From Chaos to a Scalable
Merchandise System
The challenge
A non-profit organization with a large volunteer base and high turnover struggled to manage its merchandise operations. What started as a small product range had grown into an unstructured system that was hard to track, hard to store, and even harder to scale during on-site events.
How we worked
Key issues
~15 products sourced from 4–5 different suppliers
Planned expansion of the product range
Storage in cardboard boxes that broke down during events
Untraceable inventory, frequently mixed-up products
No clear process for on-site sales and reorders
No inventory database or standardized tracking
The solution (implemented over 3 months)
Supplier consolidation
Reduced the supplier base from 4–5 to 2 reliable partners offering the full range or equivalent quality products.Product range expansion
Identified new merchandise aligned with the organization’s mission, available through the new suppliers.Durable storage system
Replaced cardboard boxes with uniform, lockable heavy-duty plastic crates, including sourcing and delivery.Clear inventory structure
Labeled crates by product type and introduced clear product categorization to prevent mix-ups.On-site sales protocol
Created a written, easy-to-follow process for event sales, shareable with volunteers in advance.
Introduced a standardized sales data sheet aligned with inventory tracking.Simple inventory database
Built a volunteer-friendly inventory system using Excel, allowing quick manual entry of on-site sales data and reliable stock tracking.
Result
A transparent, scalable merchandise system that works even with rotating volunteers — easy to store, easy to sell, and easy to track.
