7 Benefits of Building a Branded E-Commerce Store

Many times we hear from our clients their branded custom merchandise isn’t different enough from what they see their competitors have. Year after year, they see and settle on the same old, same old.

Thanks to suppliers that hand out heavyweight catalogs filled with thousands of options to choose from, this problem has become the status quo, and it seems too big of an issue or time sink to find something outside of this box.

Additionally, when custom merchandise is managed in-house, it’s often disparately done, taking space in multiple supply closets, stored across basement shelves, shoved in desk drawers, or stacked in unopened boxes.

No one quite knows what’s what or what is needed. Many are left to their own devices, ordering from multiple vendors, risking brand consistency, item uniqueness and quality, missing deadlines, and cost savings.

Those looking at the company’s budget are equally as frustrated, they don’t know where or how to track this kind of spend, making bottom line forecasting even more of a headache.

It’s time not only to source different items that extend your brand in a unique way and establish a real connection with your audience, but it’s time to change the way your company’s merchandise is housed, inventoried, and sold/distributed.

Maintain and control brand consistency

An e-commerce store can be leveraged across the company by different teams no matter their business objectives, including:

  • HR leaders: Uses custom merchandise for employee onboarding, internal advocacy, and fostering company culture.
  • Marketing executives: Looking to remain on-brand with the trendiest items for internal and external events to help differentiate the brand, equip a sales team with go-to items for leave-behinds at meetings, and build brand awareness.
  • Event planners: Seeks quality on-brand items that help enhance the event’s experience and make it memorable to build loyalty and affinity for the brand.

One point-of-contact, one site location

Maybe your company has a national presence. The office in LA can now be as on-brand with the New York office since ordering takes place from one centralized location: the company’s e-commerce store.

Employees across the company will know exactly where to go to order branded swag and not be tempted or left to find another resource on their own. How many times do we see this happen and one team at a company comes up with their own branding that is totally not in line with the actual company’s branding?

E-commerce stores can be the solution to this very real and highly cringe-worthy problem.

E-commerce stores allow you to skip steps in the ordering process, by choosing from products that have already been brand developed and brand-approved. The item is ready to be shipped immediately.

Easy ordering

With one website centralizing all the company’s custom merchandise no matter the item, you can skip those frustrating “hurry-up-and-wait” steps that come with approvals, design production, and processing. Everything in the store is pre-approved and pre-designed by the company's brand team.

E-commerce stores can track department budgets to know exactly how much you’ve spent on items and the budget that you have left.

Build a hold inventory

Stock up on popular items, like premium products such as hoodies or custom jackets. These items, along with your entire inventory, can be stored and at-the-ready to order from the website.

Securing inventory by bulk purchasing means that you don’t have to wait for a new shipment when say, a VIP client is dropping by at the end of the week and you want them to leave with some branded swag or a great new opportunity comes to the surface.

Stress-free inventory management

When inventory gets slim, our team will let you know when it’s time to pull the trigger on ordering more, so you never have to stress if you’re going to run out!

Robust reporting

For those at your company, maybe you, who look at the data to determine success, an e-commerce store is full of great data to help determine reach, impact, accurate and categorized spend, and effectiveness. Run reports on sales, who views what, and what items are popular and which are not.

Order quality and unique items more efficiently, no longer wasting budget on items that don’t resonate with your target audience.

Customize items to remain fresh and on-trend

Our account team will work with your team directly not only to assess the store’s performance but also to keep the items offered fresh and exciting so they don’t fall static.

Based on how items are faring with your target audience, different initiative objectives, and budget, our team can recommend collections catered directly to meet these needs rather than offering a line up that was offered to someone else, and quickly.