Welcome to the promo playbook, the podcast where
suppliers come to win in the promotional products
industry. We're your hosts, Lisa Faustic and
Adrienne Barker, bringing you insider insights,
expert strategies, and no fluff advice to help
suppliers navigate the promo channel like pros.
From marketing to distributors to mastering software
onboarding, we cover it all. Whether you're new
to the industry or ready to scale up, this is
your playbook for success. Let's get started.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the
promo playbook podcast. Today, we're going to
dive into the relevant topic of on -demand printing
in an MOQ of one. I'm joined by my hosts, Adrian
Barker and Kim Ballerine, and two industry experts
who I'm excited to introduce, Alyssa Turner of
Splash Brand and Jacob Adner of Digital On Demand.
kick it off by asking Jacob to introduce himself
and tell us his background and how he ended up
in the on -demand space. Over to you Jacob. Thanks
Lisa. Good morning everybody. So my journey in
print started about eight years ago. I've been
in a family full of printing for about three
generations now and I never thought I'd stumble
my way in but here we are and I couldn't be more
happy to be in it. My career started in more
or less on the machine side. So my job at industry
manufacturer Incups was to help companies evaluate
machinery in their journey in print. So it could
be on all types of promotional products, whether
it be stress balls, ornaments, key chains, candles,
drinkware, you name it. My job was to do the
throughput analysis, adhesion analysis, and machine
demonstrations for companies evaluating pretty
big capital expenditures. And so after a few
years of doing that, everyone's favorite period
of time, COVID came around and threw everybody
for a loop and the promotional product space
dipped. And at that point in time, my company
at the time had to pivot strategies and decide
which markets they wanted to focus on. And given
that my role at the time was focused on demonstrations,
And there was less interest in machinery at the
time from the promo space given that it was on
hold my job was to then one day a week investigate
other markets that were extremely hot and given
that everyone was home and Chopping online with
disposable income e -commerce was extremely hot
So at the time my job shifted from four days
a week or from five days a week to four days
a week Doing demonstrations and sampling to one
day a week investigating the market and trying
to sell machinery to e -commerce companies. After
a number of conversations with big players throughout
the space, it became apparent that none of them
actually printed, but they wanted somebody to
do printing on the goods that I was trying to
convince them to do. Bottles, glasses, candles,
ornaments, keychains, you name it. Stuff they
didn't have or stuff they may had or have tried
in the past but didn't have in full color or
in the types of decoration methods that we could
offer. And I knew how to do that. So the pitch
internally was to set up a business to do print
-on -demand fulfillment for these e -commerce
companies to show them the benefit of being able
to add these categories to their current assortments.
So that's how digital on -demand was born. We
spun out of that previous manufacturer, InkCups.
five years ago and have since grown throughout
the e -commerce world and only about a year and
a half ago spun our heads around back to promo
because we recognized that our application was
more than abundantly available in the promo space
and we had a solution that many of the companies
in the promo space have an appetite for and they
don't know how to do. Awesome intro, Jacob. Thank
you so much. I love that background and the way
that you came into the industry and what you
saw. you know, what you saw as an opportunity.
I love that. So Alyssa, I'd love to hear your
story. Alyssa Turner from Splash Brands, tell
us your story. Hey, everyone. Well, thanks so
much for having me on today. So I started in
the promo industry in about 16 years ago, and
I was selling online company store programs back
then. I was having to talk everybody into putting
their credit card online, assuring them that
it was safe because that was a big scare back
then. And our stores, they were mostly on demand
even at that time. But there were some things
we couldn't do because the technology wasn't
available with the equipment. And so we were
having to keep inventory, which everybody hated.
And it caused a lot of issues. You know, you're
always stuck with the smalls or the larges, the
size that doesn't work for your staff. Or you
had to put 150 mugs in stock and you only use
25. And what do you do with the rest? And so
over time, we started working towards doing everything
on demand. And the owner of that company that
I worked for, he sold it in 2015. I hung around
for a few years and then went to go work for
a competitor. And I had quite a few customers
that wanted a true on -demand solution for apparel,
for promo, and for print. They didn't want to
keep any inventory, they didn't want any order
minimums, and they needed it to ship quick. And
so I looked around and there was really nobody
in the market, this is around 2019, 2000, that
was doing a true on -demand solution for companies
where they could have their own store and get
whatever they wanted at any time with no order
minimums. And so I called the old owner of the
company I worked for and I said, hey, what do
you think about doing a new store platform this
way? and carving out our own little niche in
the market that no one is really tackling in
doing apparel, promo, and print on demand. And
he said, yeah. He said, I'm super bored. So we
started working on a platform that is today Splash
Brands in 2000. And we thought, oh, we know everything
about stores from doing this years ago. And we
gave ourselves a year to build it out, but it
ended up taking two and a half years to really
get it fully on demand. And we built out our
software platform and our production facility.
