Building Blocks of Great Online Company Stores: User Budgets

This post really goes hand in hand with my last post detailing the reporting features necessary to make a great online store.  What is better than having excellent reports for your accountants?  Having a fool-proof budget system for your users that ensures no one overspends!

The Basics:

With this feature, company store administrators define a budget for each user or group of users in a store.  The budgeted amount is displayed on each page of the store after a user logs in. The store will restrict the user at the shopping cart level if the budgeted dollar amount is exceeded.

Why do I need it?

Take, for example, the company store that serves a sales force.  (Look back at Reason 382.)  Adding user budgets will allow administrators to set up budgets for each salesperson with complete flexibility.  A higher budget could be used to reward success, or in recognition of a larger territory with higher demand for merchandise.  In either case, each salesperson will see their spending limit when the log in – and will know exactly how much they have left to spend with each successive purchase.  Administrators and managers will recognize a time savings – all products in the store are approved, all logos correct, all purchases within budget limits.  Accountants are guaranteed no overspending.  That is peace of mind.

(TIP: This same model works just as effortlessly for outside sales reps!)

Beyond the Basics:

Look for additional functionality within user budgets like being able to set budget exclusions, which can exclude certain products from the budget calculations upon checkout.  Truly robust user budgets should be able to handle the creation of custom ledger entries and be able to attach them to the budget.  And, they should be configurable to allow orders to exceed a user’s budget with manager approval.  For example, if your store serves internal and external reps, your administrators would be able to set lower budget thresholds for inside reps and approve higher expenditures where appropriate.

It’s time to get your budgets under control.  With an online company store solution powered by Sky High Marketing you’ll get every budget feature mentioned at no extra charge; it’s standard.  Take control of the future of your company store right now.  Call me or visit http://www.onlinecompanystore.net/quote.html for a quote today.

Josh Kozinski

President, Sky High Marketing

1-888-204-4403 x220

Building Blocks of Great Online Company Stores: Reporting

In my first series, I focused on why an online company store should be a part of your business plan.  I emphasized that managing your print and corporate collateral with an online company store will positively affect your bottom line.  A great store solution should also work for those in your organization who are scrutinizing that bottom line – your accounting department.

Accountants will look at an online company store differently than marketers. Your online company store should be able to cater reports to cover both needs.  Whereas the marketer will be looking at what to reorder, your accountant will be looking at how much capital is tied up in inventory.  The marketer will want to see the store’s bestsellers; your accountant will want specific information on who bought what. Your online company store needs to have reporting capabilities that will answer both sides of the question.  Great reporting will get everyone on board – seamless integration of the store throughout your organization is crucial to its success.

Online company stores powered by Sky High Marketing offer an extensive range of reporting options from Inventory and Sales reports to Order Detail and Gift Certificates.  And just in case one of our standard reports doesn’t work for your accounting department’s needs – we offer custom built reports that can supply detailed information on anything happening in your store!

Check out our three most widely used reports. 

Most importantly you need a professional partner (remember Reason #101?) who is willing to work with your entire workforce to supply the reports you need.  

It’s time to put together a great online company store solution with a professional partner, so call me now.  Rest assured that with Sky High Marketing, the reports supplied and their format is as important to us as it is to you.

Josh Kozinski

President, Sky High Marketing

1-888-204-4403 x220

Building Blocks of Great Online Company Stores: Checkout Options

What makes online company store checkout features so important?  Your store is unique, individual to your business, your needs, and your users.  You should have the option to provide your buyers extra choices in personalization or services. Shopping cart tools should be able to help you convert sales.

Having customizable checkout options tailors your store to your business’ needs. Online company store solutions powered by Sky High Marketing always offer these customizable shopping cart and checkout tools.

Shopping Cart Options – Custom Fields

For maximum flexibility and usability you should have a wide range of custom fields ready for deployment in your shopping cart.  For example:

• Order name – organize purchases using internal codes, not assigned order numbers.  

• Required acknowledgement field – ensure important information has been read. 

• Offer order pickup to areas local to warehouses.

• Allow for the selection of custom thread colors on apparel pieces. 

• Solicit the opinion of sales team members on promotional products for an upcoming campaign.  

Shopping Cart Options - Donations

Participation in a cause is a wonderful way to breed team spirit and a sense of belonging both to the corporate group and to the wider community that your business serves.  Make participating in the cause as easy as adding a donation to a buyer’s total at the company store.  What will you support?

Checkout Options - User Payment Options

• Manager approval

You can be in complete control with this optional feature which requires manager approval for all or specified orders that come through the store. A manager must approve an order before it is processed for fulfillment in your store.

• Currency Options

Your store can accept credit cards, purchase orders, a GL code, or internal cost center number, exclusively or in combination.

Checkout Options - Coupons

Driving traffic to your store is important. Coupons can help with marketing efforts to keep your online store healthy. Our experienced staff will help you design promotions that utilize coupons – promotional codes that are entered by users at checkout. With customizable coupons, you are in control.

