Creating a small retail arm at your gym

Back in the day, you had to find somewhere to buy uniforms when you started training and somewhere to buy new belts from after grading. There were no online retailers, and martial arts retail shops were few and far between. So, finding a new belt was often a real adventure.

Nowadays, most martial arts schools buy enough belts to award at a grading, but most still require students to find their own uniforms. We still get many inquiries from people wanting to buy their uniforms or belts from us as they can't source them through their school.

When they join, providing new students with uniforms shows that you are a well-organised school that cares about its new members. Providing a belt as part of a successful grading shows that you recognise the student's effort to prepare for their new grade.

Schools that do not provide their new members (or existing members who need a new uniform) with uniforms when they join – or with new belts when they grade – are missing out on another revenue stream.

Schools have three potential revenue streams: membership fees, grading fees, and product sales. Grading fees and product sales (uniforms, belts, protective gear, and other training equipment) are probably relatively minor in the scheme of things but provide a modest revenue stream that can benefit all members, such as replacing old and worn equipment like kicking pads.

If you decide to set up a retail side for your school, uniforms will probably be your main product.

The number of uniforms you should have on hand for your members depends on the size of your school, but you should probably have one in each possible size your members use at a minimum.

If you only train adults, only five uniform sizes are required, e.g., sizes 3 to 7. If you train only children, you need only five uniform sizes, e.g., sizes 000 to 2. If you train all ages, you may need one each of all ten sizes, but drop off the less used sizes in your school. The number of uniforms you have will also depend on your available storage space.

Belts you don't need to stock unless you do regular gradings and want to have a few on hand.

Some larger schools may stock multiple uniforms of the same size and a wider range of equipment, such as protective sparring gear and other equipment. Still, you need to be careful not to tie up your school funds in too much stock or in items that are not core to your activities and do not turn over regularly.

The margin you should charge also needs to be carefully calculated. You want to make the items less expensive than what your members can obtain from elsewhere. Most martial arts retailers, including ourselves, offer less than retail prices to our regular customers. So, you could just charge the difference between the retail price and the price you bought the item for as your margin.

Remember, it is also about making uniforms and equipment easier for your students to obtain, so any margins must also be fair to them.