And so today, my company Splash Brands, we are
a fully on -demand online store solution. So
companies come to us so that they can provide
their own branded apparel, promo, and print to
their employees or any end users in their audience.
Okay, great. Thank you for that intro. A couple
quick questions for you guys. Where are you both
located? Alyssa, where's your facility? We are
in Dallas, Texas. Okay, and Jacob, where are
you? We have two facilities. We're in Boston,
Massachusetts, just north in Danvers, and we're
also in Venlo, Netherlands to cover Europe. Great,
great. Thank you for sharing that. One of the
comments you mentioned, Alyssa, I think it's
important for our audience, is the evolution
of taking e -commerce payments online. Adrian
and I were both on the distributor side back
then. We lived the life that you actually described
where both of us worked at companies that were.
disruptors in the company store space. I've sold
the first company store for marketing incentives
to Boston Wailer. Adrian's company, you want
to share a little bit, Adrian, about how your
company got into the company store world? I'll
just share how Pops Herb Barker was, I remember
when he came home from a very large tire company
and like can drew a three, like three part flyer.
and said, we're going to stock this merchandise,
and people will call us, and each of the departments
will place orders with us, and this will help
us to get our name out there with this very large
tire company. And then we will do custom products
for them, but we'll offer this what we'll call
a store program. Yeah, so great. So evolution
of this. concept and way to go to market in the
industry of company stores, which back then were
loss leaders, really. They had lengthy closing
sale cycles, legalese contracts that could just
be overwhelming and take months to get signed,
inventory that would languish in warehouses,
all the things that make traditional company
stores risky. And what I love seeing evolving
is the dissipation of that risk in the change
in going to market and the way the user experience
has evolved, vis -a -vis paying with credit cards
and, hey, maybe even crypto someday, right? So
lots of evolution. Thank you for your intros.
I think what I'd like to ask you both is sort
of an elevator pitch on what your company does
and what sets your company apart. So, Alyssa,
how do you pitch your company to folks? Yeah,
so, you know, we are a true niche. We're a true
niche company in the sense that we do one thing
really, really well, and that's provide online
company store programs with no order minimums,
quick shipping, no inventory. everything is made
on demand. So all of our orders run through our
online company store programs. And all of our
company store programs, for the most part, come
from distributor relationships. So we are just
one extra tool in their arsenal of tools that
they're offering their clients. I'm doing all
the little 1Z, 2Z orders through the store. It's
all automated. It runs through our production
facility. It all goes from one location in one
box. And then the distributors are taking taking
care of the other 85 % of the client's needs
of those really big orders, the event orders,
the creative orders, the overseas orders. They're
handling all that part. Okay. And how many products
in your portfolio? How many products in your
mix? We have about 2 ,500 products today. Okay.
And you decorate them all in -house in your facility
or do you have any strategic partnerships? Everything
comes in -house in our facility. Okay. have a
lot of really recognizable clients. You would
know their name, and if it's a red company, if
that red's a little off, you're gonna know it,
because you would recognize it. And so we don't
trust anybody else. The way we set up all of
our software in the background with the files,
they're set up one time correctly, and then they're
pushed right into the equipment where they're
produced. We take out the human element between
the order. and the file that goes into the machine.
And so we ensure consistency. And so that's why
it has to be run by us. So print, promo, and
apparel is all here in the building. Print, promo,
and apparel. OK, thank you for that insight,
Jacob. How about your company? How do you function
and how do you go to market? Yeah, so thanks.
And it's helpful to learn about Splash brands
as well. It's a different side of the space.
