To drive this endeavor, Natalie and Karli from isolved had initially set up an employee swag store with a local swag vendor in Utah.
The platform capabilities proved to be limiting, resulting in a less-than-stellar experience. For starters, the platform’s clunky UI meant there were no filters in the catalog, resulting in the need to sift through endless pages of products. More importantly, the lack of customization abilities translated to a swag shop that didn’t feel vibrant and unique to isolved.
Aside from the user experience, there were lingering issues behind the scenes. There were warehouse fees and a manual process of maintaining inventory. Excessive shipping costs drove up the prices further, where shipping costs sometimes even surpassed the price of the item, proving this solution wasn’t tenable.
The team needed to switch to a more intuitive platform that matched isolved’s technology caliber. After a speedy Google search, they stumbled upon Stadium, and their experience took a positive turn.
With Stadium Shops, isolved was able to take customization to the next level on all aspects: currency, catalog, and shop layout! Karli adds, “We were able to customize the branding for isolved. We loved that we could put one of our people heroes, our brand color, and our little bubble burst in our shop, so it feels like an extension of isolved. Although Stadium isn’t isolved, it still looks and feels like that for our employees when they visit, as it’s important to us that our branding resonates in the shop.” Additionally, isolved was now able to include on-demand swag in their shop. “With Stadium, we love the on-demand option because it still provides us the opportunity to have swag. We don’t have to front the funds first and sit on merchandise for years.”
At Stadium, we always strive to expand our catalog with new vendors and trending items. As a fun company-wide tradition, isolved employees wear all pink on Tuesdays to reflect their brand colors. Naturally, Natalie and Karli are always on the lookout for anything pink to add to their shops, which speaks volumes about how swag has thoroughly been ingrained into their culture.
isolved is also adamant about recognizing key moments, whether they’re life milestones or notable holidays like Earth Day. The goal is to “promote and educate our employees in their professional and personal lives.”
For Earth Day, isolved partnered with a non-profit, One Tree Planted, to plant a tree in honor of every employee. Employees were encouraged to participate in sustainability initiatives, such as putting a plant on their desks or donating things they no longer needed. Participants were entered in a drawing to win one of 20 Cupanion Bottles,a smart water bottle that employees can use to digitally track how much water they’ve drunk and plastic they’ve saved.
The smaller moments aren’t overlooked either—isolved regularly engages employees by sending surprise funds and prizes. But gifting doesn’t end with employees; customers are also included in isolved’s gifting strategy. Natalie adds, “I think it’s a great experience for our customers to be able to go in and purchase things whenever they want to and experience that free shipping.”
The impact has been widespread. Karli notes, ”We truly cherish our partnership with Stadium. There’s been a value-add for employees, customers, and clients because they all ask if they can get swag from our swag store. It’s branching out, even from an internal standpoint.” Employees love feeling recognized, and they love sharing that joy: “We see pictures posted in Teams chats of all these cute babies in their little isolved onesies or people receiving their wedding charcuterie.”
Though the nature of swag typically involves a maze of logistics, Stadium was able to minimize manual work on isolved’s behalf. Before Stadium, checking swag inventory involved a manual email. Now, checking swag inventory is achieved at a glance within the Stadium platform.
isolved
Natalie Alexander
Senior Enablement & Engagement
Specialist
Karli Amsbaugh
Director of Enablement
& Engagement