A Final Word

If your online store doesn’t offer customizable sections within store shopping carts like the ones here, then it’s time to re-think your store solution.

Call me right now or visit http://www.onlinecompanystore.net/quote.html for a quote today.

Josh Kozinski, President

Sky High Marketing

1-888-204-4403 x220

Building Blocks of Great Online Company Stores: Live Inventory

My last blog series focused on many of the reasons that an online company store should be in your business plan.   In the next series of posts I’ll be focusing on the building blocks of great online company stores – the things that set a great store apart from a store that just barely makes the grade.

The best online stores, whether retail or internal, have an inventory management component.  Having an active inventory management system will make your store outlets more effective, easier to manage, and help keep your costs low.  A major retailer recently learned this lesson the hard way, unable to fill hundreds of orders in the midst of the holiday shopping season due to inventory issues.  Whether large or small, your online company store can avoid this pitfall with robust inventory management systems.

Live inventory works for you – stock related missteps, like out of control backorders, disappear when you know what your inventory levels are in real time. A great store is one that gives you the option to choose how to use the live inventory system.  You should be able to choose what works best for your store, your company, your business model. 

Perhaps the most obvious choice that should be available to you is whether your store will display inventory to shoppers. 

In my post “Reason #382: Your Sales Force Should be Selling,” displayed inventory numbers would be very helpful for a sales staff ordering promotional products for a large trade show. For example, your sales manager in Montana will know there are enough bags available for him to order 250.  Once he begins placing his order those bags are taken out of inventory. When your sales manager in Massachusetts visits the store, she can see that the 100 remaining bags will be available for her next event.

Most online retail outlets, however, do not display their inventory to shoppers (even if they have access to live inventory reporting).  If your store visitors require a retail style because they are an external constituency, you may prefer to keep inventory numbers invisible.

Two additional features that are really valuable in any live inventory system are backorder options and inventory email alerts.

• Backorders 

Allowing an item to be ordered when the stock is depleted can be a great tool.  For example in my “Reason #200” post it would be a great advantage to have a scenario where no item is ‘off the table’ for shoppers.  Your store administrator will be able to order new stock with plenty of time for a seamless feel to your constituents.  On the other hand, in the case of the sales force example I used earlier, you may want to stop orders from being placed once an item has depleted to zero. 

• Email alerts

Quite simply, rather than having to constantly check up on the status of your inventory by visiting your store or running lengthy reports, you should receive an email alert when stock dips to your re-order threshold. If your store solution doesn’t offer email alerts, it’s wasting your time.

The bottom line in inventory

You should have the power to hide or display inventory, allow backordering, and receive stock level email alerts. Our online company store solutions offer all of those features standard.

If your current inventory management system is not meeting your needs or if you are weighing options for your online company store, Sky High Marketing can help.  Best in class solutions are our specialty.

Call me right now or visit http://www.onlinecompanystore.net/quote.html for a quote today.

Josh Kozinski, President

Sky High Marketing

1-888-204-4403 x220

Is Your Online Company Store Ready for 2012?

As we finish out 2011, companies are winding down, beginning to look at the performance goals that have been accomplished thus far and what still needs to be reached in the New Year.  It’s a time for reflection and review.

As you take a look back at your year and evaluate your online company store needs, or your current store provider, consider how your goals are being met.  Will your current solution take you where you want to go in 2012 and beyond?  As you re-evaluate consider consulting with an online company store expert.

We are working with clients now for January 1, 2012 store launches - we have room to take on a couple more.  There is no charge for a consultation, so call me right now.

Josh Kozinski, President

262-542-8286

The 7 Key Benefits of an Online Company Store

If you’ve been reading along then you already know that in my first blog series I’ve uncovered 7 key benefits of an online company store.  Here they are in short form.

1. Make managing multiple locations and logos easy and hands free.

2. Maintain brand standards across your organization without constant policing.

3. Save on costs by consolidating purchasing by multiple departments.

4. Receive incredible flexibility with virtual solutions like gift certificates.

5. Inventory management and touchless marketing keep your product moving without worry.

6. Supply tools like promotional products and apparel to your sales or service force without wasted time and effort.

7. Keep your focus on your #1 goal with a professional start-up and management partner.

You can read more about each of these benefits by checking out my previous posts, or contact me to learn more about online company store programs powered by Sky High Marketing.

Josh Kozinski, President
Sky High Marketing

Keep Reading: In my next series I’ll be sharing the building blocks of great online company stores.

Reason #101 Why an Online Company Store is Right for You: Your Business is Not Promotional Products.

If you’re looking for the one stand-out reason for working with a company like Sky High Marketing to put together and manage your online company store, this is it.  So, read carefully.

Your business is not promotional products.

Your bottom line counts on a lot of things, but most importantly it relies on you and everyone in your organization going out there and doing what you do best.  Whether that’s banking, healthcare, sales, industrial manufacturing, education, utilities, or running a bar and restaurant, doesn’t really make a difference.  Your number one priority in your business plan has to be focused on your industry and your company’s goals.

