Research from Great Place To Work® reveals that employee satisfaction is driven more by company culture than by industry or size. At the heart of great workplaces are trust and engagement. Leaders who build strong connections across all levels inspire employees to take pride in their work and foster a sense of belonging.
To build an engaged workforce, business leaders must fix internal issues that cause burnout. They must focus on clear communication and align employee development with business goals. As hiring skilled talent gets harder, keeping and reskilling workers is paramount.
Online company merchandise stores can be transformative to your internal company culture. These stores offer more than just swag. They can reinforce your employees' sense of belonging. They can help you recognize their contributions and strengthen their emotional connection to your brand. Best of all, a dedicated employee merch store will support retention and development efforts. Read more about using branded merchandise for employee appreciation here.
What is an Online Company Store?
A company merchandise store is a place where employees, customers, or partners can browse and order branded merchandise, and often these stores are online to service employees in a number of locations. Products may include apparel, accessories, office supplies, and other promotional items. These stores feature products that reflect your company's identity, culture, and values. Merchandise can be practical items, holiday or appreciation gifts, or symbols of brand pride.
Savvy leaders use company swag stores for recognition and onboarding. They also use them for event giveaways and holiday gifts. These stores, managed through an e-commerce platform, offer an easy, Amazon-like experience. They have centralized fulfillment and ship directly to the recipient's location.
However, building a successful online company store requires more than a great product lineup. It demands thoughtful planning, smooth logistics, and ongoing engagement. Below, our expert Phase 3 merchandise team breaks down the key steps to launching a company store that meets your business needs and strengthens employee connections. Contact Phase 3 today to start building your employee merchandise store.
Step 1: Identify the Goals/Benefits for Your Online Company Store
Beyond employee engagement, an online company swag store offers strategic advantages. It streamlines HR tasks, maintains brand consistency, and promotes your company publicly. Here are some other business goals and benefits to consider:
Streamline HR Functions
Company merch stores streamline essential HR tasks. They make employee recognition, onboarding, and rewards more efficient, personal, and consistent.
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Recognition Programs: Employees can earn points or vouchers to select rewards they value. This reduces your administrative burdens.
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Onboarding: Offer new hires a customizable branded welcome kit. A thoughtful welcome gift fosters early engagement and a sense of belonging.
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Reward Programs: Items tied to competitions or wellness initiatives ensure consistency in quality and branding, with easy redemption through the store.
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Uniforms: Online company stores simplify managing employee uniforms. They let workers choose their preferred items instead of assigning a standard uniform. A little flexibility allows for self-expression. It ensures employees meet company standards. It's a win for both autonomy and professionalism.
Maintain Brand Consistency
A centralized online store gives you total control over your brand, inside and out.
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Branding Standards: Pre-set brand guidelines ensure that all products match your company's image. They prevent unauthorized or off-brand designs.
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Product Quality: Decision-makers can curate items that reflect the company’s quality standards.
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Pricing Control: You can establish budgets and cost controls to manage employee spending.
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Production Consistency: A dedicated vendor ensures high-quality decoration and production methods. You'll also know precisely where each item is sourced from.
Expand Marketing Reach and Brand Loyalty
Branded merchandise serves as a walking advertisement. It extends your company's reach beyond the workplace. Employees and external users proudly wear and use your branded items, turning everyday moments into opportunities to promote the business. At trade shows, community events, or casual outings, company swag boosts brand visibility and loyalty. It brings your marketing into the physical world.
Generate Revenue
Online company swag stores can also serve as a source of revenue. When you offer branded merchandise to the public, you'll generate additional income while promoting your brand. This has two benefits. Employees and supporters can show pride in your company. And, you can reinvest the revenue into employee programs, community initiatives, or expanding the merchandise. This revenue-generating aspect makes company merchandise stores a valuable investment, aligning your branding efforts with financial growth.
A dedicated partner like Phase 3, who understands how an online company store will elevate your brand, can be a valuable resource in building a store that meets your unique business needs.
Step 2: Understand Your Team's Preferences and Business Needs
Knowing what types of merchandise your employees actually want will help you build a successful online company store. Before you do anything, conduct employee surveys or informal feedback sessions to identify the products that mean the most to them. Ask them what they need to be more productive or to enhance their wellness. Encourage them to tell you what branded apparel they'd love to wear, both at work and in the community. This critical step ensures that your store offers items that employees will appreciate, use, and take pride in.
In addition, match your product mix with your business goals. For example, recognition programs might need tiered gift options, while holiday gifting could focus on seasonal, personal items. Keeping your store relevant year-round with seasonal or campaign-based updates ensures continued engagement.
Phase 3's team brings deep expertise in curating merchandise that aligns with your needs and goals. We’ll help you pick relevant products and keep your product mix fresh with seasonal updates or campaign-specific collections. We’ll keep your store engaging and exciting year-round.
Step 3: Choose the Right Merchandise for Your Online Company
Curating thoughtful, on-brand merchandise is vital to align your company store with your company's identity and meet your audience's expectations. Use the goals and preferences you identified in Step 2 to guide your product selection. Here are some other thought starters for choosing your merchandise mix.
Key Considerations
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Product Quality: Choose high-quality products to reflect your brand’s high standards.
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ESG/CSR Standards: Consider eco-friendly or sustainable products to appeal to employees and clients who value environmental and corporate social responsibility.
