A spreadsheet from an office manager
An office manager emails: they would like a three month box for each member of their team, starting in December, with a message from the managing director. Attached is a spreadsheet of names and addresses. Some rows have postcodes, some do not. Two people are listed twice. One address is the office, which will be closed over Christmas. They need an invoice with a purchase order number.
The subscription app has no bulk gift option, so someone creates each gift by hand, one checkout at a time, using a discount code to make each one free and tracking the invoice separately in the accounting software.
Corporate orders do not fit a consumer checkout
Your box was built for one person buying one subscription with a card. A company order breaks each of those assumptions.
- The buyer is a company, paying by invoice with a purchase order, not a card.
- Recipients arrive as a spreadsheet with inconsistent formatting.
- Every box carries the same message, sometimes with the recipient's name added.
- The company wants to know what was sent and when, for its own records.
- Changes arrive by email: someone left, someone moved, add three more.
So corporate orders, which should be welcome, become the most time-consuming orders of the season.
What that costs
Hand-creating gifts is slow and error-prone. Duplicate recipients get two boxes, missing postcodes cause failed deliveries, and office addresses at holiday time mean boxes sitting unopened. Invoicing outside the subscription app means payments are hard to match. And an office manager who has to chase you for a list of what was sent is less likely to order again next year.
Some box owners turn down corporate enquiries because of the admin, which is business that fits your stock and packing well.
The corporate order route we build
- A corporate order form or upload page where the buyer adds a recipient list in a simple template, with the gift length, start month and message.
- The list is checked on upload: missing fields, duplicate names or addresses, address format and message length, with problems shown to the buyer to fix.
- Addresses can be checked against a UK address lookup service to catch missing postcodes before import.
- Each recipient becomes a gift subscription in your subscription app, linked to the company order, with no card needed.
- One invoice goes to the company with their purchase order number, created in your accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks, and payment is matched to the order.
- The buyer gets a report of what was sent to whom and when, and a link to add, remove or update recipients until your cut-off.
| