MerchGlobal

When it comes to improving customer retention, loyalty programs and branded merch are a powerful combination. According to experts, these retention programs influence nearly 85% of consumers to stick with a specific brand. An additional 66% report that loyalty programs positively impact their spending behaviour. Given that selling to repeat customers is much less expensive than new ones, implementing a reward strategy is a must.

At MerchGlobal, we help companies retain their clients by utilizing MerchCentre with Merch-On-Demand making merch programs easy while removing the risks of inventory. Whether you want a point-based program or year-end client gifts with impact, MerchGlobal helps you realize the synergy between branded merch and loyalty programs.

When it comes to creating effective impressions with branded merch, few factors have a bigger impact than colour choice. There are three crucial reasons why colours are such an important aspect of merch: they draw attention, appeal to emotions, and tell your brand story.

From a branding perspective, consistent colours are vital in making your company as recognizable as possible, with studies showing that brand recognition increases by 80% via signature colour use.

Complementary hues are a great tool for giving your brand colour that extra pop it needs to grab your target audience’s eyes. According to experts, 60-90% of people’s product judgement comes from colour, so complementing the branding of your merch with appropriate base colours is key to a successful campaign.

Choosing the proper merch colours is crucial for painting your brand mosaic and sending customers down the right psychological path. Contact us today for creative ways to add that touch of colour and start telling your story with powerful branded merch.

Cause marketing is getting it’s moment in the limelight, but what is it exactly? Well, essentially, it’s the process of marketing a for-profit with branded merchandise that supports a charitable organization in some way. Today’s consumers are increasingly conscious about who their dollars are supporting, so this strategy is a win-win for both organizations involved.

In fact, some surveys find that upward of 80% of consumers prefer buying from conscious companies. That’s why businesses are increasingly featuring non-profits on their merchandise or collaborating with charities to donate to using branded merch. Customers gravitate towards these types of forward-thinking companies because they are deriving added value from receiving their merch while also supporting a worthy cause.

Businesses can promote their prosocial values through the right cause marketing strategy while also improving brand engagement, customer loyalty and expanding into new consumer segments. With all this upside, it’s no wonder cause marketing through branded merch is so effective!

There is no better way to keep a business, service, and offering top of mind with a company's past, existing, and future customers than to incorporate branded merch in the marketing strategy.

Many companies have taken to distributing branded merchandise to the public (who are not yet customers), given the results.

The public has responded to these acts with a resounding interest. According to PPAI research, 75% of potential customers say that free merch is a desirable way for them first to meet a new brand. 62% explore the brand online or turn to friends or family (20%) after receiving branded merchandise from a company they have never heard of.

It's also important to remember that everyone who receives the merch becomes walking billboards, marketing as they make thousands of impressions to connections for months to come. Most people keep their merch for over a year.

Increasing brand awareness involves circulation and a small investment. The pay-off is exponential as those items make rounds. Lucky recipients of the merch also feel obliged to return the favour by giving the business something of value; their attention!

Creating and distributing branded merchandise is worth the initial investment. It is statistically one of the strongest forms of advertising, creating strategic awareness building and a positive first touchpoint experience.

Workplace wellness programs have been on the upswing in recent years, with around one-third of all Canadian workplaces participating in some sort of program.

So... what is it?

Wellness programs, in concept, are incentives for employees to participate in healthy activities, in hopes of improving their personal and work life.

These programs usually involve healthy eating and/or physical activity systems.

This may look like discounted/free gym memberships, weekly healthy catering, healthy snack options, or fun challenges and competitions among employees (relays, races, triathlons, etc).

Friendly competition is the perfect incentive to invite participation and motivation. With competition should come rewards!

What better way to incite unity and healthy reminders than to use cool company branded merch?

Giving away useful or attractive prizes with company branding that the winners can choose from, is a great way to benefit them and the company as they sport those products in public!

To elevate that, why not make sporty items with the branding (frisbees, water bottles, workout clothes) for them to wear during the wellness activities!

The unique charm of branded merch creates an automatically upgraded sense of unity among your personnel, strengthens the culture, and highlights the same goals. It makes the perfect gift that keeps giving back, all while employees get happier and healthier!

Ever wonder where that promotional merch ends up?

The good news is its marketing potential almost always is optimized during its lifecycle. Those t-shirts and pens get used hundreds of times, and interestingly not always by just the same person.

79% of people, the real MVPs, recirculate their branded items when they've decided they're done with them. They do so in a variety of ways, the most popular, at 53%, being regifting to peers.

