estore management planning guide - design marketing · the items you want to host immediately on...

Design Marketing Limited

eStore Management Planning Guide

2 • designmarketing

TABLE OF CONTENTSWhat is a Corporate eStore? 3

Reasons to consider an eStore 3

Are eStores necessary? You be the Judge! 4

Steps to a Successful Corporate eStore 5-11

Partner with Design Marketing 12-15

We understand the criticality of differentiation and help our clients achieve it. We plan strategies and deliver solutions

that are different and will differentiate.

24/7Protect Your

Brand

Control Budget

Easy Distribution

888-772-7765 • www.designmarketing.net • 3

What is a Corporate eStore? A Corporate eStore is an online shopping application from which branch offices, dealers, franchisees, field reps, employees or other authorized affiliates can browse and order company-specific items. These items may include printing, marketing and promotion-al materials, samples and displays, business and office supplies, branded apparel or merchandise, or anything else offered by the company for internal use.

Reasons to consider a Corporate eStore

protects your brand & corporate identity

ensure your logo will be presented professionally and only used on approved merchandise

control your promotional product budgets, especially when various departments and branch locations need them

makes it easy to distribute supplies and merchandise to branch offices, field reps, franchisees, or other affiliate locations

reduce costs and inefficiencies

eStores operate 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, 365 days/year

save money and guarantee product quality


Are eStores necessary? ...You be the judgeWhen identifying your need for eStores, here are some typical qualification questions to pose: Do you...

If you answered yes to even 1 of the above questions, your company can benefit from an eStore.

employ 50 or more employees?

have a large sales team to motivate?

have a safety rewards program?

maintain a “Years of Service” program?

employ management staff?

have more than one location?

have other divisions who are also owned by the same “Umbrella” organization?

need better control over quality of all branded products?

need better control and tracking of company wide spending for their branded products?


Steps to a Successful Corporate eStore

Determine your clientele

Some stores exist merely to provide logoed apparel to employees. Some companies mandate their em-ployees wear branded apparel so having a system that

easily manages the pro-gram is imperative. There are companies who have multiple facilities and sim-ply need help with ware-housing and distribution. Other companies want to streamline marketing materials of all kinds and provide one single loca-tion for their colleagues to shop from.

My company eStore will be used by:

employees

sales/field reps

departments

branch offices

vendors

customers

#1

What will your store provide? Select appropriate items

Though your store will be developed to solve the most immediate problems, differentiating between

the items you want to host immediately on your store and those items you hope to host (your “wish list”) will help build your store for future capabilities. Typical stores have 20-40 items. Check the items that you need to host now, as well as those you may host in the future.

Need Now Wishlist Sample Products

Apparel

Safety Awards

Work Wear

Events

Tradeshow Materials

Job Fairs

Print Collateral

Banners

Recognition

Promotional Products


#2


Inventory & Warehousing

Generally there are two types of eStores.

Full Stock

Limited Stock

#3All of your goods are ordered and warehoused. Your vendor will pick, pack and ship as orders come in. Usually within 24 hours.

Popular goods that are constantly needed are warehoused and ready to ship. Other items would be displayed on your store and minimum quantities ordered as they come in.


Purchasing Options

The most effective stores have a variety of purchas-ing options. Purchasing methods should be given care-

ful consideration, particularly as your store grows. Some stores al-low for multiple purchasing options to be used simultaneously. You may not need a points system now, but once the Sales depart-ment sees how effective the store is, you may want to include a points based system as a reward for sales growth.

Distribution

Distribution is one of the most over-looked aspects of a company store, yet one of the most critical.

Will you allow all employees the option to ship materials by AIR?

Will your vendor commit to a 24-hour turn around on all inven-toried items and send tracking numbers with each order?

Ground

2nd Day AIR

Next Day AIR by 9a.m.

Next Day AIR by Noon

Next Day AIR by End of Day

Credit Card

Purchase Order

Budgets

Gift Certificates

Points Based Option

#4

#5


Customer Service

Your store will be servicing two types of clients:

Part of your reason for deciding on a store is to outsource the management of many of the issues related to branded prod-ucts, including handling orders and answering basic questions.

Decide whether or not you want to:

Types of calls and inquiries you could receive are:

Types of order placement calls you could receive are:

Determine how much of your time (your staff’s time) you want to take up with these types of inquiries.

Headquartered clients who decide on the store and product

Establish a customer service or answering line with your vendor

Colleagues, those representatives ordering materials from the store

Continue to take the store’s customer calls yourself

Where’s my order?

