Summary
- Taylor Swift's online store rakes in millions annually, making her merchandise one of the most successful in the music industry.
- Despite financial success, Swift's merchandise has faced criticism.
- Concerns linger about how merchandise complaints are handled by Swift's team.
Over time, it has become increasingly obvious that the music industry is broken down into two categories; Taylor Swift and everyone else. Since Swift is so immensely popular, her fans chronicle virtually everything including her off-script moments, her decision to turn down the Super Bowl, and more.
Since Swift's fans are so connected to her, the singer has been able to amass an incredible fortune. What many of Swift's fans don't realize, however, is that Swift makes a staggering amount of money from her online store despite poor reviews of her merchandise.
This article will look at how much money Swift appears to be making from her online store. Following that, the article will examine what has caused Swift's merchandise to be panned by many fans.
Taylor Swift Makes A Fortune From Her Online Store Annually
Based on what has been reported on Taylor Swift's merchandise sales in the past, there is no doubt that her online store is a monumental success. After all, considering what has been reported, Swift's online store almost certainly brings in tens, if not, hundreds of millions annually. While that may sound hard to believe for some, that reasoning will be explained below.
In 2023, Forbes reported that Swift sold $200 million worth of merchandise to concertgoers during her Eras tour. While that is a staggering number, it becomes more interesting when you look deeper into the numbers.
Which stars make a fortune from merchandise, according to The Richest?
- Shawn Mendes
- Eminem
- The Weeknd
- Ariana Grande
- Justin Bieber
- Lady Gaga
- Harry Styles
In 2023, Variety reported that Swift sold 4.35 million tickets to her Eras tour between November 2022 and November 2023. Between Variety and Forbes reports, it is possible to figure out a fascinating fact about Swift's Eras tour.
Considering how many tickets Swift fans bought for her Eras tour and how much merchandise she sold, concertgoers spent a lot at her shows. For 4.35 million people to spend $200 million on merchandise, the average concert would have to get roughly $46 worth of merchandise.
Of course, at face value, it may seem like Swift's tour merchandise sales have no bearing on the success of her online store. However, that figure sheds light on why it is reasonable to believe Swift's online store brings in hundreds of millions annually.
In 2023, the San Francisco news station KRON 4 reported on a study conducted by Pens.com. According to that study, there were 350,367 monthly searches for Taylor Swift merchandise. When multiplied by twelve months, that would mean there are 4,204,404 searches for Taylor Swift merchandise annually.
Of course, some of those searches won't lead to sales and some people may buy Swift merchandise that isn't official or secondhand. With that in mind, you could reasonably imagine that half of those searches led to purchases from Swift's online store.
If you multiply 2,102,202 by 46, that would mean Swift's online store would make $96,701,292 annually. While that figure is impressive, it seems very likely that the number is on the lower side and possibly by a wide margin.
When Swift's fans attend her concerts, the majority will have to pay for things like food, drinks, and parking, among other things. Of course, that is to say, nothing about how wildly expensive Swift's concert tickets are in the first place.
However, when Swift's fans go to her online merchandise store, they might have to pay for shipping and handling. With that in mind, it seems a lot more likely that Swift's fans or their loved ones would be willing to spend more than $46.
In February 2024, StyleCaster reported that the face value of tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras tour ranged from $49 to $499. However, Buzzfeed reported that many of Swift's fans had to pay resale prices to attend her concerts. According to Buzzfeed, the average price paid to resellers for Eras tickets was $700.
Either way, it seems hard to deny that Swift's store brings in almost $100 million annually at least.
Why Taylor Swift's Merchandise Has Been Controversial
Considering that Taylor Swift sells so much merchandise each year, the sad truth is that things are going to go wrong. Packages are going to get lost, products are going to be defective, and fans are going to be disappointed sometimes. However, Axios published a report showing that an alarmingly large number of Swift fans have complained about her merchandise online.
As the first paragraph of Axios' article details, one Swift fan complained about their thin and "terrible" $40 tote bag. Another one of Swift's fans posted about how the shirt they bought from the pop star came with a stained collar.
Sadly, those are only two of the many complaints about Swift's merchandise that her fans have registered online. Worse yet, Axios reports that Swift's fans have used a wide array of avenues to express their frustrations. Those avenues include Swift subreddits, on X, and virtually every other major social media network.
Unfortunately, one of the most common complaints about Swift's merchandise is focused on how long items take to arrive. That became a major problem when a lot of Swift merchandise that was supposed to arrive before Christmas didn't come on time.
Things got so bad that, according to Axios' report, Universal Music Group's merchandise division had to apologize. Blaming the situation on too much demand, UMG reportedly promised to give refunds to every customer whose products didn't arrive on time.
