Guide · Provider Selection
A useful proposal comparison starts with your products, orders and exceptions. These criteria help compare scope, handovers and costs transparently.
Document the catalogue, regular volumes, peaks and special handling.
Use a sample order to review data, approvals and updates.
Compare included tasks, extra costs and work retained in-house.
A promotional-products fulfillment provider stores, picks and ships promotional products and POS material; finishing, shop operations and campaigns can extend the scope. Start with your needs: which tasks stay in-house and which must the provider take over? The following ten criteria help assess providers against the same order profile. Own operations and partner networks can both fit when responsibilities, evidence and handovers match the task.
Bring together the information about your project. It provides a clear basis for discussing effort, open questions and a suitable starting point.
Mark each criterion as required, preferred or not relevant. Test answers against the same normal order and exception. Request evidence, view references and review working methods.
| Criterion | Provider check | PROWERB answer |
|---|---|---|
| In-house finishing | Check processes, samples and owners | In-house printing, embroidery and assembly; agree sample and scope |
| Campaign line and peak capacity | Obtain confirmed normal and peak volumes | Own campaign line; 200%/400% of baseline mean double/fourfold, subject to goods, data and shifts |
| Real-time inventory | Distinguish bookings from data timestamps | Operational bookings in PROWERB Core; agree external updates and report cadence separately |
| Same-day rate | Request measurement basis, period and cut-off | Over 95% for permanently stocked items is an operating metric, subject to stock, approved data and working-day cut-off |
| Shop operation, not just shipping | Define catalogue, roles and approvals | More than 50 client shops; agree required MEP portal tasks and shop operations |
| Onboarding methodology | Accept milestones and cutover | Seven phases for larger takeovers; around 14 weeks only with suitable data, goods and approvals |
| Exception-handling process | Name replacement authority and escalation | Account management and customer care within agreed scope |
| Certifications | Check standard, scope and dates | ISO 9001 valid until 25 September 2026; request complete ISO 14001 and EcoVadis evidence separately |
| References in ongoing operations | Request a comparable order profile | Fulfillment since 1989; compare approved references by task |
| Ownership of the tech | Clarify operation, changes and export | PROWERB Core handles operational ERP/WMS tasks; PROWERB OS and MEP follow agreed system scope |
Once the criteria are checked, the next step is comparing quotes and planning operations. Three pages take you further.
By evidenced scaling: separate campaign lines, documented changeover times and a staffing model that adds capacity within hours — not by reference logos. Ask for the highest daily volume ever run and how ongoing operations continued in parallel; a provider who can substantiate both at once can handle campaigns.
Because every subcontracted finishing step builds an additional interface into the chain, with its own transport, its own deadline and its own error risk. If printing, embroidery and kitting run in the same building as warehousing and shipping, there is one party responsible for the end date instead of three suppliers waiting on each other.
This depends on your procurement requirements and service scope. Check the validity, scope and site coverage of the certificates you require; a logo alone is insufficient. Record quality management, environmental management and additional sustainability evidence separately.
For larger fulfillment takeovers, seven phases lead from master data and contracts through systems and stock transfer to go-live. Around 14 weeks is a possible planning framework, depending on assortment, data quality, interfaces, stock availability and approvals. Individual campaigns and digital projects receive their own project plan.
Send us your requirements profile — assortment, volume structure, channels, campaign share. You will get the answers along the list of criteria, with figures instead of assurances.
