S&S Activewear Now Directly Connected to ASI's ESP

Real-time inventory available for each warehouse; distributors can submit online orders directly to S&S

TREVOSE, PA – November 29, 2016 – The Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) today announced top apparel supplier S&S Activewear is now directly connected to ASI’s ESP®, giving distributors instant access to real-time inventory, live product data and direct electronic order entry, along with automatic order status updates.

And, in a first for the promotional products industry, distributors searching for S&S products in ESP can now select the warehouse from which orders are shipped.

S&S Activewear (asi/84358) joins Polyconcept North America, SanMar, BIC Graphic and its proprietary brands, BIC® and Norwood®, along with The Magnet Group (asi/68507) and Hit Promotional Products (asi/61125), as the first major suppliers in the industry to attain e-commerce-connected status in ESP.

As of today, hundreds of suppliers – a mix of Top 40, mid-sized and small companies – are in the process of integrating with ESP, with over 800 already offering live inventory.

“Being able to give customers the most accurate and updated product information is extremely important to us, which is why we’re so excited about how hard ASI has been working to help us integrate with ESP,” said James Andres, marketing coordinator of S&S Activewear. “ASI’s tech team has been very helpful and patient throughout the entire process, and we couldn’t be happier.”

Distributors can now order nearly 3,000 products directly from S&S Activewear using ESP Orders, sending orders directly into S&S’s order processing system. The direct connection provides customers with a better buying experience by eliminating the need for most follow-up phone calls and emails.

Suppliers tell ASI that about 70% of promotional product orders sent by distributors are incomplete. By managing all daily business operations in ESP and viewing inventory and product info at a glance, distributors can save an estimated 45 minutes per day, thanks to increased efficiencies.

“ASI has been hard at work delivering the latest, most important technology breakthroughs to the promotional products industry,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI. “In today’s business world, customers demand one-stop solutions that immediately help their operations perform faster and more efficiently and direct connection to ESP delivers exactly that.”

ASI distributors are now also enjoying the benefits of the new ESP CRM and Orders, which allows distributors to easily add existing contacts and view all past conversations by clicking on a company’s profile, where all orders, quotes and shared presentations pop into view, simplifying re-orders.

Since it’s synced with ESP’s robust product database, the new ESP Orders auto-populates all product data, eliminating rekeying of information. Visit www.searchESP.com to start using all of ESP’s latest features.

For more information on direct integration, contact Christy Tramdaks, ASI’s director of integration solutions, at ctramdaks@asicentral.com.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI®) serves a network of 23,500 suppliers, distributors and decorators in the $22 billion promotional products industry. ASI’s flagship product, the technology platform ESP®, manages the industry’s entire supply and marketing chain. ASI also produces award-winning digital and print content, live events and educational programs that enable companies in 61 countries to be more efficient, productive and profitable. ASI’s Counselor® magazine provides the most authoritative business content in the industry, and the ASI Certification Program features 500+ live and online education courses for over 40,000 professionals. The company, family owned and operated since 1962, is proud to have been consistently ranked among the “Best Places to Work” in Philadelphia and Bucks County, PA. For more info: www.asicentral.com.

About the S&S Activewear Companies 
Founded in 1988, S&S Activewear is a national wholesaler to the imprintable apparel and uniform market, headquartered in Bolingbrook, IL. With over 60 brands, from basic garments to fashion-forward styles, products include T-shirts, fleece, sport shirts, wovens, hats, bags, aprons, performance apparel and uniforms. The company has over 1.5 million square feet of warehouse space with locations in Bolingbrook, IL; Olathe, KS; Robbinsville, NJ; and Santa Fe Springs, CA. Additional information is available at www.ssactivewear.com or by calling (800) 523-2155.