Corporate gifting is more than handing out branded mugs or pens—it’s about building and nurturing relationships with employees and customers. If you sell a product that would make great corporate swag or a gift for employees to celebrate the holidays, an event, or a professional milestone, corporate gifting could unlock a new wholesale opportunity.
But how do you get your product on the radar of companies looking for gift ideas? One way is to partner with design studios that specialize in corporate gifting. That’s Chloe Sapienza’s expertise. She’s the founder of Telescope, a studio that sources and designs corporate gifts and builds Shopify stores for company merchandise.
“It’s much better to partner directly with companies like ours as opposed to trying to work one-off with customers, because most people who start retail brands aren’t trying to do what we’re doing and help customers figure out how to brand their products,” Chloe says.
Here’s a look at how Telescope uses Shopify as part of building out a corporate gifting strategy.
Providing a full-service experience
Telescope helps clients make company swag, from idea to design to fulfillment. Chloe explains the holistic approach saves their clients time, because Telescope already has established relationships with suppliers and can handle the logistics of sending out branded products more easily.
Telescope’s design and fulfillment teams collaborate in the same space to ensure every order meets expectations. “Our industry is filled with so many companies that don’t take as much care in the fulfillment of the products,” Chloe says. “But because we own our own warehouse, we’ve been able to create quite a bit of control over the outcomes for our customers.”
Using data to inform clients
Part of Telescope’s services include building Shopify websites for clients’ that want to provide a public merchandise store or an internal store for employees to order from. Its team is able to glean insights across a variety of Shopify stores and make better product recommendations for new and existing customers based off of shop data.
In one instance, Chloe’s team noticed one product was getting returned or exchanged frequently. After digging into the data, Telescope found out it was a sizing issue, because the product ran large. “We were able to adjust for that in the future when we sell it or when we’re stocking it for the customer,” Chloe says.
Curating corporate gifts
“Our approach is to curate a variety of products that not only fit our customers’ budgets and timelines, but are also sustainable and locally sourced whenever possible,” Chloe says. She explains that there are a few benefits to this. The sustainability mission helps Telescope and its clients cut down on waste, which is prevalent in an industry where companies are eager to slap their logos on a product that usually ends up in the trash.
The local sourcing strategy also helps with sustainability goals. Shorter distances for the swag to travel means less energy to deliver the products and less time for the products to arrive at their destination.
Balancing seasonality
Corporate gifting, much like retail, sees a spike during the holiday season. Chloe highlights the importance of ensuring the team is mentally prepared for the intense holiday schedule and of maintaining personnel overlap to handle the increased workload. “Mental preparedness is one of the biggest things you can do for your team,” she asserts.
At Telescope, maintaining an open line of communication with the team is crucial. Chloe is never afraid to step in and work during busy times as well. This willingness to pitch in lets her team know that, even in the busiest seasons, a sense of care is never lost.
The relationships at the heart of gifting
Throughout Telescope, the emphasis on relationship building is never lost. After all, the final product—the gift itself—is one way companies deepen relationships with their employees or fans. Maybe they give the gift for a certain professional milestone or to attendees of a special event.
Chloe tries to exemplify relationship building in other aspects of Telescope as well, whether that’s maintaining strong ties to reliable suppliers or assigning an account manager to provide individualized attention and continuity to clients. “Customer service and building relationships are really the only things we should be talking about in business,” Chloe says.
To learn more about Telescope and Chloe’s insights on corporate gifting, listen to the full interview on Shopify Masters.