So we function as a full stop hard goods on demand
decoration company. And we'll plug into the backend
of a number of different platforms and similar
to the way Alyssa described, we handle all of
the file management. So anything from the time
the order is placed to the artwork's approved
to product, there's no manipulation. We do special
color profiling for brands that need specific
reds. and have particular color profiles. We
handle that on our back end. And we're really
a software company at our core. So everything
that we do is driven via API. We have a homegrown
WMS, order management system, inventory management
system, to handle both our SKUs and consignment
SKUs for different brands. So we'll handle volume,
ranging in the numbers of SKUs. So our internal
catalog is not as extensive as Alicia's, it's
probably somewhere in the 200 piece range, but
we handle when it comes to colors and brands
and skews, it blows well beyond that. So very
familiar with that part of the process and we're
able to dynamically decorate in full color on
all different types of substrates. So whether
it's glass, powder coat, you name it. Yeah, good
stuff, good stuff. So what I think I'm hearing
from both of you is, Automation and technology
is key. And Alyssa, you built your own platform.
Jacob did the same. Of course, there's lots of
service providers in the industry that flirt
with this, do this. How do you guys fit in with
promo standards, for example? Alyssa, do you
interface with promo standards? Is that part
of your conversation? we currently do not interface
with promo standards. The stores are hosted and
set up by us and then we have the direct contact
with our suppliers and then we're making them
in -house. Okay, so you don't need promo standards,
it sounds like. Jacob, what about you guys? How
do you position yourselves with the promo standards
conversation? Well, it's an interesting one because
promo standard isn't exactly... The more conversations
we've gotten into, there are nuances to the way
that the data is set up. Our system is based
on a homegrown API, but we're able to, we've
in -house development and we can accommodate
varying forms of EDI setup. So it really is dependent
on how the customer wants to transmit information.
We're pretty malleable in that sense. But for
promo standards, yeah, we have had to. make our
system compatible with the way that certain companies
operate. Okay, great. Thank you both for that
insight. I think I'd like to continue that vein
of distributor adoption. So Alyssa, you've been
marketing to distributors for, it sounds like
five or six years now, maybe longer. What are
some of the challenges you have faced with distributor
adoption? Oh, good question. You know, I have
grown over the last few years with our distributor
relationships. What I found is you have to have
the right partner. It's not a business where
somebody could just kick this over to us and,
you know, just kind of here and there. You know
we take care of everything when it comes to the
store side but they're really driving the client
relationship and so knowing that we're. partners
together. We both have contact with clients,
which can sometimes be a challenge and it doesn't
work for all distributors. Okay, that's interesting.
Yes. I only do store orders and they do everything
else. But stores can be very complicated. And
so it's difficult if you have a middle layer.
So you always want to have that direct contact
with everybody involved. And so you have to have
the right partners to do that. So over time,
we found the perfect group that that works really
well for. OK, so maybe if I could sort of paraphrase
that, you look for a certain type of distributor
that can see the value in the model that you
provide, be able to deal with two different contracts,
and go to market with their end user client in
that way. Do you see technology as a bottleneck?
As you're pitching to distributors like when
you when you're at PPA I what's the objection
that comes up? You know, there aren't a lot of
it objections to be honest. Oh, that's good news
Everyone is sort of looking right now for this
piece to plug in to their programs. They all
need a solution to do their onesie twosies. You
know, most distributors are repulsed by the idea
of doing one t -shirt or one keychain, one plastic
pin. And so we're always just that extra solution
for them to be able to serve their customer.
The thing about stores too is they make them
very sticky with their clients. Once they're
in the door set up and we integrate into their
punch out, if they've got Coupa, Ariba, SAP,
we set up all the invoicing where we're pushing
over all their GL numbers. So typically accounting
loves us, which it's hard sometimes to win that
group over. And then we tend to serve a lot of
departments in all of these companies. So HR
might be ordering business cards through the
store, marketing's doing new hire kits, or HR
is through the store. So we've got all these
little groups. I've got a financial customer.
They have all their ERPs inside the store. They
don't order a million things. Some only order
a few items a year. But they're all branded perfectly.
It's all pre -approved by the marketing team.
