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It’s not just more fans. It’s how venues are capturing demand — and turning more buying moments into revenue.
Read time:
4
minutes
It’s not just more fans. It’s how venues are capturing demand — and turning more buying moments into revenue.
Across venues, festivals, and sports, one trend is clear: record-breaking attendance is being matched by record-breaking merchandise sales.
But the biggest takeaway from 2025 is that merch growth wasn’t capped by demand. It was capped by access.
The venues seeing the strongest results weren’t simply benefiting from more fans in the building. They were changing how those fans were able to buy — expanding access, reducing friction, and reacting faster in the moment.
For years, merchandise was anchored to fixed locations. In 2025, the venues outperforming didn’t just stock better products — they built better access.
That means exterior merch trailers, entry-point stands, distributed concourse selling, limited-assortment pop-ups, and mobile sellers during peak windows.
The strongest results showed up in larger venues, where distribution mattered most. The best operators were capturing fans earlier, reducing pinch-point congestion, and creating more ways to buy before demand stalled.
Mobile ordering is one of the clearest examples of how access changes the outcome. It is not just a convenience feature. It changes when and how fans buy.
Instead of forcing a rushed decision in front of a stand, mobile ordering gives fans control over when they browse, what they see, and how they complete the purchase.
That reduces line friction, increases product visibility, and drives higher average order value — especially during the windows when fixed stands start to fall behind.
Premium and VIP fans are some of the highest-intent buyers in the building. They are also some of the least served by a traditional concourse-only merch model.
They don’t want to leave the suite, walk the concourse, and stand in line. When buying is brought to them — through in-suite ordering, premium-area mobile selling, or concierge-style delivery — conversion rises.
The opportunity isn’t just better service. It’s access to buyers who already have stronger spend potential and higher intent.
Most venues used to understand performance after the event. The best operators now understand it during the event.
When teams can see inventory movement, revenue by zone, per-cap pacing, and premium activity in real time, they can react before revenue is missed.
That means protecting top sellers, shifting labor, preventing early sell-outs, and making better decisions while the event is still live.
Record merch growth in 2025 did not come from attendance alone.
It came from operators who built more access into the event: more distributed selling points, mobile ordering that reduced line dependency, premium buying paths that matched premium intent, and real-time visibility that let teams react faster.
These are not separate tactics. They reinforce each other. And when they do, the result is more buying moments, higher conversion, and more revenue captured across the full event.
Published:
March 3, 2026
