If you are like most busy marketing teams, a lot of work and time goes into managing your company’s branded merchandise.
With every request for marketing materials comes a slew of emails, messages, and details to work through….not to mention that it was likely needed yesterday! This can add a lot of pressure to a marketing team. Placing orders with vendors, generating artwork and graphics, getting necessary approvals, coordinating timely delivery to events, keeping accurate reporting for managers and supervisors are just a few of the responsibilities involved in delivering a successful marketing message.
Then there is the marketing closet…! Trying to keep a tidy and organized stock of promo items is nearly impossible. With every different box size and stacks of clothing about to topple over, it is tricky to keep track of how much and what you have on hand.
What if you had a platform that could manage all that for you? Your reps, dealers, and other locations could log on and order materials as needed 24/7. Your goods are all stocked at a central location and ready to ship out immediately. Your marketing team simply has to order in bulk the items you want available and are able to pull reports on inventory levels, usage, and budgets with a click of the button. Let's take a quick look at how company stores can increase efficiency!
Implementing a company webstore can streamline your marketing tremendously in 4 key ways.
1. Declutter your Communication
An online company store makes your marketing materials accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Instead of having to contact your marketing team with every request for branded items, users are easily able to access and order these materials from their computer or phone! This eliminates a slew of emails for the marketing department and is a huge convenience for your reps and other departments in need of supplies.
Because the marketing staff is only having to order materials to restock the store as needed, not every time goods are needed, this reduces and streamlines communication with vendors and other team members.
The time saved by streamlining your communication both internally and externally can be significant and allows your marketing team to work smarter, not harder. (link to blog 3)
2. Simplify Reporting and Budget Control
Most webstore platforms have a reporting feature that allows you to pull reports at any time such as inventory levels, what and how much your users are ordering and even what purpose items are being used for. Not having to manage spreadsheets and taking physical stock count of your marketing closet can be a huge time saver.
As part of the reporting module, inventory alerts are another popular webstore feature that is available on most platforms today. These alerts will notify you when stock on an item drops below a certain level. This allows you to easily maintain desired inventory levels takes away that last minute panic when a show or event is coming up and you realize you don’t have as many of an item as you thought!
3. Effortless Brand Consistency
Maintaining brand consistency across all marketing platforms including promotional items can be challenging. A company webstore simplifies that process by allowing your marketing team to maintain control of the creation of all marketing materials and knowing that no matter what department or individual orders items through the store the brand will be uniform and follow your brand guidelines.
Not having to be the brand police over other departments can alleviate a lot of conflict and stress for your team!
4. Centralize Logistics
Perhaps the greatest benefit of a company store is the logistical end of it!
By having your goods warehoused and fulfilled for you, marketing no longer has the hassle of finding storage space or has to spend their time shipping supplies to departments and locations as needs come up.
Producing your marketing materials ahead of time and having them ready to ship on demand eliminates the risk of printing errors, stock issues, or long production times that can be such a source of stress for those last minutes events!
Now when there is a need for promo items, they can simply order online and typically goods ship within 24 hours! No longer do they have to nervously watch their event date creep up or hassle the marketing department for updates on where their shipments are at.
As with everything, there are also some ‘cons’ to having an online company promo store and it isn’t the right fit for every organization’s marketing department. There are some key factors you should consider when deciding if a company store is right for you. Be sure to properly analyze the pros and cons of company stores before deciding if it's a good fit for you!