There was a time when online shopping was confined to bidding on rare eBay collectables. Now, almost 20 years later, we can conveniently purchase everything online: from pet supplies and groceries to personalized t-shirts and branded signage. Consumers across all industries are looking for simple, fast and accessible ordering solutions. U.S. eCommerce sales have steadily risen for the past decade and are projected to surpass $1 trillion this year for the first time ever1. The opportunities to enhance your branding efforts using eCommerce are endless. It’s crucial to consider if you’re optimizing your digital presence by offering branded promotional products to your employees and end users.
In this post, we’ll dive into some of the many opportunities to expand your promo offerings with eCommerce including…
1. Branded Merch
Whether your events are in person or virtual, it’s time to get creative with event promo. There is already a natural place for these promotional products in both B2B and B2C events like concerts, trade shows, conventions, product launches, and speaking engagements… just to name a few. Consider offering concert-goers a t-shirt they can wear long after the event itself for long term brand exposure, or provide functional products like pens and notepads to encourage engagement and retention at a speaking event. ProStores make it easy to accept redemption codes when your merch is included in the price of admission and can drive valuable revenue if it’s not.
2. Providing Employee Gifts
Whether your employees work remotely or operate in the office, you’ll engage and delight them with welcome kits or employee appreciation packages – think branded headphones, wire organizers, and mousepads. As work from home setups have quickly become the norm, they’ve embodied a new set of challenges. In fact, loneliness due to disconnection from colleagues is the second concern surrounding remote work, right behind an inability to unplug at the end of the work day2. Sharing a welcome kit with a new hire or commemorating an anniversary with a special gift will not only foster morale, it can also strengthen connectivity across the team.
3. Processing Stationery Reorders
How many times have you seen an email hit your inbox and thought, “I’ll get to that later”? You’re not the only one. According to a study by market research firm Radicati in 2015, the average American was receiving 88 business emails a day, but only sending 34 emails out3. It can be hard to catch every email with all the responsibilities on your plate. Now pair that scenario with a team made up of employees working across the country. They’re in need of more branded business cards, letterheads and envelopes. You’re stretched thin at the office with a team on the ground that needs support. The solution: incorporating an automated eCommerce store into the equation. This removes the manual work involved with organizing and actioning those email requests and ensures a seamless reordering process every time.
4. Gifting for the Holidays
Many companies routinely send out gifts to their longstanding clients during the holidays but the process can get complicated quickly. There are endless choices when it comes to packaging, cards, and the gift itself, and we haven’t even covered the order collection process yet. Partnering with Proforma and equipping your team with a ProStore will set you up for success by addressing product curation, mapping out fulfillment and establishing a convenient eCommerce ordering process in one swift motion. Shoot out an email with a link to your ProStore and you’re done! This way, you can even offer your clients a wide selection of products to ensure they’re receiving a gift they’ll love.
5. Fundraising & Give Back
Donation programs like those featured in our list of 2022 promo product trends are a great way to give back as a company. Suppliers that engage in these programs donate products or a portion of their proceeds to a cause. Some companies even offer a giving code that allows recipients to choose from a selection of charities. Connect give back products to your ProStore or donate all of your proceeds to a worthy cause for a streamlined fundraising solution!
The Takeaway
ProStores are built for promo! Whether you’re interested in showing employee appreciation, selling branded merch or fundraising for your local nonprofit, our team of promo experts can help you build the right ProStore to accomplish your goals.
Want to sell promotional products online but don’t know where to start? We’re here to help! Contact us today to set up a call with a dedicated member of our team to discuss how we can procure the best branded collateral and promotional products and help build the ProStore that’s right for you..