Today's dominant consumer demographic is much more intentional with their ecological impact than any previous generation, making repurposing and resale shopping the desired option.

When merch changes hands and households like this, it extends its previously projected lifespan. New owners, fresh enjoyment, extended impact.

Every day merch spends in use is another day it makes valuable brand impressions!

Branded apparel is one of the most successful and efficient forms of marketing.

But what makes it so effective?

Whether consciously or unconsciously, the act of wearing a branded garment is a statement of endorsement. Everyone knows the power of word of mouth, and seeing is believing!

Studies show that one piece of branded apparel can have up to 6000 impressions a day.

So often, marketers conclude that their target audience and demographic associate together. If your brand is being worn by one, it’s highly likely to be seen by the very others you’re looking to message to.

A recent global survey study done by ASI found that apparel rated among the most appreciated forms of promotional merchandise. In fact, quality t-shirts were rated # 1 choice by the Millenials when asked what type of merch were they were most excited to receive!

It’s human nature to “want to belong” and “be connected,” which is something branded apparel does extremely well. Thousands of companies both give and sell their merch to their staff because it is desired and asked for. We all know the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Great people like to be with great people. Rewarding appreciated staff with branded apparel helps put the brand in front of the type of people companies want to be recruiting. Branded merch is a great conversation starter; what better conversation than a great and rewarded employee talking about the brand?

When your merch becomes a walking billboard, coupled with the power of personal endorsement, what more can a brand ask for?!

What’s more motivating than a genuine gesture of appreciation and acknowledgement?

Thoughtful and individualized recognition is essential! The results of the token milestone gift have long proven the benefits of commemorating these important anniversaries.

The key is relevance. What is meaningful to one is not necessarily the answer for all.

Creating a service award program that provides choice and selection is a great way of making sure the gift is valued and appreciated. Organizations are increasingly finding that the once traditional type of gifts when giving a choice is not the ones being chosen most often. Interestingly, an assortment of popular brand-name apparel and merch is often the preferred gift of choice!

A points-based recognition program has proven very popular, allowing the recipient to choose from a wide variety of items to select what they want, often choosing a combination of items rather than one specific piece.

Using the solution of MerchCentre™ with Merch-On-Demand™ provides a consistent fresh selection of on-trend merch while making a service award program very easy to administrate.

We live in an era where we're bombarded by literally thousands of marketing messages every day. For businesses, it's daunting to stand out and compete against this constant sea of messaging.

How does a brand stand out in this crowd? How do they become more memorable?

Branded merch not only targets one consumer personally, but it also then has the massive knock-on effect on all the others who connect with your recipient, essentially making them a moving billboard for your brand.

Either wittingly or unwittingly, when consumers use branded merch, they're making a statement of brand endorsement.
Merch is the number one most appreciated form of advertising.

85% of consumers remember the brand on the merch they've received, and furthermore, 82% then more likely to have a favourable impression of the brand having received their merch.

63% of items go on to have a 2nd life; they travel on to other households, creating fresh areas of impact and impressions.

Merch is more than effective advertising; it’s the one gift guaranteed to keep giving back.

You know what they say - "work hard, play hard." But why not both at once?

Gamification in the workplace is a trending strategy due to the positive response and results with employees. Gamification is the incentive of gameplay and rewards to work harder/smarter/faster/better.

Work feels a lot less like work when it involves elements of fun and friendly competition. Work-centred games encourage employee engagement, morale, productivity, and longevity with the company.

Studies find that employees included in gamification are 87% less likely to leave, and 90% feel more productive. There's no downside to making work fun!

Game systems range from simple to complex, but the important thing is recognizing good work behaviour, especially with rewards.
Rewards, like company merch, are ideal; employees sport their achievements visibly, the branded merch becoming synonyms with a job well done! What better way to see the brand?

With MerchCentre™, businesses can offer points and vouchers for their performers to redeem for cool and trending company merch! With Merch-On-Demand™, there's no need for guesswork, risk, or inventory; offering a fresh and on-trend merch collection is made easy.

What do consumers, clients, staff, and everyone else have in common?

We all like to feel appreciated, valued and recognized!

Regular acts of gratitude, sometimes referred to as relationship marketing, are crucial to employee and customer acquisition and retention. When we feel that we're valued, we're much more likely to reciprocate the loyalty.

Branded merch gifts are a great way to show appreciation and increase brand loyalty. Research shows that 99% of North Americans have branded merch in their homes. We do appreciate our merch gifts!

