Swag Store, powered by Vox

Overview

Company swag is branded merchandise, such as hoodies, t-shirts, hats, and accessories, that carries your organization's logo. Swag lives inside the same Reward Store your people already use, alongside gift cards, digital goods, and third-party merchandise.

Swag is designed, produced, and shipped by Vox, a merchandise printing and fulfillment partner. Your organization contracts with Vox directly for the merchandise. Simpplr lists the finished items in your Reward Store, runs the redemption experience, and acts as the single support entry point for your employees.

The guiding principle behind the design is that nothing changes for the person redeeming. There is one store, one catalog, one wallet, and one checkout. Swag is a set of items inside that store, not a separate store, a separate currency, or a separate purchase journey.

What changes and what doesn't

Key concepts and glossary

Reward Store The single storefront where employees redeem wallet points for gift cards, charitable donations, third-party merchandise, and company swag.

Wallet The employee's points balance. One wallet covers every item type in the store. Swag does not use a separate currency or a separate balance.

Swag Company-branded merchandise produced for your organization specifically, carrying your logo and artwork.

Vox The swag production and fulfillment partner. Vox handles design, printing, photography, warehousing, shipping, and returns for swag items.

CarltonOne The existing supplier behind the standard Reward Store catalog of gift cards and third-party merchandise. Employees do not see or need to know which supplier is behind any given item.

Catalog management The existing Reward Store workflow your app managers and recognition managers use to approve items and control what is shown and who can see it.

Bill-on-gifting The billing model in which your invoice reflects the points gifted during the billing period rather than the points redeemed.

Return authorization number The reference number issued when a return is approved. It travels with the prepaid return label.

How swag fits into the Reward store

The Reward Store draws from more than one supply source, and the employee sees none of that.

• The standard catalog of gift cards, digital goods, and third-party merchandise comes from CarltonOne.

• Company swag comes from Vox.

• Both feed the same storefront, the same categories and filters, the same wallet, and the same checkout.

From the employee's point of view there is one store with a wider range of items in it. An employee looking at their order history sees line items without any indication of which supplier produced them. This is deliberate, and it is why the support model routes everything through Simpplr Support rather than asking employees to work out who to contact.

The same principle applies to the suppliers. Neither supplier deals with your employees directly. Each of them sees Simpplr as their counterpart.

Who does what

The short version: Simpplr owns the software and the support front door. Vox owns the merchandise. Your organization owns the commercial relationship with Vox.

For all users: finding and redeeming swag

Where swag appears

Open the Reward Store. Alongside the sections you already know, such as Trending now and Shop by categories, you will find a dedicated section for your company's branded items. In the example shown here it is labeled Exclusives. The label used in your store may differ.

Swag items also appear through the standard browsing tools:

• The same sorting options you use for the rest of the store

• The same category filters

• Additional swag-specific filters

Item options

Many swag items have variants. A hoodie, for example, may offer several colors and a full size range. Select the variant you want before redeeming. The same availability checks that apply to the rest of the store apply to swag.

Redeeming, step by step

1. Open the Reward Store and go to the branded merchandise section, or find the item through sorting and filters.

2. Select the item.

3. Choose your options, such as color and size.

4. Select Redeem.

5. Confirm or enter your shipping address at checkout.

6. Review the point cost and the balance you will be left with.

7. Place the order.

This is the same journey you follow for any other Reward Store item. If you have redeemed a gift card before, you already know how to redeem a hoodie. You spend points from the same wallet, and your balance updates the same way.

Points

Swag is priced in points, exactly like everything else in the store. Your balance before and after the redemption is shown at checkout so you can see what the item costs you.

For all users: delivery, returns, and support

When your order arrives

Most swag your organization offers is already produced and sitting in the warehouse, so it ships as soon as you order.

• Shipping: allow around one week for the item to reach you. Within the United States, timing depends on which part of the country you are in. International shipments can take longer.

• Carriers: Vox ships through carriers such as UPS and DHL.

• New designs: when your organization commissions a new design, allow an additional two to three weeks for production and quality checks before shipping begins.

If something is wrong with your order

Contact Simpplr Support. This is true for every Reward Store order, swag or not. You do not need to work out which supplier made the item. Support identifies the supplier and coordinates the return for you.

