Kitting is now a universal experience and in high demand.
Most distributors and suppliers adopted kitting projects as a service in 2020, as kitting emerged as a primary tool to help clients stay connected with their VIPs, whether their VIPs were clients, employees, or the community. And now that promotional products, delivered through creative kitting projects, have proven to be a primary way clients can touch hard-to-reach audiences, the art of the kit is here to stay.
In our exclusive event hosted by S&S and commonsku, we chatted about some of the secrets to mastering the art of creative kitting, from the merch selection to design, to the process of kitting itself, to packaging, and the glorious unboxing. Joining us for the conversation was Lee Fine with Juice Marketing, Stephan Baere of S&S, and Yvonne Zeman with Monarch & Co. You can listen to the entire interview below or jump straight to the highlights beneath this video to hear five tips from the pros to creating better kits!
Complexity is your friend: The more customization and complexity there is in a campaign, the higher the value. Whether it’s a simple t-shirt in an amazing custom box or whether it’s several items in a kit, kitting projects are complex by design and its complexity is one key reason why your client loves you. All the more reason why you should obsess over the details, such as a complete and correct shipping list. One often overlooked area is formatting the data so that it’s exported to you from the client correctly, getting the data right will save you a lot of heartache down the road. Emphasize a clean address list with clients and let them know that successful delivery depends on it!
Outsource or in-house? The bigger the project, the more you’ll likely outsource it and if it’s big enough, Yvonne suggested that you fly to your outsourced partner’s operation just to overseas aspect the kitting and fulfillment. It’s a great idea to ensure you have someone on site who can answer questions and run interference with the client (if needed). And if you decide to do it in-house, here’s a shortlist of tools you’ll need to do the job right: table set up, thermal shipping printer, box cutter, tape gun, heat-press, scale, dolly, wet tape machine, and measuring tape.
Pricing the kit: Pricing is difficult because most of us overlook some of the most important details. Be sure you capture all of the aspects of pricing. According to our expert panel, here are the key areas you need to make sure you capture: supplies/packaging materials, boxes, inserts or printed materials, receiving time, staging time, assembly time, packing time, and the number one cost we don’t usually capture? Your admin costs managing the project on behalf of the customer!
QTY and Over-runs: Always do more than the qty requested from the client so that you have over-runs to accommodate any mis-shipments or errors in printing. Err on the side of having too many than not enough. Plus, kitting projects make great stories, so be sure you produce enough kits for the client to share that story internally, as well as enough kits for you to share the project with your other clients!
Managing the client: Create timelines and over communication. Lee advised that even when you don’t have new news to share, tell that to your client. The client will worry about this project almost as much as you will so be sure you assure them, all along the way, how things are progressing. And Yvonne’s advice? Be firm with clients about deadlines, the client appreciates it when you get gritty with them because they know you have their back and just want the project to succeed. This is your chance to show the client that you are their most trusted partner and will guide them through a successful project.
The last piece of advice serves as one of the most important, “we eat with our eyes first,” Lee is fond of saying, in other words, the details matter. Kitting is about obsessing over the details, from the outside packaging, the interior packing materials, the tape, the complementary products, the design, the unboxing, it’s all about building the ROE: return on emotion, return on engagement, and return on experience!
Happy kitting everyone!
Just a few (of many) kitting resources to share:
Need packaging materials or a printed, custom box and everything handled turnkey? Packed by Chameleon Like. Or, for materials, also check out Lumi.
Need kitting and fulfillment done by an outsourced partner? Profill does kitting and fulfillment and our friends at Advoc8 are doing some high-end work for agencies and big brands.
And don’t forget how many amazing supplier partners do full-turn kitting, including S&S, Piggyback by SnugzUSA, Hit, PCNA, and more!