Browsing promotional merchandise companies and choosing your ideal vendor for quality branded merchandise can sometimes be a struggle, but we’re here to give guidance as to how you can find the ideal partner to create promotional merchandise for your brand.
As an award-winning printing company, we understand how important it is to find the best vendors for various areas of your business. Branded merchandising services are no different.
Before you begin searching for branded merchandise suppliers, there are some essential areas to consider when looking for a vendor.
In this article, we’ll discuss how you can choose the right branded merchandise supplier for your business.
Top Things to Consider When Choosing a Supplier
There are various aspects to consider when selecting a personalised merchandise supplier, but some of the most important include:
A good history of customer satisfaction
Reviewing previous customer feedback is a good way to find out how a business operates when you’re considering utilising their services. You can do this by simply looking for the company’s reviews online. This can be done using Google reviews, Trustpilot or other well-known customer review platforms.
Reviews provide insights through customer feedback. It allows you to make a more informed decision whether you should use them for your company’s branded merchandise.
Quick turnaround time
Depending on the deadlines you have, you want to make sure that your branded merchandise supplier is able to work with your schedule. Also, last-minute events can arise, especially if your business is in an industry that involves regular event attendance.
It’s essential to make sure that when looking at promotional merchandise companies, that the vendor you choose can fulfil your order in advance as well as last minute. This can involve asking the following questions:
- What is your process when handling orders?
- How do you handle short notice/last minute order requests?
- How much notice do you require for the production of branded merchandise?
Having a supplier that can work with your schedule flexibly can save you the time of having to handle production dates or look for alternative vendors for last-minute events that may arise.
They offer quality branded merchandise
Merchandising is not just having your company logo on an item. The quality of the item can be a potential association with your business. When choosing the right vendor for quality branded merchandise, it’s important to get a look and feel for the items that will have your company’s logo/design.
Many vendors provide sample products you can review before making mass orders for events or pop-ups – as do we. So before selecting a vendor, be sure to check the quality of the sample products before making your decision to partner with a vendor.
At Gemini, we always provide sample products for our promotional and branded merchandise service, which clients can review prior to mass production. Because we want to ensure your company brand is tied to quality products, we’re very flexible with any requirements you have when you receive our sample products. Talk to us today if you wish to discuss this further.
Honest costs
When searching for promotional products suppliers, you want to know that their costs align with your company’s budgets. The last thing you want is to see a potential vendor you wish to partner with hitting you with hidden fees that came out of nowhere! This can disrupt product delivery dates for any events or shows you have prepared in your company calendar.
To avoid being surprised by any potential costs, be sure to ask the following questions.
- Are there any additional costs associated with purchasing these products?
- What is the pricing structure of the product?
Branded merchandise suppliers should always be transparent and honest with their costs for branded merchandise products. However, it would be best to always carry out your own due diligence to ensure you understand any fees associated with purchasing products. That way, you save yourself from any potential problems down the road.
Clear comms
Clear and regular communication from your personalised merchandise vendor ensures that timelines and dates are met for any products to be delivered for any upcoming events. Ensure that they can provide regular updates on your order’s progress and guarantee that the products will be ready in alignment with your company’s desired timeline. To gauge a vendor’s level of comms, you can ask the following questions:
- What is your comms process when it comes to orders?
- What are your support hours?
It’s always ideal to look for a vendor who grasps your business’ growth objectives and is adept at communication, so you can have an effortless experience. This is particularly important if you have specific times in the year when you have significant events or trade shows upcoming, or if you have other offline or digital marketing campaigns being supported by their services.
They have a goods return policy
It’s important to know if there is a goods return policy in case something wrong happens with the products. This can be from an incorrect size or colour or simply because of a defect that occurs during the production process. If goods are returned, it’s essential to ask what steps the promotional products suppliers can take to ensure that you receive another order.
You should ask the personalised merchandise vendor what the process entails if returns need to be made. This process should be made seamless by the vendor so that you can quickly sort the issue and request a new order for the branded merchandise products. You can also find information on a vendor’s return policy on their website.
Get in touch with us!
Choosing suitable promotional products suppliers for quality branded merchandise is very important. At Gemini, we provide promotional and branded merchandise and a range of other print solutions.
Before any printing implementation, we’ll aim to understand your business and goals to ensure our service delivers the desired results. If you have any more questions or would like more information, you can contact us on 01273 464884.