The return process

1. Contact Simpplr Support and describe the problem.

2. Support raises the return with the supplier.

3. You receive an email containing a return authorization number and a prepaid return label, along with the return address and instructions.

4. Pack the item and ship it back using the prepaid label.

5. The supplier receives and processes the return. Allow around two weeks.

6. Once the return is processed, your points are credited back to your wallet.

Who pays for the return

The process is identical either way. Only the cost ownership differs.

How do I pay for swag?

Swag is redeemed with wallet points, the same as every other item in the Reward Store.

For app managers and recognition managers: getting swag set up

Setting up swag is a one-time process. Once your items are live in the store, ongoing operation is the same as running any Reward Store.

Everything up to production happens once, before your first items go live. Approving items and setting visibility repeats whenever you add new designs.

Express interest

Tell your Simpplr customer success contact that you want to offer branded merchandise in your Reward Store. This is the only step where Simpplr is your counterpart on the merchandise side.

Introduction to Vox

Simpplr introduces you to your Vox counterpart and shares the contact details you need. From this point onward you work with Vox directly, and Simpplr steps out of the merchandise conversation. This is intentional. Simpplr has no role in what you and Vox agree.

Commercial agreement with Vox

Before catalog work begins, your organization and Vox put a commercial agreement in place. Pricing, quantities, terms, and the shipping and tax arrangement described under Shipping, customs, and duties are all settled between you and Vox. Simpplr is not a party to that agreement.

Requirements gathering

Vox asks for the inputs that shape your catalog:

• Item types. Apparel, headwear, accessories, and so on.

• Price range. For example, twenty to thirty dollars per item. Vox filters your catalog to that band.

• Material. What fabric or construction quality you want.

• Brand. Whether you want a particular brand used as the base product.

• Quantities. How many of each item you want produced.

• Artwork. Your logo files, the size the logo should print at, and the colors it should print in.

The more specific you are here, the closer the catalog you get back will be to what you actually want.

Ordering and production in detail

Your custom catalog

Vox builds a catalog specific to your organization based on the requirements you shared. It is filtered, not generic. If you asked only for t-shirts in a twenty to thirty dollar range, that is what you see. Another customer might ask for an entirely different category mix and get a completely different catalog.

Expect several rounds of discussion. Designs, mockups, and material choices usually take a few iterations, the same as commissioning merchandise from any supplier.

Selecting items and quantities

Choose the items and quantities you want. For example, one hundred pieces each of two hat designs and one t-shirt design, for three hundred pieces total. Select Submit feedback, and the request goes directly to Vox production.

Quantities and minimums

• There is no formal minimum order quantity.

• Orders still need to be practical to produce. You cannot order five keychains.

• As a working guide, the minimum for t-shirts is around five or six pieces.

• The price per item falls as quantity rises. Balance the discount against the risk of over-ordering a size or design that does not move.

Production

Vox handles the entire production chain:

• Design finalization and artwork application

• Printing

• Quality checks

• Product photography for the catalog listing

• Warehousing until items are ordered by employees

Allow two to three weeks from submission to production-ready. This is Vox's stated turnaround and it includes quality checks.

Items enter Simpplr

When items are ready, Vox sends the item details to Simpplr automatically. The connection between Vox and Simpplr is already in place, so you do not need to configure anything or raise a request to get items across.

Each item is matched to your organization, which is what ensures it appears only in your store.

Catalog management and publishing

Approve and set visibility

Incoming swag items land in the standard Reward Store catalog management workflow. Nothing new to learn. You use the same controls you already use for the rest of the catalog:

• Review each item and its details

• Decide what to show

• Decide who can see it, using your existing visibility and audience controls

• Approve

Go live

Once approved, swag items appear in the Reward Store like any other item, in the branded merchandise section and through standard sorting and filters. Availability checks apply automatically.

Ongoing operation

Adding new designs later means running through requirements, catalog, selection, production, and approval again with Vox. The commercial relationship and integration are already in place, so subsequent rounds are faster than the first.

Consider a launch communication to your employees when the first items go live. The store experience is unchanged, but people will not know branded merchandise is available unless you tell them.

Commercial model: what swag costs and who pays whom

There are two separate money flows, and keeping them straight avoids most of the confusion in this area.