It's there when they want to use it. They can
get just one. If somebody needs a polo for an
event, it's right there. They can place their
order. It's going to ship in three days. So it's
really a convenient relationship. And we sort
of rely that little missing puzzle piece that
helps them. serve the client in all their different
needs and keep that client because it's so hard
for them to get out of the store at that point
and get on with another Partner, you know, we
kind of make yeah good stuff So Jacob, I know
you're fairly new in in the distributor space
per se But you've been to a couple shows so far
Jordan it's been your distributor response to
your services. I think you know, it's extremely
positive. I think the the number one question
is how. And I think, you know, obviously with,
you know, the solution that Alyssa's company
provides, it's nice because it's full stack,
which makes sense. But what gets complicated
is a number of distributors use multiple different
store solutions, right? And so it's like, it
gets semi varied in how people transmit data
on the back end. So what we've done recognizing
that is we've just started plugging in To as
many different back ends as we possibly can so
whether it's You know, there's a there's a bunch
of different store solutions out there. There's
also a bunch of different supplier organizations
out there so We figure the broader we go the
better because that won't inhibit our ability
to service a distributor if they for example
want to use a Shopify store splash brand store
or otherwise and that gives us the Opportunity
to have our products fulfilled in a number of
different fashions Yeah, beyond that it's it's
a matter of understanding their technical literacy,
too So how how easy is it going to be for them
to go in place in order? so we were doing everything
we can from email conversion to API order to
Try to eliminate as much of the friction as possible
Entering the space it seems coming from the e
-commerce world to the promo world It's not that
there aren't orders. It's that there are more
touches It's about how do you figure out and
eliminate as many of those touches as you possibly
can to streamline the ordering process and get
the products to the customer. Great insights,
both of you. I think what I want to add the layer
of that, what I see out in the marketplace is
distributors learning to give up control. the
sales process. And I find that that is an objection
I hear a lot. They just can't get their heads
around. Well, I don't have to do anything. What
do you mean? I can't, you know, I've been raised
to be a consultative seller. How do I switch
my mindset from that to putting my trust into
an e -commerce solution? And now this is, you
know, probably for the older part of the distributor
population, maybe that challenge isn't so present
for the, you know, under 30s. So I love hearing
about how we can take that fear away from the
distributor and help them understand that the
way they do business is changing and that they
don't have to live that same distributor life
they did maybe even five years ago. That was
really one of the purposes of our podcast today
was to help remove the fear or the reluctance
of adopting a different way of creating and selling
and delivering company stores. So great insight
from both of you. I'm going to switch a little
bit to profitability because this is another
topic that we hear a lot about in our consulting
practice. How do I make money on this? If it's
one piece and somebody is printing it in their
factory, they got to ship it in there, they got
to print it, there still has to be some labor
involved in unpacking, repacking. So let's talk
a little bit about profitability. And I think
I'm going to start with you, Jacob, this time.
How do you see an MOQ of one on demand product
price point wise stacking up against you know,
a traditional bulk ordered promotional product.
I mean, you have more control, right? So if you
have more control and you're getting it to the
end consumer on a quicker timeline, then it really
comes down to it. It is a semi more premium product,
right? But given it's all about the decoration
technique, your speed to order quality. I think
it justifies a higher price point at a certain
point in time for the quality of service. It
also gets to be a little bit more simplified
because there is no setup fee, there is no processing
fee, there is no pack -in, pack -out fee necessarily.
Those things are incorporated into the full stack
print -on -demand process because if you think
about it, we're not just doing one pint glass,
we're doing thousands of pine glasses that just
happen to be going all over the place. We were
able to smooth out the bottom line by doing higher
volume. It's just giving the customer more control.
So it ends up giving the end customer a better
experience and streamlining the backline process
because if it's all technically driven, there's
no extra touches. Okay, thank you for sharing
that. Alyssa, what do you think? Yeah, to add
on to that, for us, the automation with the technology
to be able to gang all of our orders together,
that's what's been so key to keeping the price
low and getting it out the door quickly. So what
happens in the background is maybe this morning
three separate employees placed an order and
it was a different size, color, style for an
apparel item, but they all had the same embroidered
logo. So automatically, the software does the
heavy lift of going, oh, this is all the same
logo. So it tells our pickers to come in and
select those three items together, take it over
to the hooping station where it's going to be
set up for embroidery, and then it will be all
put on the machine at once. So even though it
was three separate orders, we're running them
all at once and getting them out the door. And
that's really our philosophy behind everything
is how do we make it productive and efficient?
Our whole lives are spent making everything more
efficient. Benefits to the distributor are no
inventory, streamlined order processing, dependability.
