Is ordering, managing, and distributing branded apparel and swag taking up too much time? Does your current store supplier take too long to ship, or do orders arrive incorrect or with items missing? Do you struggle with ordering the right sizes and distributing company apparel, swag and print to your employees? If any of these questions sound like they’re directed right at you, then it’s time to consider whether an online company store program is the right decision for your business this year.
Still need more convincing? We’ve laid out seven more reasons why an online company store program makes sense for so many businesses.
1. Inventory Control
Your marketing closet is overflowing with outdated swag, 4XL polos and XXS sweaters. The vast majority of marketing or HR departments who do not have an efficient company store program have this closet. Working with a promotional marketing company that can provide a great assortment of branded apparel and swag with quick turnaround times can often eliminate the “marketing closet” – as well as the time spent managing it.
2. Employee Satisfaction
Your current product assortment never seems to make everyone in the company happy. Employees come in all shapes, sizes and with unique tastes. Company store programs that provide a variety of apparel and promotional items with all budgets in mind keep the team happy.
3. Turnaround Time
The turnaround time from your current vendor is weeks, and you need your order in days. Having your “go-to” company uniform or bestselling apparel items inventoried for shipping in less than 48 hours is essential for many businesses, especially for those new hires who need logoed swag or uniforms on day one. If your company can purchase and inventory apparel and swag upfront, your current store vendor should be able to ship those items within 24 hours. Company stores that provide a variety of print-on-demand items will allow a larger variety of products with no warehousing needed. These on-demand items should take 5-7 business days to produce and ship with the right vendor, and partnering with a promotional marketing company with in-house decorating will also likely result in faster turnaround times.
4. Employee Reward
You want to reward employees with store credit or points for a job well done, important milestone or companywide accomplishment. Do you know the number-one factor that separates an often-visited company store from one that employees rarely check out? Company provided store credit, employee rewards or points! Boosting brand awareness, meeting sales goals, celebrating years of service or showing overall employee appreciation are just a few reasons companies provide credit to employees. And keep in mind, the absolute best way to promote a new company store is to load employee credits ahead of a new store launch – that will get the team there in full force!
5. Real-Time Stock Status
You’re certain you purchased enough pens for the next three trade shows but can’t find them anywhere! Again…that “marketing closet!” Lock and key is about the only way to keep employees from grabbing swag on their way to see a client or when they forgot their coffee mug at home. But isn’t that the whole idea? A well-run company store will have real-time inventory levels, alerts when items are running low and fast turnaround times on those often-used products that need to be available right away.
6. Brand Control
You have multiple locations or departments ordering from different suppliers, and your logo never seems to follow your brand guidelines. If you got the entire company together and asked everyone to wear a company logo apparel item, how many different shades of your PMS color would you find in the logos? A company store should eliminate this issue upon launch. Company apparel, promotional products, business cards, trade show displays and all the other marketing collateral items should be printed in the correct PMS color every time! Finding a single promotional marketing company that can print all these items and provide a robust company store solution to fulfill the orders is a marketing department’s dream!
7. Cost Control
We truly have no idea how much is being spent on swag by the employees throughout our company. Obviously, this is music to the ears of most promotional marketing companies. With that said, a company store program that provides fulfillment nation or worldwide can reduce the need for multiple suppliers immediately. Company store software that allows for department budgets, manager order approvals and the ability to control what products employees can and cannot see provides all the functionality needed for one platform to service all employees and company locations.
Request a demo of our company store software and see firsthand how a new online store program this year makes sense for your business.