Your Simpplr license does not change

Your Reward Store license price covers the standard catalog and swag together. Simpplr charges no additional per-item, per-catalog, or per-order fee for swag. If your Reward Store is licensed at a per-user rate, that rate already includes swag access.

You pay Vox for merchandise

Production costs go directly from your organization to Vox, on the terms you agree with Vox. Simpplr does not invoice you for merchandise and does not sit in the middle of that payment.

Summary

Billing: how swag interacts with bill-on-gifting

This is the one area where swag changes an existing behavior. Read this section closely if your organization is on bill-on-gifting.

How bill-on-gifting works today

Your invoice reflects the points gifted during the billing period, not the points redeemed. Two consequences follow:

• A month in which nobody gifts anything produces a zero invoice, even if employees hold large balances.

• A month in which employees gift heavily produces an invoice sized to that gifting, even if nobody redeems anything.

Example. Everyone receives 200 points in their wallet on the first of each month. In August, nobody gifts any points to anyone. The August invoice is zero. In September, one employee gifts 100 points to a colleague and 100 points to another. Assuming one point equals one dollar, the September invoice is $200.

The point-to-dollar rate above is a simplification for the example. Your actual conversion is set in your agreement.

Why swag needs an adjustment

You have already paid Vox for each swag item at production time. If an employee then redeems points for that item, the points would be billed again under bill-on-gifting. Your organization would pay for the same t-shirt twice, once to Vox at production and once to Simpplr through the points invoice.

That is not a reasonable outcome, so the billing system corrects for it.

How the correction works

Points spent on swag redemptions are credited back on your next invoice. You pay for the item once, to Vox.

Worked example

Following a single $100 t-shirt through the ledger, assuming one point equals one dollar:

Without the correction, the t-shirt would have cost $200. With it, the t-shirt costs $100, which is what you paid Vox.

What happens if the item is returned

When a swag return is processed, the employee's points are credited back to their wallet. Because those points are now available to spend again, the billing credit is reversed and the amount goes back onto your bill.

The logic is consistent: you are credited for points that were converted into an item you had already paid for, and that credit is withdrawn if the conversion is undone.

What to watch

• The credit lands on the next invoice, not the current one. Expect a one-cycle lag between the redemption and the correction.

• Reconcile Vox invoices and Simpplr invoices together rather than separately. Looking at either one alone gives a misleading picture of what swag actually costs you.

• Returns produce a bill increase in a later cycle. This is correct behavior, not an error.

Shipping, customs, and duties

Shipping is handled by Vox and paid by your organization, on the terms you agree with Vox.

Domestic and international

Domestic delivery times vary by region. International shipments take longer and attract customs duties and local taxes.

Two commercial models

Vox can structure these costs in either of two ways. Which one applies is agreed between you and Vox:

Model A: costs built into the item price Shipping and tax are included in the price of the item. A t-shirt that would have been $10 is quoted at $15, and there is nothing further to pay.

Model B: costs invoiced separately The t-shirt stays at $10, and Vox raises a second invoice covering shipping, customs, duties, and taxes.

Neither model is better in the abstract. Model A gives you a single predictable number per item. Model B gives you visibility into what is merchandise cost and what is logistics cost, which matters if you ship to several countries at very different rates. Agree the model with Vox during contracting rather than after items are live.

Simpplr is not involved in either model, but it is worth knowing which one you are on when you reconcile invoices.

Returns: cost ownership, process, and billing impact

Cost ownership

The distinction is straightforward. If the item is not what was ordered or is not fit for use, Vox owns the cost. If the order itself was wrong, the cost sits on your side.

Decide internally whether the employee or the organization absorbs employee-error return costs, and state that in your internal recognition policy. The product does not decide this for you.

The process today

The return process runs through Simpplr Support:

1. The employee contacts Simpplr Support and describes the problem.

2. Support raises the return with Vox.

3. Vox issues a return authorization number and a prepaid return label, which reach the employee by email along with the return address and instructions.

4. The employee packs the item and ships it to the Vox return address using the prepaid label.

5. Vox receives and processes the return. Allow around two weeks.

6. Points are credited back to the employee's wallet, and your bill is adjusted as described under Billing.

Note that the employee never contacts Vox directly and never needs to know Vox exists. Support is the intermediary throughout.

Security and catalog isolation

Every swag catalog is tied to a single organization.

• Your employees see only your organization's swag items.

