27 / 116
JULY 2016 •
PPB
• 25
bility for the myriad elements of
a company store, a detailed serv-
ice agreement is crucial. “Written
agreements are effective when
inventory is part of a store pro-
gram as it relates to ownership of
inventory and payment for prod-
uct,” says Halama.
With SAGE’s company
stores, the distributor is responsi-
ble for working with the cus-
tomer to identify the products
they want on the store, building
the store and handling fulfill-
ment,” says Ryan Hanchey, dis-
tributor sales manager for Dallas,
Texas-based business service
provider SAGE. “The client is
responsible for picking out prod-
ucts and placing the orders.”
Lehew cautions against set-
ting up employee stores for large
firms that don’t want to subsi-
dize the cost of items, but rather
want employees to pay out of
pocket the full price of products
such as branded apparel. “Less
than five percent of a company’s
employees will pay for branded
merchandise out of their own
pocket,” he says.
“Often, a store will look
promising because they have
1,000 employees. But apply the
five-percent rule and multiply
that by one reasonably priced
shirt, and you see that instead of
a six-figure program, you have a
$1,000 program. In this industry,
that’s an order, not a store.”
Hanchey encourages distrib-
utors to set and manage expecta-
tions with customers, especially
where timelines are concerned.
“Until you have done a store or
two, don’t promise the world
until you fully understand your
personal limits as well as the
store’s limits,” he says.
KNOW THE ‘WHY’ BEHIND
THE ‘WHAT’
One of the keys to building
and maintaining a successful
company store is to dig deep into
your customers’ minds, learn
their goals and offer a store that’s
custom-tailored to the client and
the client’s end user.
“The primary reason … a
company wants a store is to
make the handling of branded
merchandise easier: to broaden
the offering to multiple locations
(divisions, employees, etc) while
simultaneously controlling the
branding and the purchasing,”
says Lehew. “It’s more about
convenience, simplicity and con-
trol than it is about merchandis-
ing—though each is crucial.”
Whether they come to life as
general promotional products
stores, inventoried fulfillment
sites, uniform stores, employee
recognition stores or affiliate
marketing stores, successful com-
pany stores are built on the driv-
ing purposes of order efficien-
cies, spending controls and brand
management, says Halama.
“The B2C space is still influ-
encing the expectations of our
clients. This translates into
demand for a well-designed,
mobile responsive ‘shopping’
experience with robust search
features, lots of images and prod-
uct information, and a fast
checkout process,” Granata adds.
“One danger in launching a
new company store is the fact
that neither you nor the cus-
tomer may know [initially] how
a store will actually need to
work in order to be effective,”
ONE OF THE KEYS TO BUILDING
AND MAINTAINING A SUCCESSFUL
COMPANY STORE IS TO
DIG
DEEP INTO YOUR
CUSTOMERS’ MINDS
.