In this insightful episode, Jeremy Parker, the co-founder of Swag.com and founder of Swag Space, shares his entrepreneurial journey from conceptualizing Swag.com in 2016 to scaling it to over $40 million in annual sales. Focused on disrupting the traditional promotional merchandise market, Parker and his team developed a technology-driven platform tailored to a millennial audience, enabling rapid growth and an eventual acquisition by Custom Ink. Following the acquisition, Parker introduced Swag Space, a new division aiming to revolutionize how promotional products are sold and distributed by leveraging Custom Ink's infrastructure and Swag.com’s technology. Parker's story is a testament to the power of innovative solutions in transforming industries and the importance of agility and customer focus in achieving rapid business growth.
00:00 Intro
00:08 Company Stats
01:46 Rapid Scaling and Acquisition
04:53 Identifying the Right Market
07:04 The Acquisition
08:37 Introducing Swagspace
11:01 Expanding the Market
14:32 Learn about Swagspace
Swag.com's growth was fueled by a focus on millennial buyers, leveraging technology to streamline the purchasing process, and targeting underserved market segments like office managers.
By prioritizing technology development, understanding customer needs through direct sales efforts before launching their e-commerce platform, and capitalizing on a curated product range.
Swag Space is a new division under Custom Ink and Swag.com, offering a universal platform for anyone to easily sell and distribute promotional products, leveraging existing infrastructure and technology to streamline operations for promo distributors, designers, and event planners.
The acquisition process by Custom Ink took nearly two years. It resulted in a partnership that aligns with the strategic vision of both companies.
Entrepreneurs, especially those new to the promotional products industry, can use Swag Space to enter the market without the traditional barriers, benefiting from established technology and supply chain infrastructure to sell a wide range of swag to their networks.