My business is promotional products.  I know the industry; I have years of experience at your disposal.  I am an online company store expert.  I have a team of highly dedicated employees who support our efforts with their marketing, customer service and design skills.

When you are ready to launch an online company store because it fits with your organization’s goals, get an expert on board.  You need a partner company who can take your project, develop it and handle the ongoing management of it, while you focus on your industry.

Don’t take your eye off the ball.  Don’t get distracted trying to climb the learning curve of developing an online company store: a product line, price points, accounting systems, warehousing, decoration, web and design technicalities.

Work with a professional partner, an expert in online company stores and promotional products.  Sky High Marketing is here to help.  Start the conversation today and see where we can take your brand tomorrow.

Get your quote now. (http://www.onlinecompanystore.net/quote.html)

Josh Kozinski, President

Sky High Marketing

Reason #382 Why an Online Company Store is Right for You: Your Sales Force Should be SELLING!

Tick, tock  …

… It’s 10:00, do you know where your sales force is?

If you have a sales team with members across the nation – or across the world – and you need a simple way to get promotional items into their hands as they need them, then you need an online company store.

You expect productivity, sales leads, prospect conversion, ROI, and a dozen other acronyms from your sales team to keep profit rolling in your doors.  When competition for those conversions peeks, as it does when the economy is in, or recovering from, a recession, you need to be at the top of your game – making every minute count.  If you rely on a talented sales force to do that, but you are not providing them with the right tools, then you are not positioning them or your company for success.

Here is how I see it:

• You want your piece of the market-share.  You want it to be bigger than last year.
• You expect your sales force to purchase and use promotional products to spread brand loyalty and recognition.
• You need an online company store.

Why?  Because here is what’s happening to your sales team members if they don’t have access to a range of pre-selected products ready to ship out: They are wasting time.

But it’s not their fault.  They are spending hours visiting any number of ad specialties distributors online to: 

• Search for products
• Uploading art
• Order products
• View and approve product proofs

How can you stop it?

You need a one stop shop where your sales team can pick out products from a variety of pre-selected items that have already been ordered and approved (see my post on Maintaining Brand Identity in this series).

Your online company store controls your costs on three levels.

1. You’re paying your sales team to sell, not to be purchasers.
2. You can take advantage of volume discounts on every item you order – and you can take advantage of great prices on custom items that typically have minimum order amounts in the thousands.
3. You can save on shipping by utilizing warehousing options and shipping smaller quantities as they are ordered.

Put your sales force where you want them – in the field – by giving them to the tools they need in an online company store.

Insider tip: An online company store program works great for outside sales reps too!

When you’re ready to stop that leaky bottom line and get your sales team back on track, contact me for your online company store solution.

Josh Kozinski

President, Sky High Marketing

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

(My series will return next week.)

I recently received a letter from one of our online company store clients, Southwest Gas, who wrote to commend Sky High Marketing for our on time delivery performance.  

Southwest Gas recognizes that they need to be able to rely on dependable service from suppliers and to that end they’ve established a company-wide goal, “On time deliveries are expected to be equal to or greater than 95%.”  I’m proud to say that the delivery performance for Sky High Marketing is at 100%.

We’re proud to be delivering a high degree of service in our online company store product to our client partners.  I deeply appreciate Southwest Gas for recognizing that level of service.  I look forward to continuing our partnership, and receiving many more letters with that bold 100% in the center paragraph.

When you’re ready to partner with an online company store provider where each member of the team really understands what 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed means, contact me to set up an appointment.

(Screenshots of the Southwest Gas online company store appear throughout the onlinecompanystore.net site.)

Josh Kozinski

President, Sky High Marketing

Reason # 457 Why an Online Company Store is Right for You: Touch-Free Marketing

So, you’re still not convinced that an online company store is the best solution for your corporate collateral distribution.  That’s okay, keep reading. 

An online company store will immediately give you hands-off inventory management and touch-free marketing which will help move straggling items that are filling up space and wasting money.  I’ll use T-shirts to demonstrate:

• You’ve added a new T-shirt to your online company store; it is flagged as a new item. 
• Employees and departments flock to the site and buy up all but about a box of mixed sizes.  (By the way, you don’t ever have to see the boxes of shirts, because they’re stored in our warehouse and our fulfillment team takes care of all the orders from your store.) 
• Enthusiasm for the new item begins to wane.  Orders are no longer stacking up. So your online company store administrator adds that T-shirt to the featured products bar that displays as soon as anyone enters your online company store.  Half of that box disappears out of inventory. 
• Now your administrator moves the T-shirt to the clearance category and marks it down to cost.  Like magic, the last few T-shirts are snatched up.

So, by moving the T-shirt around a bit within the store to boost visibility, all the T-shirts were sold.  This is what I call touch-free marketing.  When you have an online company store you get increased support in marketing your corporate collateral and that makes for dollars and sense in your bottom line. 

Need more convincing?  Well, check back for the next installment: Reason #382 Why You Need an Online Company Store: Your Sales Force Should be SELLING!

Josh Kozinski, President
Sky High Marketing