They can trust you guys to deliver that you will
do what you say you're going to do. Let's talk
about production time. How is the production
time? Does it differ from a traditional promotional
product order with a traditional supplier? Talk
about that a little bit, Jacob. Yeah, I mean,
we're under SLA with our customers for one to
three business day turnaround. So part of the
process to piggyback of what Alyssa said, the
technology is key. You have to be able to handle
files. You have to be able to match color properly.
you cannot be spending extra time or labor or
intensity on ensuring that that is right every
time. That's all part of your process. And so
the more setup you do at the front end, it'll
streamline the back end. And so when it comes
to production timing, again, eliminating the
number of factors involved in the actual picking
and printing and packing and shipping of the
product, as much as that is handled on the back
end. Again, reiterate the accounting side of
it as well. How do you make sure it's invoiced
properly? We've streamlined as well with integrating
with different systems and making sure it's as
clean as possible for people to handle one piece.
Beyond that, just to jump back a little bit,
it's all about localized distribution. So for
us, we deal with companies that are global. So
the reasoning for our European operation is to
be able to distribute to customers in the UK,
throughout Europe and beyond, beyond the fact
that we can cross -country ship throughout the
United States from our location here and then
future West Coast locations. Okay, great. How
about you, Alyssa? How's your production timing
work? Yeah, so everything ships out in an average
of three business days, but for us it's all based
on the location of the blank Okay, where is that
undecorated product? Is it in my production facility
or is it at our suppliers production facility?
We have an API and inside of our stores that
connects with key suppliers and it'll tell us
As soon as someone puts in a quantity how many
days away it is from us. So if it's In in texas
where I am it's going to be at my doorstep most
likely the next morning by 8 30 a .m It's if
it's out of state It could take as long as five
business days because we need a little extra
transit time for them to get that order out the
door Shipped to us received in everything that
hits our doorstep is typically flipped decorated
within 24 hours But it's the for us. It's about
the blank Okay, and so you know i'll just Go
back to the expense of shipping everything in.
So that's rolled into the cost of the item. So
distributors listening, when you look at a print
on demand MOQ of one product and the pricing
is higher than what you used to, wrap your heads
around everything that goes into getting that
MOQ of one piece into a facility decorated and
then. Dropship to now drop shipping has also
transformed the industry. Thank you COVID, you
know so That has really driven I think a lot
of the adoption of print -on -demand and moq
of one and the retail space people like zazzle
and folks like that where People can go online
and order one special item ordered with a unique
imprint And we want to have another podcast on
that whole idea of the creator economy. And you
know, what does the retail space look like? But
for today, we're going to focus on promo. So
tell me, Alyssa, in your model, how did distributors
get paid? So in our model, it's a straight commission.
So it's based off the sale of every order. So
that's a percentage back to the distributors
at monthly, weekly, how does that work? It goes
out once a month based on sales. And as far as
like store management on the distributor side,
a distributor could have a hundred stores with
us and they won't have to hire an admin. It won't
take up a bunch of time. We manage all that part
for them. So some of them call it mailbox money.
Yeah, I mean the family would love it. I think
what I'm getting at is distributors getting their
heads around that the profit margin is different
and they're going to get paid in a different
way than what they're used to. And that was one
of the purposes of the podcast today is to help
distributors start to change their mindset about
how they generate revenue. So Jacob, how about
in your world? I know you're a different set
up than Alyssa and you don't really pay distributors
right now. So I don't know if that's a fair question
to you. I'll just ask you for your response.
Yeah, I think it's not exactly how we're set
up right now. We're more in the direct to. Yeah,
I mean, if we're going to work with. So, you
know, say it put us in the supplier category
for a moment, right? So for a supplier and we're
working directly with the distributors, then
yeah, it would be a similar type of commission
based structure. But we could get clever with
ways, you know, volume discounting and overall
bulking for different types of products that
can be faster moving. What's interesting in a
little bit different in how we handle everything.
We have all of our product in -house, so we're
not waiting for product to come in before we
decorate it. Again, we're not carrying 2 ,500
SKUs. If we order, we would have to bring them
in on different types of products, but we're
carrying everything in -house. So the product
cost for transit is rolled into the base cost.
just to walk it all the way back, but that would
impact overall commission structure. Now, if
you think about the way that we operate as a
back end for a lot of the econ platforms, the
commission structure would be just the same that
it would work with any of the platforms that
take off the top of what we sell them the product
to, right? So say we sell a candle for 20 bucks
and retails for 40 bucks. Well, we sold it to
the distributor for 20 bucks. 20 bucks, you know,
it goes the same way. Okay. Okay. So different
ways of going to market with profitability. So
that's great for distributor listeners. There's
lots of models out there. Do your homework. Do
your own research. Start with these two and then
expand your research from there. I do want to,
we are getting to the end of our time, but I
have two more things to highlight. One is international
shipping. Alyssa, I don't know if your company
does international shipping or shipping to Canada.
