How to Create a Company MerchStore

A simple truth: buying corporate gifts for the people around you can be daunting. Whether they’re acquaintances, your closest friends, or remote-work employees you’ve never met; it’s nerve-wracking to pick something out, wrap it up, and hand it to them. What if the shirt you ordered doesn’t fit them? What if you were way off, and the highly-customized gift you ordered will sit on their shelf, unused, forever?

It can feel impossible to predict what other people want for company gifts. Just because they have a custom puffer vest doesn’t mean they love puffer vests and want another one. Just because they don’t have a company puffer vest doesn’t mean they despise them. It’s dilemmas like these that often bring corporate gift shopping to a grinding halt. This frustration is then multiplied with every person and department we shop for. When it comes to corporate gifting, you’re stretched in a hundred different directions, puzzling over how to please tons of unique coworkers with varying preferences, all at once. On top of all that, your looming deadline is usually a big company holiday party or corporate event!

You care about your team members and want your company gifts to show your employee appreciation and care. That’s why, at Merchology, we created the all-new MerchStore feature! MerchStores are custom company storefronts you can create for your employees to shop from! You select the custom apparel and logo-branded gifts you want them to choose from, share the company store link, and your employees order what they want right from the comfort of their chairs!

Not only does the MerchStore take away the struggle of choosing gifts for your employees, but it also makes communication much easier! With the MerchStore, you don’t have to track down your team members to make sure they’ve chosen their products. There’s no more worrying about whether you’re reading a scribbled-down address or size correctly.

And with simple online ordering through the MerchStore, your team doesn’t have to page through a magazine and suffer through a long, confusing email chain as everyone sends in their orders. The MerchStore makes it easy for employees to choose their products, and it also makes putting together an order much easier for managers and administrators.

Creating a MerchStore is easy for you and your employees! Below is a walk-through video tutorial that guides you through the entire process visually!

Step-By-Step MerchStore Guide

Once you’ve logged into your Merchology account, you’re ready to get started.

Creating Your MerchStore

On the MerchStore page, click “Create a MerchStore.” This will take you to your MerchStore Admin page.
Click the orange “New MerchStore” button in the top right corner.
A pop-up box will appear. You will need to:
1. Create the subdomain of your MerchStore—you might choose your company or department name, or make something up!
2. Choose whether the administrator or the individual pays for your merch.
3. Choose whether your MerchStore will be “Always Open” or for a “Limited Time.”
4. Click “Create Store.”

This will take you to your MerchStore dashboard.

At the top left corner of the screen, right below your store’s name, you can toggle between “Members,” “Products,” and “Orders.” Toggle to “Members.”
1. To add members, click “Add Members” on the top right. When members are added, they’ll receive an email with a link to your MerchStore.
2. To add additional admin, click the “Add Admin” button under “Store Admins.”

Customize your storefront by filling in the fields on the right-hand side.
1. Add a Store URL (you’ll be able to share this with your coworkers).
2. Add a Store Logo—upload a JPEG, PNG, or SVG of your company’s logo by clicking “Add File.”
3. Upload a Banner Image that will appear on your storefront in JPEG, PNG, or SVG format.
4. Write a quick blurb in the Store Message field with any notes or instructions you want your employees to see on your storefront.
5. Select a Store Accent Color.

Customize your payment, shipping, and order processing preferences.
1. You have the option under Payment Method to choose either “Administrator Pays” or “Individual Pays.”
2. Choose a Store Type: either “Always Open” or “Limited Time.”
3. Under Processing Schedule, select your next processing date, and then chose how often you want your MerchStore’s orders to be processed.
4. Leave blank or check the boxes next to Require Password, Auto Process Orders, or Ship to Office.
5. Select your notification preferences under Tracking Notifications.

Click “Update MerchStore” when you’ve filled in your information and your store is customized to your liking!

Now, your company swag store is ready for corporate gifts and merch!

Adding Products to Your MerchStore

On the MerchStore dashboard, toggle from “Members” to “Products” on the top left. Select “add products” to search for eligible products from the Merchology website.
Click “Add Products.” In the search bar that appears, you can search for products to add to your store! Shop from brands including Carhartt, Nike, Under Armour, Zusa, Puma, OGIO, and Champion.

When you’ve added all of the products you need, set your store’s status to “Active” under Store Status on the top right. When your store is “Active”, you can share your MerchStore link with anyone!
When your team members log into your MerchStore, they can browse products you’ve added, and they’ll be able to select their sizes. The company logo artwork you added earlier will be digitally mocked-up on each product page, so they’ll be able to see exactly how their gifts will look!

MerchStore Payment and Shipping

If the payment type you selected earlier was “Individual Payment,” your team members can enter their payment info when checking out. If you chose admin payment, you’ll receive one payment request for the combined orders as soon as they have all been submitted.
Then, your members will choose a shipping location, either the office or straight to their homes!

Processing Your Custom Company Orders

To monitor orders and check order status, toggle to select the “orders” view near the top of your MerchSolutions dashboard, right beside “products.”
Your orders will be processed as frequently as you selected under the Processing Schedule section when setting up your MerchStore. If you selected “Every 2 Weeks,” your MerchStore’s orders will be processed every two weeks.
When the order closes, you as the admin will receive a push notification to submit the order, and your merch will be on the way! Your employees can also receive update notifications: Just select “Send to individuals” under Tracking Notifications on the bottom right.

There you have it! Quick and easy company merch for the whole team!

When is a MerchStore a Good Option For Your Team?

When submitting large group orders of custom merch
If you want the option to ship your gifts to multiple addresses, such as multiple office locations or your WFH employees’ home addresses.
If you want your team members to select their own gifts
If you want your employees to pay individually

An Easy Way to Shop for Corporate Gifts

Now that you’re ready to set up your MerchStore, you don’t have to stress about corporate gifts (especially when the holidays are approaching)! Your team members can choose the exact company holiday gifts they want, and we’ll add your company’s logo so you get brand recognition wherever your team members go. Start setting up your company merch store for easy corporate gift shopping today with Merchology!

Contact Us at Merchology!

Need help setting up your MerchStore? Or, do you need a different gift-ordering process to fit your team? Contact a Merchologist with questions about your MerchStore or about ordering gifts for your team. We’re here to help!