Order forms from school accounts and other large groups can get disorganized and confusing fast. Try this trick with InkSoft’s Online Stores to make everyone’s lives easier.

Bottom Line Up Front: If you print apparel and merchandise for schools or large groups, you can use InkSoft’s Online Stores as an order collection system instead of gathering up order forms from administrators. It saves everyone time, makes things easier for you, and promotes your shop to new customers. 

Working with schools is a great way to grow your sales since there’s always a need for new custom-printed products. But let’s face it, schools aren’t always equipped to collect orders for those products. Even though most schools have moved to online forms and emails, it’s still a bit of a clunky system. It can leave room for error and clutter up the chain of an order going from a parent and student to a print shop.

What can you do about it?

You can use InkSoft’s Online Stores as an order collection system for these school orders. It’ll be a more organized, streamlined system that benefits parents, students, school administration, and your shop.

 How do you use InkSoft Online Stores as an ordering system?

You build out this ordering mechanism very similar to setting up an online store. So, for example, if you’re setting up an order for your local school’s homeroom, set up a storefront for that order.

From the control panel, you can disable the e-commerce mandate, which deactivates the payment feature. This lets parents select quantity and size from the order form without making a payment, and you get all the information needed to print the order. You can also set up custom fields. Suppose there are multiple homeroom teachers and different products for each class. In that case, parents can select the quantity and size of those items.

This setup not only makes your life easier and adds value to your relationship with the school, but it also creates a positive buying experience for parents and students. Plus, it eliminates the possibility that a form emailed by the school got stuck in their spam folder and that parent missed out on ordering. And suppose parents and students are pleased with the outcome of your setup. In that case, you’re automatically promoting your services which leads to referrals to other customers.

Other Uses

Another great thing about setting up this ordering system with InkSoft’s Online Stores is using the same setup for other sales situations. Since it collects all the essential information you need for purchasing and receiving, production, and reporting, you can use this for other group orders like:

  • Hotels and other hospitality companies who require employees to order and wear branded apparel
  • Corporate apparel for holiday parties and team building events
  • Church groups and other local organizations seeking logoed wear

The ordering system saves time regardless of the company or group you set it up for. And, it creates a professional experience for customers ordering their gear since they can preview how the design looks on the apparel and get a better sense of what the garment looks like.

It’s time to market your capabilities and reduce friction by creating a seamless experience for these customers.

Ready to start using an online ordering system with InkSoft’s Online Stores?
Contact us today get set up.


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