Challenges of Implementing a Corporate Apparel Program

Imagine how tedious the process is for Employers or their respective officers to:

• Hand out catalogs
• Create and collect order forms and information like size specification
• Manage spreadsheets, order approval and payroll deductions,
• Double-check orders
• Collect checks
• Sort through boxes of shirts to find the right order to distribute to each employee
• Managing problems with stocks storage and quantity

Living in the digital age, it is highly probable that some employees, especially the millennial generation, do not have checks anymore. Passing out order forms and catalogs are going to do nothing to boost employee morale and engagement. Most importantly, this tiresome process is a huge time waster and an inefficient drain of company dollars.

So how do you develop an apparel program that is accessible and appealing for your employees and clients, all without becoming overwhelming to administer?

Online Company Store as the Smart Solution

An online company store provides employees a convenient way to order company branded apparel at their leisure through the use of a simple online platform. You may want to know the 8 Key Benefits of Building Your Online Company Store.

The direct transaction made between employees and distributor, through this system, efficiently eliminates the need for employers to play middle man between the branded product provider and the
employees themselves.

For your business not to be left behind in this technology age, you have to be willing to invest in an online company stores to streamline internal ordering processes and spark employee engagement.

But you may wonder what exactly an online company apparel store might look like, how it operates, how employers can benefit from it and how employees will use it.

The Basics of the Online Company Store for Apparel

Online company stores are essentially a one-stop-shop for employees, serving as a marketplace of branded promotional products that employees can purchase. The Online Company store is run by third-party operators (in this instance, Greco Promotions), giving you utmost convenience by taking the
logistics of the platform out of your hands.

An account representative will just coordinate with you on how you want to design the store, choose the inventory, and direct your employees to the site.

But what will drive employees to purchase promotional apparel with their own employer’s logo?

Some of the common reasons include:

• Clothing for uniforms
• Choices in an incentive program that employees can redeem with earned points
• Clothing to wear at conferences, trade shows or other promotional events
• Giveaways for current or prospective clients
• Holiday gifts ideas for their colleagues

Anytime an employee needs a clothing item or collection of clothing items, they can simply log on to the company store and order some. Every purchase guarantees consistent branding no matter what department or where the location of the employee is.

Below are common scenarios when an online company store apparel can be utilized:

• When an HR Professional at a 300-person tech company is responsible for outfitting new hires with polos and dress shirts branded with their logo. She actually could handle this herself, but it would take her away from doing the parts of her job she enjoys more. 
• When a Fast-food Company needs to get shirts and aprons for all of their people at each of their 12 locations, and they need to get them all shipped in the same one-week window and want to
  make sure that embroidery is consistent across the boar.
• When a Marketing Director might need to order hundreds of custom t-shirts as give away to a grand promotional event.
• When a manager is attending a conference, and needs a polo shirt with the corporate logo to represent their company.
• When an employee might simply want a hooded jacket to feel proud that they are part of a top company in the industry. 

But, what kinds of clothing options will you have at your disposal? Here are some examples of the top apparel selections:

• T-Shirts
• Polo Shirts
• Button Down Shirts
• Jackets
• Sweaters
• Vests
• Athletic Wear
• Footwear
• Aprons

Online Company Stores for apparel work just like any e-commerce website namely Amazon, Alibaba or literally any other online store where you usually search and shop for products. You may also wonder how will be the payment process when your employees purchase items with this system.

Again, as with any other standard e-commerce website, an employee’s credit card will be the most common form of payment. But, there are essentially other options to choose from and these include one’s budget, organizational accounts, paycheck deductions and point redemption.Thus, the primary purpose of an online company store is to really ease the processing of orders by providing pre-approved items that can be purchased in just a few clicks. 

Benefits of an Online Store to Companies

COST SAVING
An online company store for apparel enables your employees to find what they precisely need in a single web-based location. No HR looking for a uniform for new hires or marketing head looking for giveaway items has to go out on their own to find and design something. And because you will have to approve every item on the online company store, instances of incorrect branding or inconsistency of designs getting on a shirt or jacket will be prevented, which ultimately reduces costs.

LABOR AND TIME SAVING
As discussed earlier, a successful managed apparel program comes with a very tedious process. But by employing a third-party provider who will operate the Online Company Store to cater your apparel program needs, all the work is done for you- hassle free. You also have already taken out the burden of acquiring an e-commerce knowledge to set up your online store.

The third-party provider builds and manages your online store, develops apparel and promotional products, processes orders/returns, stores and ships the products all in house just for you. Thus, you have the luxury of time to focus on the crucial aspects of your business, and you no longer have to hire extra staff or exhaust your current officers to do the task.

Ready to Launch Your Online Company Store?

Finding a well-established partner who will launch your online company store for apparel is ultimately the best route to take for your business and employees. So, if your goal is to engage your team and reinforce your brand, you can’t go wrong with an online corporate apparel program. And if you are looking for a simplified corporate apparel program, you can’t go wrong with Greco Promotions.

At Greco Promotions, we essentially do all the work on our end, allowing you to focus on the more important issues and to enhance your Company productivity. We also take care of a lot of the logistics like inventory, incorporating brands and shipping. And we also offer a wide selection of Promotional Products other than apparel because we are an already established distributor of promotional items for over two decades.

So again, you only have to worry about picking the inventory, the designs, and a few other logistical features for employees that we could discuss. Contact us and we’ll help you figure out the perfect way to motivate your employees to dress for success.