• Another customer's items can never appear in your store, and yours can never appear in theirs.

• This holds regardless of how different two customers' catalogs are. One organization might stock only apparel while another stocks only electronics, and neither is exposed to the other.

The isolation is enforced on the Simpplr side, in how item data is mapped when it arrives from Vox. There is nothing you need to configure to make it work.

Implementation notes

There is no additional implementation work for swag. This is true for both new and existing customers.

• Setting up a Reward Store with swag is the same as setting up any Reward Store.

• You do not need to supply any account details or identifiers to Vox. Item details pass from Vox to Simpplr and are matched to your organization automatically.

• The Vox to Simpplr data flow works the same way the CarltonOne data flow works, and it is automated.

The work that does exist is commercial and creative, not technical: contracting with Vox, choosing items, and approving artwork. Plan your timeline around those steps rather than around a technical implementation.

Timelines at a glance

Troubleshooting

An employee cannot see swag items in the store

• What happened: The items have not been approved in catalog management, or the visibility settings do not include that employee's audience.

• What to do: Confirm the items were approved, then check the visibility settings. Swag uses the same visibility controls as the rest of the catalog.

An item shows as unavailable

• What happened: That size or color has sold out. Sold-out variants are not selectable.

• What to do: Arrange restocking with Vox.

Items are not appearing after Vox confirmed production is complete

• What happened: Items must clear catalog management before they surface in the store.

• What to do: Check your pending approvals. If nothing is pending, raise it with Simpplr Support.

The invoice looks higher than expected in a month with swag redemptions

• What happened: The credit for the swag redemption has not been applied yet. It lands on the invoice after the redemption, not the same one.

• What to do: Check the next invoice for the credit.

The invoice went up after a return

• What happened: The return restored the points to the employee's wallet, so the earlier redemption credit was reversed. This is expected.

• What to do: Nothing. See Billing for the full sequence.

An employee does not know who to contact about a damaged item

• What happened: Employees are not shown which supplier produced an item, so they have no supplier to contact.

• What to do: Send them to Simpplr Support. Employees should never be routed to a supplier directly.

Frequently asked questions

For employees

Que: Do I need a separate account or a separate balance for swag?

Ans: No. One store, one wallet, one balance.

Que: Is redeeming swag different from redeeming a gift card?

Ans: No. The same steps, the same checkout, the same points.

Que: What if I do not have enough points for an item?

Ans: Wait until your balance covers it. Swag is redeemed with wallet points.

Que: How long will my order take?

Ans: Around a week for shipping, depending on where you are. Longer internationally.

Que: Who do I contact if something goes wrong?

Ans: Simpplr Support, for any Reward Store order.

Que: Will I be charged for a return?

Ans: Not if the item arrived damaged, defective, or incorrect. If you ordered the wrong size or the wrong item, the return cost falls to you or your organization, depending on your internal policy.

For app managers and recognition managers

Que: Who uploads product images and descriptions?

Ans: Vox. Photography and catalog content are part of production.

Que: Do we need to give Vox any account details?

Ans: No. Item details pass from Vox to Simpplr automatically and are matched to your organization.

Que: Do we need Simpplr in the room for our Vox conversations?

Ans: No. After the introduction, the conversation is between your organization and Vox. Simpplr has no role in pricing, quantities, or terms.

Que: Is there a minimum order?

Ans: No formal minimum, but orders must be practical to produce. Around five or six pieces is the working minimum for t-shirts.

Que: Does offering swag increase our Simpplr license cost?

Ans: No. Your Reward Store license covers both the standard catalog and swag.

Que: Do we pay twice for a swag item, once to Vox and once through points?

Ans: No. Points spent on swag are credited back on your next invoice. See Billing for the full worked example.

Que: Can another customer see our branded items?

Ans: No. Each catalog is tied to a single organization.

Que: How long from deciding we want swag to items being live?

Ans: Contracting and catalog discussions with Vox take as long as your process needs, then two to three weeks of production, then your catalog approval. Plan for the commercial steps, not the technical ones.

Que: What is the implementation effort on our side?

Ans: Nothing beyond a normal Reward Store setup. The technical integration is already built and automated.

Que: Can we add new designs later?

Ans: Yes. Repeat the requirements, catalog, selection, production, and approval steps with Vox. Later rounds are faster because contracting and integration are already done.