September and back to school season are all about new beginnings. Even though co-branding magic is year-round here at Merchology, we wanted to get in on this “fresh start” mentality, so we are kicking off autumn with a brand new look and feel. Effective September 6th, a new and improved Merchology.com is launching!
Though the look and feel of our whole website will be updated, here are some of the most noticeable updates:
Mobile
One of the primary places you'll see a marked improvement in look and functionality is on our mobile site. You told us that when you’re in a meeting, you need that product info available at a moment's notice, and we listened! Whether you are purchasing products from Merchology on a desktop computer, iPad, or your phone, we wanted to offer a consistent, world-class purchasing experience on any device.
Dynamic ("Live") Pricing - Patent Pending
Along with some additional, deeper discounts available on almost all of our products (see "New Discount Structure" below!), we have some cool, new functionality we are adding to the product page. As you type in your quantities, your price will automatically update on the product page: the bigger your order, the bigger your discount...and you will see it all come to life as you add your quantities in!
We think this is such a unique feature that we are actually in the process of patenting it!
Shopping Cart
Another place you'll see some cool new changes is in the shopping cart. We've streamlined this page to group products together better, make it easier to increase & decrease quantities, and do a better job highlighting your savings.
Additionally, we've added a link called "Send Cart to Email" which will allow you to grab everything in your cart, including pricing, images, and discounts, and send the whole thing via email to whomever you want!
New Discount Structure
Equally important, we are making some adjustments to our pricing as well. Many of you may be accustomed to our system of “20% off 12 pieces or more & free shipping on orders of $199+.” As we started expanding our product offering to include gift items, drinkware, golf balls, stationery, and more, we realized that this “one size fits all” model doesn’t work across all categories. Most importantly, we don't want to limit our discount to 20% off--we want to be able to give even greater discounts for larger order sizes!
Here's how the new, simplified pricing program for Merchology is going to work:
- All-inclusive Pricing – All product pricing includes logo setup, decoration, and ground shipping charges.
- Greater discounts for larger order sizes (up to 50% off, depending on the item!)
- Free shipping on all decorated orders
- Free returns on blank sample orders
Going forward, you may notice a small "Less than Minimum" fee on the cart page if you do not hit the minimum quantity listed in a product's pricing table. We know our customers appreciate being able to place small orders on our site, but as we delved into our legacy pricing program, we learned our company was losing money on small orders for both new AND existing customers. Even though existing customers’ logos were already digitized or made into vector art, there were still considerable setup and processing costs that we were not accounting for.
However, we wanted to figure out a way to still allow those orders through but break even when we processed the order: and thus, the "Less than Minimum" fee was born. So if you are seeing that fee in your cart, here are a few ways to get rid of it:
- Companion styles and related products can be used to get to the minimum. e.g. If a minimum for a product is 12 pieces, 6 Men's + 6 Women's will get you there; same with 6 Blue + 6 Black.
- Get to the minimum for any wearable or bag and the fee is removed.
- Or, save up your quantities and buy everything at once--or alternatively, purchase a few more than you might need!
Again, look for the updated Merchology.com to go live September 6th--we are very excited for you to see everything we've been working on the past few months! Our goal is to make Merchology your favorite place to shop for branded corporate gifts and apparel, and we hope these changes will help us achieve that goal while keeping us in business for the long-term. We appreciate your support, and we look forward to providing you the same outstanding customer service that you are accustomed to receiving!
As always, if you have any questions or comments, we'd love for you to get in touch.