Tell us about that on your side. Yeah, we do
ship all over the world, but it does come from
the facility in Dallas, Texas. So for our international
companies, we're a good solution if occasionally
they need to place an order and ship it overseas.
But the transit time and the cost is a deterrent
from doing it on a regular basis. Okay, thank
you. How about you, Jacob? What's your international
footprint? Given our demand over the years for
distribution globally and the trans time that
we were seeing in shipping one pint glass to
France from Boston, though it's sure a lovely
plane ride. It's not the most cost effective.
So we went and set up an operation in Venlo,
which is logistically and strategically a great
place for distribution again for throughout Europe
as well as into the UK. I think right now for
us to ship a pint glass from. our facility in
Venland of the UK is about 550 euros. So it's
very cost -effective. Transit time is clean and
quick and a lot faster than it would be from
Boston. So that's how we handle it for companies
that want to handle and work with us globally.
Excellent. So great selling points both of you
have to the distributor and supplier community.
My last focus is on hyper personalization and
gifting because I think this is really a driver
and a selling point for distributors to be able
to convert clients into these types of stores
is the ability to put somebody's name, a date,
anything really specific, even a photograph.
So Alyssa, what are your thoughts on that? Oh
yeah, personalization is huge, as well as being
able to kit things together. So we offer both
inside of our stores. We have a lot of business
rules built around controlling any personalization
that's put on a product, whether it's print promo
or apparel, where it can go to an approver before
it's processed. Or if you're making a business
card and you want dots instead of dashes, it'll
force those dots. Um, so that's been key for
us is giving people the freedom to go out and
get what they need, but tightening control over
who can get out the door with those personalized
items. And then on the kidding side. Yeah. Oh
no, go ahead. Kidding side. Um, you know, that
was a surprise for us. Uh, everyone, not everyone,
but pretty often I was getting asked for our
catalog of items to be put into a box or a backpack.
And so I was keeping kits on the shelf, like
new hire kits. But then it started to become
really common and I was keeping all this inventory.
I'm like, this literally goes against our entire
principle of the company, no inventory. And so
we built in some software now where we put a
box on there that has the items in it inside
the store. It's one line item. They place the
order, it distributes out to all the departments
who make each part of the gifts inside of the
box. We print the box back in front with whatever
they want, and then it goes out the door presentation
ready, all on demand, one off. Very cool, very
cool. So do you have a sense of what percentage
of your business includes personalization like
that? It's pretty low. It's under 10%. Under
10%. Do you see that growing in the future? I
do. I see everyone that comes to us asking us
to personalize a product. gives us a challenge.
So you can now upload pictures on business cards
or QR codes have been really hot. So now we can
put QR codes with custom URLs or the little linking
software that'll push the contact directly into
your phone if you've got a business card. And
so I do think we'll have a lot of adoption over
time with features like that. Really fun. Okay.
How about you, Jacob? What do you see for hyper
personalization in your world? I mean, we see
it on everything, you know, we're more on the,
you know, commercial side where people are looking
for their family photo on something and want
to have their name. So we see a lot of, it's
Valentine's Day is always fun because people
have, you know, names and Christmas gets very
funny and Halloween of course so it's what we
do see in the corporate side too I mean people
do really appreciate getting their company brand
with a with a name on it you know we've seen
that grow over the years and you know we'll handle
dynamic orders for big companies for a few hundred
pieces and it's just different names and logos
cleverly placed so I see that as a growing part
of the industry and I think it's certainly a
great opportunity for distributors looking to
sell that concept to companies who want to be
able to capitalize on an occasion or an event,
because it does give that extra touch and feeling
of home. Great. Do you have any sense of what
percentage in your company is more? Personalization?
I mean, I'm looking at a cup that says Stacey
on my desk. I don't even know a Stacey. It's
probably, yeah. Well, it could well could have
been in that for next time because throw it out.
There's a an easy sixty percent easily sixty.
