Since the introduction of shops this summer, many distributors are discovering how easy it is to create a commonsku Shop and because of it, they are uncovering exciting new opportunities with clients. In this series, we’ll highlight some of the unique ways customers are finding success with our Shops feature!
This year, The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine released its inaugural Canada’s Top Growing Companies list. The list features the boldest entrepreneurs in the country, the total of which averaged a growth rate of 511% over the past three years. To give each honoree an opportunity to celebrate their recognition, The Globe contacted RIGHTSLEEVE to create a shop that would feature a collection of merchandise with items such as awards, plaques, t-shirts, bags and more. I called Jen Achber, Director of Sales and Business Development, who managed the project for RIGHTSLEEVE to get the scoop.
Hey, Jen! I heard about The Globe project you created! Can you tell me about it?
Sure! The Globe and Mail wanted to create a collection of merchandise for their inaugural Canada’s Top Growing Companies list and they reached out to us with an opportunity to create their first shop. They wanted to allow the honorees to display their logo alongside the Top Growing Companies logo. Deb, our contact at The Globe, was amazing to work with. She said, “You guys are the experts at this.” After some intense discussion, she trusted us to create a collection that would suit their goals and be meaningful to the participants. It was early summer when she contacted us and the list of companies was going to be released in the fall so we got to work coming up with ideas for the collection.
As you know, shops is new for a lot of folks, how was the experience for you?
I've never created a Shop and I was determined to make this an amazing experience and beautiful, too. I have to say that setting up the shop was super easy to figure out. Once the collection came together, we had to create the shop in a short amount of time, and Shops had all the basic elements of what I needed, it was easy to make it look pretty good, they were so impressed.
Most people fear Shops because they’re complicated, why do you think this was so easy?
Because you can put a presentation together and then just convert it. So, as a salesperson, I’ve created hundreds of presentations so that made it easy. My account coordinator and I created the collection of merch and then it was as simple as converting that collection to a Shop, then we wrote a quick intro, changed the colors and fonts, and immediately had a Shop.
How was this Shop customer unique from other Shops you’ve known about?
There are different ways to use Shops of course, but this was a unique situation because typically, you have a client who comes to you with a design idea for their Shop that’s built solely around their brand. We would have their brand guidelines, their logo, vector files, and when we process any order from the shop, it’s a straight-up order. In this case, the idea was that every product would have The Globe’s 2019 Top Growing Company logo along with the honoree’s company logo, so it would be co-branded with The Globe’s designation and each company’s brand. And there are 400 potential customers with 400 different logos. To feature the merchandise on the store, we just used The Globe and Mail company logo (as an example) next to the 2019 Top Growing Company logo.
And how did the launch go?
The launch went incredibly well, it was intense because it was a lot of sudden activity in such a short period of time, but it went well. The winners were notified two or three weeks in advance of the publication date, many of them were having parties at their office and wanted merchandise to celebrate. Initially, about seventy people approached us and because these were all new companies, it was like starting from scratch. They loved the mug we featured or the plaque, but we don’t have any of their information or accounting details, so we would set each of those up … which is intense but amazing because you now have (obviously) seventy leads with their logos, it can obviously turn into more business down the road.
What has been the most surprising, positive thing about this that you've experienced so far, other than just the ease of the Shop creation itself?
Well, I'll be honest, I didn't think it was going to be as successful as it has been. In my mind, we were doing this foremost because The Globe and Mail is a good client of ours. And I thought that we might create a great experience for them and also get, maybe, a few clients out of it. I, honestly, did not think that it would see success right away, but we’re already up to about $45,000 from the shop and it has only been live for about a month. And the volume of emails coming in, within two weeks from all these new customers that we've never had any contact with before … I was a little surprised but I shouldn't have been!
One thing we did was decide to make it really simple in terms of product options and not offer too many items because it can be overwhelming to the customer. And I was pleased at our merchandise selection, almost all of the recipients chose an item featured on the store. I thought we would receive all kinds of custom requests but didn’t get any, they were thrilled with the selection. The lack of custom requests really showcases how well they appealed to the honorees and that we chose the right designs and products. Ultimately, it was just easier than I thought it was going to be. It has actually been amazing.
What's been the hardest part?
The list spans across all sorts of industries, so, there are people who, you know, are startups, and some are manufacturing companies who have been in business for thirty-plus years. The hardest part has just been gathering the information and the new logos, but that’s a nice problem to have.
Final thoughts?
I was surprised and pleased at the amount of positive feedback, I thought I'd have all these people in a rush, ordering samples, but nobody asked for a sample and it was just an amazing experience. We got emails saying how happy people were with the products and the process. The strong interest in the products is great—you can see how The Globe’s brand and this award means a lot to the recipients, who want to celebrate with their employees and clients.
And this was just the inaugural year, the first time they’ve done this, sounds like you’ve just tapped the surface, so, the future is bright?
This program runs one full year. So we're now reaching out to others who haven’t contacted us yet. Meanwhile, people have already come back and asked if they can order merchandise for their company. I’m also highlighting other potential clients from the list, with the holidays coming up, there’s just so much opportunity.
Thanks for your time Jen, I know you’re incredibly busy so I’ll let you get back to it. Congrats on creating such an amazing experience!
Thank you, Bobby!
commonsku has three amazingly simple types of shops to fit your needs, a Marketing Shop, Pop Up Shop, and a Company Shop, for more information, check out our shop options here.