How Does Your Company Store Stack Up?

If you’ve only experienced your own online company store, you may lack a basis for comparison with what’s available in the market. Your store vendor likely built and merchandised your store, putting it on autopilot. However, much has changed in online company stores with current technology. Do you know the latest trends or what the best stores have that yours might be missing? There hasn’t been an easy way to compare your store to others without going through an RFP process—until now. We’ve built a comprehensive online company store evaluation tool that provides a roadmap for improving your store.

Key Questions to Evaluate Your Online Company Store

The most important questions to ask yourself are:

• Does it do everything we need it to do?
• Has it solved our challenges and made my life easier?

If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then congratulations—you are in the minority. If not, keep reading.

Current Online Company Store Capabilities

The challenge is that you don’t know what you don’t know. Your store may seem adequate, but it can likely do so much more for you. Imagine all your departments being integrated into one online store platform where HR can order new hire kits and business cards, employees can order uniforms and swag, and your marketing department can order trade show gifts. What if your store was integrated with your ERP and all orders were automatically assigned cost centers and GL codes based on user attributes and flowed seamlessly into your accounting system? Imagine having a robust company store with little or no inventory, yet offering a significant selection of brands, styles, and colors. What if you had the ability to position your approved company logos in different locations on your garments, add a second logo, or even personalize items with no minimums? Did you even know this was possible? It is and it is easier than you think to have a store like this.

How do I Compare my Store to Other Stores?

We have built a tool for you to compare your current program to what is possible. The survey asks questions about your current store, its features and reporting, merchandising, integration, and vendor performance. After completing the survey, we will immediately grade your store and provide a comprehensive report with actionable steps for improvement. Our goal is to educate you on what’s possible. This way, you can discuss enhancements with your current vendor. You may decide that you need a new company store and even a new vendor, and that’s perfectly normal. We can guide you to vendors who provide the services you need, even if we aren’t the right fit for your company. Either way, we are happy to discuss your results, help you find a new vendor, or give you pointers on your current store. The online company store evaluation tool is designed for companies spending over $250,000 on company apparel, swag, and print per year. Smaller companies can also take the survey, but some parts will be less relevant. We hope the survey helps you be more informed and leads to improvements in your company store.