips.com/yourclubname.
6. Share with members. Email blast, pinned post in your club group, club website link, newsletter. Anywhere your members receive club communications.

The shop is live for orders immediately after setup. There is no waiting for approval or a publishing delay.

There are two philosophies for pricing a club shop, and both work depending on your goals.

Participation-first pricing: Set retail prices at or close to base cost. This maximizes the number of members who buy a shirt, which increases club identity and brand reach. The tradeoff is minimal revenue for the club.

Revenue-first pricing: Add a $10 to $20 markup on each item. Members pay a bit more, but every purchase contributes to the club fund. With 30 to 50 member orders per year, this generates $300 to $1,000 annually with zero effort from club management.

Many clubs find a middle ground: add $8 to $12 markup on shirts and zero markup on hats to encourage hat adoption. Hats are high-frequency items (players wear them every outdoor session) and a hat with your logo in the wild is advertising. Consider hats a loss-leader for brand reach and shirts as your revenue line.

Promotion does not need to be complex. The most effective channel for most clubs is a simple email to the membership list announcing the shop launch, with the URL prominently included.

Follow-up promotion touchpoints that work well:

• Monthly newsletter mention with a featured product
• Pinned post in the club Facebook group or WhatsApp group
• Mention at club events and tournaments
• QR code posted at the check-in desk or bulletin board
• New member welcome email with shop link included

You do not need to run promotions or discounts. The shop is available year-round and members order when they want something. Your job is making sure they know the shop exists, not driving urgency.

For clubs with a physical location, a QR code printed and displayed on the front desk or in the locker room drives steady traffic without any ongoing digital marketing effort.

If setup and ongoing management sound like more than your club's leadership wants to take on, the Done-For-You VIP plan at $109/month removes all remaining effort from your side.

Under Done-For-You VIP, our team:

• Builds your entire shop from your logo
• Applies your design to 15 trending products
• Writes all product titles, descriptions, and metadata
• Sets optimal retail pricing based on what sells at similar clubs
• Updates the shop seasonally (winter gear in fall, summer tees in spring)

You send us your logo once. We deliver a fully operational, professionally organized club shop. Your only job is sharing the URL with members.

See the full guide to tennis club apparel for more details on what to include in your shop.