Decorated-apparel shop management software developer Printavo recently rolled out a new feature called Printavo Merch, which the company calls a “seamlessly integrated platform for selling custom-printed merchandise directly to customers.” We spoke with Printavo founder and CEO Bruce Ackerman to learn more about the new tool.

Q: Can you tell us a little more about Printavo Merch?

Bruce Ackerman: It’s a simple way to handle fundraisers and group, team and company stores in one place. We wanted to make it quick to create stores and help our customers grow.

Q: Why did you add the feature?

BA: It's been exciting watching group store platforms help print shops around the world. Team orders are still heavily taken via paper forms, fundraisers are done with checks, and company stores are clunky. Shops are able to grow their sales by providing a platform for customers to use and organize their orders.

Our customers wanted one platform to keep track of these stores and manage the fulfillment/production of everything. In normal Printavo spirit, we wanted to deliver that in the simplest fashion possible.

Q: What are some of the benefits of Printavo Merch?

BA: It allows printers to generate an online storefront instantly. We want to give shops the ability to quote their customers, then using one click, turn that into an online group e-commerce store that can be used immediately. Anyone in the shop can do this and fully understand how to customize it further. Any time spent on manual data entry that doesn’t have to be is a waste. Our focus lies on automating tasks like that.

Q: How will using this feature differentiate shops from their competitors?

BA: Printavo Merch gives print shops a sales tool to help meet their customer’s needs. It’s always important to dig deep into the story behind a shirt design. Is it to raise money for a cause? For a soccer team? A bar crawl? Learning what’s behind the shirt and whether it’s a good fit for our group ordering platform can help shops execute their goals better.

The potential to grow sales without hiring is also exciting. Shops can run as many stores simultaneously as they’d like, driving online sales without needing extra people to reach out for orders.