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Seasonality and Trends: Offer seasonal or campaign-based items to keep the product mix fresh and encourage repeat engagement. Consider trends like remote work tools or wellness items. They should reflect your employees' current lifestyles.
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Customization Options: Provide options for a variety of personalized products, including apparel, home goods, and office accessories. Allow your teams to customize products for events or projects. This’ll build camaraderie and alignment.
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Branding Controls: Choose items that adhere to your brand guidelines for images and colors to ensure consistent branding.
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Audience Segmentation: Utilize your research in Step 1 to choose products for each audience. Some employees may prefer functional items (office supplies or tech accessories) that enhance their work life. Others may want apparel or accessories. Subcontractors, clients, or brand fans may appreciate lifestyle or branded items.
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Inventory Management: Choose products for which you have the space to store or use an on-demand product model to optimize space and reduce waste.
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Shipping and Fulfillment: Choose products that ship easily and cost-effectively. Work with vendors that offer shipping timelines aligned with your program needs, especially for time-sensitive events like holiday gifting.
Need help choosing the perfect products? Reach out to Phase 3’s brand merchandise experts for personalized recommendations.
Step 4: Set Up an Easy-to-Use Online Platform
The best online company stores are well-designed, intuitive e-commerce platforms like Amazon or Instacart. Create an experience that simplifies ordering and management for both users and administrators. Employees and customers must quickly and easily find what they need. So, site navigation, checkout, and categories must be simple and well-organized. When developing the site, use your brand identity guidelines (logo, colors, fonts, and messaging). This’ll connect and engage your employees and fans.
With Phase 3's Media:Link platform, you can set up a fully functional store tailored to your goals. It could be a revenue-generating storefront for brand enthusiasts, like Norfolk Southern's branded merchandise store. In contrast, your store may be an employee appreciation shop. Users can redeem online credits for branded gifts, like in Supreme Lending's store. Full visibility and control over inventory, orders, and policies let you run the store smoothly and create a positive user experience.
Step 5: Develop a Budget and Automate the Logistics
Establishing a comprehensive budget will help you build and manage your online company store. Your budget will depend on the type of users: employees, subcontractors, or brand fans. You also need to plan for different spending levels. Know each audience's quality and brand expectations, budget, and spending trends. Proactively plan for upcoming events or seasonal campaigns. Also, consider costs for shipping and inventory management versus on-demand production. Factor in taxes and development costs for custom features or platform integrations, like connecting with inventory or POS systems.
In addition, automating your inventory and logistics streamlines operations, from order processing to fulfillment and delivery. Automation will reduce administrative burdens and minimize errors. Phase 3 offers a fully managed logistics solution. Our team handles everything from product sourcing to shipping. You'll stay in control of your goals and budget. With complete visibility over inventory, orders, and budget tracking, you'll manage your online company store efficiently without being overwhelmed by daily logistics.
Step 6: Promote your Online Company Store
Launching your new online merchandise store is an opportunity for celebration. To drive excitement and engagement, launch contests or giveaways. You could also run exclusive promotions tied to the store. Encourage employees to share their favorite items on internal channels or social media. This’ll build enthusiasm and a sense of connection. Ask for product reviews to include on your online store product pages. Set up a pop-up shop as Supreme Lending did, where employees tried on apparel and purchased on the spot. Gamifying the experience—such as awarding prizes to top participants—can also increase engagement.
Expand the impact of your online company store by developing a broader marketing strategy that engages clients, partners, and brand fans. Use email campaigns, social media, and newsletters to promote the store. Offer sneak peeks or limited-time discounts. Highlight how the store reflects your brand's values and culture. An external marketing strategy leverages branded merchandise to cultivate brand awareness.
Step 7: Measure and Optimize Your Online Company Store
Evaluating the success of your online company store requires a blend of quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative metrics include cost savings, faster delivery, and user response to branded merchandise. Qualitative feedback, like employee satisfaction, gives deeper insights. It shows your store's impact on morale and engagement. Both data types will provide a comprehensive understanding of your program's performance.
Phase 3's MediaLink platform simplifies the process by offering real-time reporting. This gives you visibility into engagement metrics, budget spending, and seasonal trends. You'll receive detailed warehouse reports to stay on top of your inventory levels. The team also reviews your data and provides quarterly recommendations for new product offerings. All you need to do is approve reorders and communicate any new business needs or product changes you'd like to make. With continuous monitoring and seasonal updates, your online company store remains fresh, relevant, and aligned with your business goals.
Are You Ready to Build Your Online Company Store?
A respected vendor is important to building an online merchandise store that'll boost internal brand loyalty and employee satisfaction while keeping your operational lift to a minimum. A good company store can inspire and engage your workers. It can create lasting memories through gifts and appreciation. Also, if you've built an engaged brand fanbase, an online merchandise store can be a new revenue stream.
With Phase 3's expertise and full-service approach, we make setting up and managing your online company store effortless. Our experts curate products to meet your needs. We’ll refresh your product mix each season and handle everything from sourcing to fulfillment. Our custom-coded Media:Link platform powers a seamless e-commerce experience. Users can easily select items, enter shipping details, and complete orders. Media:Link gives you real-time control over every aspect of the process. This ensures brand consistency and smooth operations.
When you work with Phase 3, you'll enjoy one point of contact, one invoice, and one team fully invested in your brand's success. Ready to elevate your brand with an online company store? Let Phase 3 help you create an unforgettable experience for your employees and clients. Contact us today.