Yeah, so very different companies right now you
two very different ways you're going to market
but providing a very valuable service in white
space that exists in the industry today. So congratulations
to both of you. So impressed with what you've
accomplished. I'm going to do wrap -up comments
with my co -hosts that didn't get to talk today.
I'm so sorry you guys got dived in, but Adrian,
what do you think? This is great. Thank you,
Alyssa. Thank you, Jacob. A couple of things.
One is for the distributors. Understand when
you say, we have a company store as a distributor,
what that really means. I think many distributors
don't understand it. They think, we have the
software, But they don't understand that to work
with a company that has everything housed in
one place, what that looks like. And or I like
this could be said a lot. We don't do company
stores. Well, yes, you're not doing company stores
because you're not understanding a company store
and how it opens the door. So, I mean, there's
two kinds of distributors. There's the ones that
are profitable, that they're out there selling,
they're learning, they're educating. They they
know that they want to be on the. forefront of
anything that is really unique and they want
to provide their clients with something that's
also, you know, revolutionary and could really
grow their custom business. And then there's
those that really just plow through the day and
that's it. So for you that are learners and want
to know, you really should look at the option
of and how and why a company store. And one thing
that wasn't mentioned is the cost of actually
an order in the industry. So if you look at it
and let's just say there's an average price of
a hundred dollars Okay to do one order That's
how often the order is going to be touched from
the time that the person is Typing the order
into the system to the time that it has to be
invoice Alyssa brought up a something with three
different items if you have to play three different
orders in essence You're costing your company
three hundred dollars and the last thing I want
to say to distributors is Don't think I'm gonna
bring all this merchandise in I've got a warehouse
that I could be a smaller company store I'll
have like 25 items because you are gonna end
up with the issue of not being able to sell it
all make sure you poly bag anything that is light
color because it's gonna get dirty and dusty
and make sure you have someone that right that
makes you have someone there that's gonna double
check and look at everything because you're gonna
be using different suppliers it's gonna be a
mess and So that those are the points. I really
want to say was important to me. So thank you,
Lisa. You're doing a great job. Amazing. We love
you as a host and Alyssa, Jacob, really fantastic
information. Thank you. Thank you guys. Thanks
Adrian for highlighting those issues with company
stores and processing of orders, the cost associated
with it. Kim, did you have any thoughts or final
comments? I know it's a lot to take in. Yeah,
no, I love this topic. And one of the things
I think is important too is I think solutions
like this offer give all different suppliers
and distributors, but even the vertical markets
within promo, an opportunity to expand their
revenue streams without having to do that deep
dive in that technology. I'm like, wow, these
companies store a streamline. How many incentive
companies are out there feeding the market and
partnering with the big guys? They're feeding
products to OC tanners, merits, work human. Well,
there are thousands of companies, probably tens
of thousands, maybe millions of companies that
can never afford a big employee engagement program
like that, right? And they're not having their
companies. These are really sizable, bite -sized
technology that can be woven into your offerings.
And once it's set up, it's sort of a set it and
forget it type atmosphere, right? I love, Alyssa,
where you said it's the mailbox check. Right.
So, you know, I think there are different segments
of the market that don't even necessarily focus.
They sort of put company store in another bucket.
But with the technology, whether you have your
own website and Shopify store that you can, you
know, plug in, you know, Jacob's solution, or
you really just want to hand it all off completely
to splash brands. opportunities there and I think
sometimes you know distributors and suppliers
like it's a siloed into their specific. Market
and only the things they feel they can deliver
without really understanding the technology that's
out there that's just. can really broaden anybody's
offerings. So I love this. Thank you guys so
much for joining. I think there is a lot of confusion
out there and I love being able to demystify
things like this. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you for
those wrap up comments, Kim. I think what I'd
like to say is instead of thinking of this as
an erosion of your sales, think of it as a way
to increase your sales without the heavy lift
of having to touch every single order. And remember
that these orders will still pull in bulk orders
for your business. So you're not cannibalizing
your business, you're enhancing it. And change
your old habits, change the way you think of
our traditional promo industry and embrace these
changes. They're coming, they're happening. Five
years from now, this is the way we're going to
function. So we're so glad to have you both on
the show to help demystify. Great work, Kim.
And I hope we have you both back soon. Thank
you so much. Thanks, team. Really appreciate
the time. What a pleasure. Yeah, great to talk
to you all. Splash friends and digital on demand.
Talk soon. Thanks for tuning into the promo playbook.
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