For over a decade, the Pond Hockey Classic has brought thousands of players and fan together across multiple events each winter. But like many large events, managing merchandise across locations, inventory levels, and online sales presented ongoing challenges.

In 2026, the Pond Hockey Classic partnered with Merched to rethink how event merchandise could operate — combining on-site retail, direct-to-consumer e-commerce, and inventory-light logistics into a single system.

The result: stronger sales, better inventory management, and a significantly improved customer experience across three major events.

The Challenge

Running merchandise for multi-day sporting events can be complex.

Historically, the Pond Hockey Classic relied on a traditional event merch model:

• Large upfront inventory commitments

• Limited product variety on-site

• Risk of over-ordering or selling out

• Minimal integration between on-site and online sales

With three major tournaments in the same season, organizers needed a better way to manage:

• Inventory across multiple events

• Online and on-site sales simultaneously

• Post-event revenue opportunities

The goal was clear: create a merch program that was both scalable and risk-managed.

The Merched Approach

Merched implemented a hybrid merchandise operation combining:

• On-site retail sales

• Direct-to-consumer e-commerce

• Inventory-light fulfillment

• Centralized logistics and warehousing

The system operated across three Pond Hockey Classic events, including:

• New England Pond Hockey Classic

• Lake Champlain Pond Hockey Classic

• U.S. Pond Hockey Championships

All merchandise was unified under the Pond Hockey Co. online store:

www.PondHockeyCo.com

This allowed fans and players to shop both at the rink and online through the same brand ecosystem.

Fully Branded Product Line

Merched worked with the Pond Hockey Classic team to develop a fully branded merchandise collection built around proven apparel products.

The strategy focused on:

• High-quality apparel bases

• Strong event branding

• Products fans would actually wear

Key elements included:

• Hoodies

• Long sleeves

• premium t-shirts

• crews

• hats

Instead of offering too many items on-site, the team implemented a focused retail assortment designed for high sell-through during the event.

Meanwhile, the online store expanded the assortment with:

• additional designs

• more colorways

• extended size runs

This allowed the event to capture demand without overloading physical inventory.

Inventory-Light Operations

One of the biggest operational changes was moving to an inventory-light model.

When specific products or sizes sold out on-site, Merched's backend system enabled staff to:

• continue selling the item

• capture the order digitally

• fulfill the product post-event

This prevented lost sales and ensured customers could still purchase items that were no longer available on the table.

The result was higher overall sell-through with lower inventory risk.

Rapid Inventory Refresh Between Events

With three events scheduled close together, merchandise logistics became especially important.

During the season, several popular SKUs and sizes sold out early at the first event.

Because Merched manages production and fulfillment internally, the team was able to:

• quickly reorder high-demand items

• replenish inventory between events

• adjust size ratios based on real sales data

This allowed the next event to launch with the right inventory mix based on real demand.

Seamless On-Site Retail

At each event, Merched provided white-glove on-site retail management, including:

• merchandising displays

• point-of-sale systems

• inventory tracking

• sales management

By combining strong product design with professional retail execution, the merchandise booths became a major destination at each tournament.

Compared to the previous year and vendor, on-site merchandise sales increased by over 30%.

Post-Event Sales Strategy

Merched also helped extend merchandise sales beyond the event weekend.

After each tournament, customers received promotional offers and discount codes encouraging them to shop online at:

www.PondHockeyCo.com

This strategy captured additional revenue from:

• players who missed items on-site

• fans who wanted additional merchandise

• customers who discovered the brand after the event

Post-event sales became a meaningful extension of the overall merch program.

Warehousing and Long-Term Sales

Rather than clearing unsold product immediately, Merched also provides warehouse storage for remaining inventory.

This allowed Pond Hockey Classic to:

• continue selling products online year-round

• maintain evergreen merchandise

• leverage future promotional campaigns

Instead of leftover inventory becoming a liability, it became future revenue.

The Results

Across the three events, the Merched system delivered measurable improvements.

Key outcomes included:

• 30% increase in on-site sales

• Increased online revenue through PondHockeyCo.com

• Better sell-through rates

• Reduced inventory risk

• Expanded product assortment online

• Improved operational efficiency

Most importantly, the Pond Hockey Classic was able to run a fully integrated merchandise program without taking on the operational burden.

The Future of Event Merch

The Pond Hockey Classic case demonstrates how modern merchandise programs can evolve beyond traditional models.

By combining product development, e-commerce, fulfillment, and on-site retail, Merched helps events and brands create merchandise programs that are:

• scalable

• inventory-efficient

• operationally simple

• revenue-driven

For organizers, the result is simple:

better merch, less complexity, and more revenue.