Great relationships are built and strengthened using merch to:

🔹 Welcome new customers and employees.
🔹 Celebrate milestones (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
🔹 Give loyalty and performance rewards.
🔹 Provide recognition of a company error.
🔹 Say thank you!
🔹 Gift; just because!

Since time was, the power of a simple gift to show appreciation has proved true!

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude". - Cynthia Ozick

Everyone likes free branded merch, this we know.

But why do people love it? What drives them to hold on so tightly to so much of it?

A 2019 consumer study done by concluded that a whopping 99% of people keep branded merch that they're given!

That means that virtually everyone has promotional products in their homes. Apart from saving money, why might all these people become attached to such items?

Studies deduced that the top three reasons people held onto promotional merchandise were as follows:

✔️ The item evoked a memory of a sentimental time or event (40%)
✔️ They liked the design of the product and found it visually appealing (46%)
✔️ The product had great utility or an important message they identified with (83%)

How can you, as a brand, incentivize customers to keep your corporate branded merchandise?

Focus on making it esthetic, useful, and profound. No pressure.

There's a new merch system in town, and it's revolutionizing branded merchandise and uniform programs.

Traditional merch programs which have physical pre-decorated stock often end up with inventory collecting dust in a warehouse and never seeing the light of day.

The guesswork behind bulk warehouse orders makes holding inventory a known risk; ordering the right amount in the right colours, logos, and size options that need to be used before the next change is often a challenge.

Instead of being stuck with unused or unwanted merch, businesses can now draw on a merch solution that is made to order, on-demand without delays.

The many advantages include selecting from a wide range of on-trend brands, which can easily include all of the colour options, gender styles, sizes and logo designs you require. With an on-demand merch program, the risks associated with buying upfront are eliminated with the merch produced when the order is placed to the specifications required.

Maximizing your resources while eliminating risk has never been easier!

With great success comes great responsibility, and vice versa!

Customers are looking to companies to set appropriate boundaries for environmental impact since they are one of the main catalysts in climate change.

They respond very positively to companies that are self-aware of their eco-footprint and who seek to minimize it. 42% of Americans and 58% of Canadians had a more favourable view of brands that market themselves using environmentally conscious, sustainable merch.

Corporate responsibility is important to today's consumers.

Not only do they prefer companies to utilize merch made from recycled materials, that they'll enjoy using, but they appreciate the opportunity to be more sustainable themselves while using these products.

A great strategy to appeal to the different environmentally conscious demographics is to select eco-friendly and stylish branded merch they'll show off for years to come.

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Branded Merch Has Impressive Staying Power

A recent ASI Ad Impressions study found that over half of those who received branded merch tended to keep it for at least five years - as long as it’s an attractive and well-thought-out item that is useful for the person. Additionally, nearly 40% of consumers have kept their merch for over a decade, demonstrating the lasting impact of creating a brand connection with merchandise!

Statistically, in terms of product categories, the items people kept the longest were outerwear, followed by umbrellas and t-shirts.

Interestingly, almost 80% of consumers own at least one branded t-shirt, and millennials often own up to 5 branded t-shirts, sporting these brands all around their network, gaining this merch a ton of visibility. The added perk? Branded t-shirts, on average, generate over 3,400 impressions throughout their lifetime!

Think about it, what is your favourite merch and how long have you kept it?

A host of recent survey data indicates a trend towards consumers choosing products based on quality and longevity in our post-pandemic world. So how does this affect an organization's branded merch?

According to PPAI Consumer Study, over 48% of customers say that they won't keep a promotional product for long if they feel it's built poorly. Results reveal 72 percent of consumers equate the quality of merch they receive with the reputation of the company that gave it to them.

With a consumer shift towards quality, it is evident that providing quality branded merch offers a much higher user connection than cheaply made alternatives. While it can be tempting to purchase and logo as many items as possible, companies should carefully consider the product quality and how their brand will be perceived compared to when featured on other related options.

One effective strategy to ensure a company's brand is well-represented is to only purchase products in the top 1/3rd of their quality/price bracket. Investing in higher quality merch will increase ROI as premium-quality items are far more likely to be used frequently and replace their cheaply made alternatives.

Everyone wants their merch to be kept, used and remembered – the secret is quality!

Employee engagement rates relate to business productivity and profitability. In today’s challenging environment, creating connections and maintaining engagement is critical.

Branded merchandise can help drive employee engagement. When you incorporate merch with your brand into your HR strategy you can improve on a range of metrics - ultimately driving employee performance and retention.

Explore with us ways to boost employee engagement with merch.