Top 3 Problems With Company Merch Stores
The Problems
SplashBrands was created with the purpose of solving the main issues online merch stores faced…
Large Minimum Order Quantities
Inventory Management
Long Lead
Times
No Inventory
No Minimums
48h Shipping
Most online company store providers fall short in at least two of these categories. If a store provider can operate without stocking up inventory, that usually means long shipping times because of the time it takes to source products from third party manufacturers or, in rare cases, process it themselves.
On the other hand, if fast delivery is an option, it likely comes with minimum order quantities on most products along with the headache and costs of managing inventory.
The Solution
With nearly 50 years of combined experience in the industry, our founders (Mike Standish and Elissa Turner) created SplashBrands to provide an online company store solution that could clear all three of these hurdles.
Over the past two years, we have invested a total of $3 million in software development and $2 million in our manufacturing facility.
This investment alongside Mike and Elissa’s expertise in the industry has lead to the creation of SplashBrands: the only employee store provider that can sell thousands of branded products with no minimums, no inventory, on demand with items shipped in 2 to 5 days. Here’s how we were able to make that happen.
1. Proprietary Workflow Software
The first step in creating this efficient system was developing software that integrates our database of branded merchandise with each department in our production facility. At a high level, the necessary processes involved include:
Starting with the picking process, each blank item within our database is pre-loaded with the correct branding department (e.g. embroidery, screen printing, DTF, DTG, engraving, etc.). At the start of the process, for each department, our picking team prints off labels with QR codes for each item on order for each department:
Once the merchandise is picked, it is then sent to the respective departments, where equipment operators will scan QR code to pull up the design and print settings for any given product. Once decorated, the items are married back together using a zoning system, which assigns products within the same order to a specific zone, where they packaged. This process all takes in a few hours.
2. In-House Production Facility
This swift process of picking, branding, and shipping all in under 2 days would not be possible without our own manufacturing facility. Our facility is centrally located in Dallas, TX and is outfitted with industry leading technology worth over $2 million including…
Each piece of equipment is integrated with our proprietary workflow software, so designs for specific orders and merchandise can be loaded on to any machine by scanning a QR code on the picking label.
Having our own facility also helps ensure that every product shipped is consistently made with the highest quality for your employees. Visit our website for videos and more info on our facility.
3. Blank Inventory Management Software
Lastly, to ensure our customers don’t have to worry about managing their inventory, our software oversees blank inventory (i.e. a t-shirt without a logo on it yet) using a lean manufacturing process known as a pull system.
Every blank in the SplashBrands database has an associated minimum and maximum balance, which tells department managers (1) when we need to order more blanks and (2) up to how many should be ordered.
The software automatically issues a purchase order to the SplashBrands’ vendor and lets the receiving department know when the inventory should be arriving, so it can stowed in the correct picking zone.…
In addition to this, our [industry expert team members] have established strong relationships with some of the most reputable blank merchandise vendors including SanMar, JDS, Ariel, and others. Due to the longstanding relationships with our vendors, SplashBrands is able to procure inventory quickly [to ensure our customers always have their branded merchandise available on their.