Having branded apparel for your team, even if they don’t wear a uniform, is a way to bring people together and help them feel more united in their mission. However, many companies offer limited options because it feels like a lot of work to order inventory, store it at the office and ensure there are enough sizes for their employees.
The good news is that you can get the best of both worlds and offer your team cool branded items without the clutter in your storeroom. To do this, you need a corporate store.
What’s a corporate store?
An online corporate store gives you a central location where staff can order things like backpacks, hoodies, umbrellas and more. You can provide an ‘allowance’ each year, let staff spend their own money or give vouchers as rewards (more on that shortly).
To set up your corporate store, you can work with a provider like Honeycomb. We help you choose the items you want to have available, help you with branding requirements and take care of shipping so you don’t have to deal with bulk purchases.
Benefits of a corporate store
This type of online outlet will give your business and culture a boost for so many reasons.
1. It’s exclusive
Your corporate store is not open to the public. This makes your staff feel like they are part of something special. If your business has a great reputation, they’ll be proud to wear their clothing and carry their branded backpacks around town (which in turn helps to promote brand awareness).
2. It can be a way to reward your staff
Sharing vouchers for the company store can be a good way to recognise achievements in your business. Have a range of practical items on offer like earphones and reusable coffee mugs so people can choose something that’s useful to them.
3. Save on stress and admin
Ordering and logistics are taken care of at the company store end so nobody on your team has the pressure of people constantly asking where their items are.
Making things like business cards easy to order through the company store eliminates the need for a go-between person to take care of this task. Staff can have an annual budget or order business cards once they have approval from their manager.
4. Expand to include client gifts
You can have a section of your store for customer merchandise and give some staff the budget to purchase branded gifts to send to clients. You can still keep some of your range exclusive to staff if you want to.
5. Widen your range
You can include made to order items in your company store. Instead of requesting three dozen hoodies and ending up with five large and five extra small that nobody wants, you can offer a hoodie, a windproof jacket and a vest, all with your logo (not to mention hats, scarves, towels etc). Your brand will be added when the order is received.
Next level opportunities
Corporate stores are evolving just like everything else.
An additional benefit is the ability to track purchases and review data. When you can see what’s most popular, you can take steps to incentivise these products. For example, a multi-point USB charging station can become a reward for a year of service or a specific KPI being achieved.
You can now also explore ways to automate your corporate store; for example by having orders triggered after a period of time, when a new person is onboarded or when a client spends a specific amount with your business. Those milestones can see gifts arriving without anybody needing to actually place an order, if you have the right systems and automation in place.
Spend trackers will be helpful as well. If you give staff an allowance, you’ll be able to see at a glance how much is being used and if you need to review the amount.
Work with a forward-thinking agency when you establish your corporate store and you’ll be able to leverage the cost savings and data benefits while delighting your team and clients.
Ready to set up a corporate store? Contact Honeycomb today.
