Redemption stores without all the hassle.

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What is a Redemption Store for Employees?

Many companies award employees with gifts for holidays, special occasions, meeting sales goals or reaching performance milestones. Other organizations often need to distribute uniforms, sales kits or other items to their team members. These types of transactions are often handled in a company store, but when the items being redeemed are very simple and do not require payment, a standard company store is often overkill. Company stores require users to add items to their shopping carts, create accounts, choose shipping options and go through a complete check out process.

An employee redemption store should be simple and fast, without any unneeded steps. storeBlox XPress redemption stores make it easy to enter a redemption code, select one or more items and then check out without any shopping cart review, payment method selections or other unnecessary steps. Redeeming gifts, rewards, incentive products or any other item that an employee or team member is receiving at no charge is a simple, three-step process.

What types of products are in a redemption store for employees?

The products in a redemption store or company merch store may range from basic promotional and branded apparel items like hats, polos or mugs, to high-end incentive brand name products like tumblers, tech items or even presidential travel/spa items. But redemption stores are not limited to reward items; many companies use redemption stores to distribute uniforms, new hire kits and other essential employee items at no charge to their team members.

What are some examples of redemption programs?

• Employee onboarding: When a new hire comes on board at a company, they often receive kits or packets with uniforms, t-shirts, hats or other needed products for their position. This process is fast and easy with a new hire redemption store. New associates can pick the size of a ball cap or polo they need, grab a travel tumbler and be done in a matter of seconds.
• Uniform fulfillment: New and existing employees often need to order new workwear or uniforms, and a a redemption store makes the management of this process simple and foolproof.
• Team uniforms and equipment: While there are plenty of “uniform pickup” programs for sports teams, they tend to be very limited in scope – pick a size and enter your name and number. A redemption store can handle all that, but allow for more flexibility in selection.
• Build your own bundle:Some e-commerce stores have bundling capabilities, but they’re often cumbersome to use, requiring users to pick from endless menus and navigate irritating error messages when the selections don’t add up correctly. A well-built redemption store avoids all that with automatic bundling. Need to pick three different products out of five to make your own bundle? A redemption store can update you as you make choices, showing exactly what you have left and allowing you to easily back out a choice when you change your mind.

How do Employees Access the Store?

One key to a fast, easy redemption process is verifying the buyer’s access at the beginning of the process. Because the items in a redemption store are free, there is no need to deal with payment, so once you have verified that a user may access the redemption store, all they need to do is select the product(s) and provide a shipping address. This is accomplished with redemption codes or access codes, which are distributed to the employee or team member via email or even handouts.

The redemption or access code is important as an easy way to access the store, but it is also how you ensure that each employee only receives the item(s) they are due. Once a redemption code is used, it cannot be used again. A report in the store administration system shows the manager which codes have been used, and for which products.

Redemption codes for an employee merch store need to be easy to issue so that many codes can be created at once and handed out to large groups of employees. For instance, a company may want to give every employee a holiday gift at the end of the year or a performance reward if the company has exceeded its goals. In storeBlox XPress, any number of redemption or access codes can be created at once by the store manager. With storeBlox XPress Redemption Stores, the process for both managers and employees is simple and foolproof.

What is a Popup Redemption Store?

Many redemption stores are only available during a specific period of time – around the holidays or for specific events. These stores are often called “pop-up” or “flash” redemption stores. Popup redemption stores may have only a few items and only last for a month or two, but they may be very high-volume, especially if it is a gift redemption program for a large corporation, which frequently results in thousands of orders the moment the redemption codes are distributed.

Do Your Redemption Stores Charge Transaction Fees?

Some redemption store providers charge a small fee to set up your store but take a cut of every transaction. While this can mean lower costs for very low-volume redemption stores, once your store starts doing a substantial order volume, transaction fee-based stores actually become more expensive than a store with a simple monthly hosting fee. eBlox has never charged transaction fees and never will. You shouldn’t be penalized for your success.