I’d like to place an order for ___________.

I never received my shirts.

Can I add 1 more item to my order?

I was shorted.

Does that shirt fit snug?

Does that mug top flip open?

#6


Ask your vendor:

How many items should be in the store?

How do they get chosen?

How often are the products reviewed and assessed?

Can items be changed/added/deleted?

Can you provide dedicated customer service support for our store?

Will you provide a dedicated 1-800 number for our store?

Will you provide a dedicated e-mail service for our store?

Can you assist our colleagues in a friendly professional manner in navigating the store?

Can you provide any training videos or tutorials for using the store?


Reporting

Reporting is critical to the success of your store. Most stores provide monthly or quarterly reporting for the

activity of the store.

Questions to ask yourself:

#7

How often do I want to review reporting for the store? Monthly? Quarterly?

Will I need to reconcile budget dollars spent on the store with the reporting?

What is most important to you? Reviewing item usage? Reviewing customer involvement?

Who will be responsible for reviewing these reports?


Design Marketing will provide a turnkey fully customized eStore with easy navigation.

You’ll be amazed at the quality of your store.

We will start by a consultation with you to decide how you want your site to look, what products need to be included, and any other custom infor-mation that needs to be presented on the site.

Your items will be categorized to your needs for easy migrating.

We suggest that items be reviewed throughout the year, with seasonal items offered as appropriate. We are able to add or subtract items from your store. It’s important to keep your store items fresh and exciting to keep customers coming back for more!

Based on your needs we will determine which program is best for you; full stock or limited stock.

Take receipt of your existing inventory. We will arrange to have your goods shipped to us, take inventory and enter into your database.

We provide excellent customer service and administration.

Friendly, knowledgeable staff

Dedicated customer service support

Order processing, confirmation and tracking

Dedicated #800 and email

Training and tutorials

Handle returns of manufacturer’s defects

Why Partner with Design Marketing Limited as your eStore provider?


Why Partner with Design Marketing Limited as your eStore provider?

With regard to returns, we guarantee all our items against manu-facturer’s defects. Returns of in stock items are accepted with authorization from us. Exchanges for size/colour etc. are also available. Custom-made items with manufacturer’s defects can be returned as well.

Note: Your Design Marketing representative will monitor all trans-actions and incoming questions.


MasterCard and Visa

Purchase Order

Points

Rate Calculator

Ground

Air

Set Rates

Payment Method

Freight

Our reports will show you exactly how many of each item are currently on the shelves

You will see what is being purchased and by whomReporting

We include:


We will exceed your expectations and make your store easy and worry-free

• Numerous customization options, including colors, text, logos, etc.

• We have a supplier data base of over 300,000 products

• Choose to allow visitors to request quotes, request more informa tion, and/or place orders

• Secure site (using SSL) to allow visitors to safely send credit card information

• Link the store to your website

• Hosting of your store is included at no extra charge

• Modify the store yourself at your convenience, 24/7

• Add hit counters and credit card logos

• Password protect your store if you wish

• Handles all currencies with “on-the-fly” conversion

• Client logins

• Client account management

• Client order history

• Account credit support

• Promocode/discount support

• Full credit card processing through our Payment Processing

• Shipping charge estimator

• Ship via selections

designmarketing limited • 888-772-7765 • www.designmarketing.net

Design Marketing is a leader. We have over 35 years experience in the promotional product industry. We have been a member of the PPPC, Promotional

Product Professionals of Canada Association, since 1983.

Design Marketing is over 51% women owned, and certified as a diverse supplier with WeConnect Canada.

With an international presence, Design Marketing prides itself as an industry leader.

Experience: We have worked as a consultant and supplier of promotional products to every sector. Service: With a strong sense of urgency, Design Marketing en-sures the highest level of customer service. Once an order is re-ceived, our experienced team will keep you informed on where your order is at and when you’ll receive it. Price: Being in a competitive market, Design Marketing has aligned itself with Canadian and US preferred suppliers, who provide us with volume pricing. However, we do not sacrifice price for quality. Innovative: We keep current with market trends, including tech-nology and decoration methods.Urgency: Our clients are very important to us and we under-stand urgency. We work quickly and professionally. We have never missed our client’s deadline. Neither hurricanes nor snowstorms can stop us!

We deliver on time, every time.

estore management planning guide - design marketing · the items you want to host immediately on...

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