A company apparel store for employees is a customizable website that makes it easy for your company’s distributed workforce to order apparel and accessories branded with your company’s logo. Your storefront can be locked to only allow entry if a password is entered, ensuring that only the right users (your hardworking employees) are able to access the site. In addition, an online company apparel store for employees simplifies the process of sourcing and distributing the following types of branded corporate apparel and accessories:
- custom work uniforms
- branded workwear
- custom safety apparel & gear (safety vests, PPE, etc.)
- embroidered polo shirts, dress shirts & hats to wear at trade shows or conferences
You can also use a company apparel store to provide custom branded clothing and accessories to your employees as incentive gifts. Branded t-shirts, hats, bags and other wearables are effective incentives for motivating and rewarding employees for their dedication and diligence throughout the year.
How Does a Company Apparel Store for Employees Work?
An online company apparel store, also known as an online company store, is a type of e-commerce platform that allows you to streamline the purchasing, distribution and management of branded corporate apparel, work uniforms and accessories like hats, gloves and bags. This gives your company the ability to offer a wide selection of corporate apparel styles and brands (as well as sizes, colors and logo options) to your employees in one centralized platform.
Your employees, distributors (and even your customers, if you want) just need Internet access to order approved branded merchandise on demand from your online storefront. An employee can select a color, size, or other variant (e.g. logo placement) for a t-shirt or other product, add it to his or her shopping cart, and then proceed to checkout. Payment methods and shipping options are completely customizable based on your organization’s needs.
Franchise owners, distributors, department managers or employees can pay for the branded apparel and accessories available through your custom online storefront by credit card – or they can select an item and have it billed to the company. Your site can also be configured to use promo codes or spending accounts, which makes it easy to control spending – no matter how many departments or divisions there are in your organization.
Unlike standard e-commerce stores, company apparel stores for employees offer additional features like user roles and approval rules, which help control which products an employee can access. A variety of automation features (e.g. set your budgets to automatically renew) and robust, real-time inventory and order reports make budgeting and inventory management effortless. And, of course, Metron Branding will customize your company apparel store based on your company’s technical requirements and workflow needs.
Best of all, online company apparel stores can also be configured to offer so much more than shirts & hats. From variable data products like digital marketing materials and sales flyers, to various other types of promotional products (like drinkware, office supplies & tech products) for staff incentive programs, promotional giveaways and trade shows, one of the best features of an online company store is how versatile and scalable it is as a platform that can save your organization time and money in countless ways.
The Benefits to Creating a Company Apparel Store for Employees
Some key benefits to setting up a company apparel store for employees include:
- Ensure brand consistency: By utilizing the services of a single vendor like Metron Branding for your corporate apparel needs, you can control how your logo and brand guidelines are used, and ensure that each item meets your specifications.
- Name brands, value brands, classic apparel and on-trend accessories all available in one central location: A wide selection of styles, colors, brands and logo imprinting options (including embroidery and screen printing) help make sure your employees have access to the best branded apparel and accessories available.
- Superior SaaS technology: Our Brand Hub online company stores are built on a lightweight Bootstrap framework. This means your storefront will have fast and mobile-friendly responsive design, up-to-date security and high up-time. All site configuration, management and hosting is provided by Metron Branding.
- A company apparel store = time and cost savings: With an online company store, sourcing, ordering, receiving, storing and coordinating shipments of apparel and work uniforms will no longer take up valuable staff time at your organization. Direct shipment from one location (and lower inventory) will help simplify the management of your corporate apparel budgets and spending. Metron Branding supports all types of company apparel store inventory including on-demand products (where no inventory is stored/products are made on a per-purchase basis); stock inventory (where products are held in a warehouse/ship out when customers order) or a hybrid system (a mixture of on-demand and stocked products).
The Best Apparel Brands and Styles to Stock in your Company Apparel Store
Over the past several years, many retail and restaurant chains – from Walmart to Burger King – have begun to offer customizable work uniforms to their employees, accessible via an online company store platform. Unlike typical work uniforms, employees can select from a number of different yet complementary styles and wardrobe pieces to build their own personalized branded work uniform. This slightly more casual, customized approach to employee uniforms appeals to a younger workforce and makes customer-facing employees appear more approachable.
Besides this more casual mix-and-match approach to staff uniforms in certain industries, additional corporate apparel trends to take note of, in 2021 and beyond, include an increase in sustainable, eco-friendly fabrics and high-quality materials that last longer.
To learn more about the latest company apparel trends, we suggest taking a look at our guide to branded apparel trends for 2021. Or check out our list of the 5 Most Popular Brands to Stock in your Corporate Apparel Store.
How to Set up a Company Apparel Store for Employees
For large corporations and small businesses alike, the quickest and easiest way to get started with a company apparel store for employees is to create a pop-up shop. Also known as an employee redemption store, a pop-up shop is a temporary company store that can be used for a one-time or occasional event like annual employee gifts or employee uniform ordering. A pop-up shop can help you figure out if your company would benefit from a larger company apparel store.
Whether you are interested in a permanent solution or a temporary pop-up shop, we suggest checking out our complete guide to Brand Hub online company store features for further information. Or fill out the form below to sign up for a one-on-one consultation where we’ll break down the setup process for you step-by-step. You can also get started today by contacting us by phone at 248-545-4444.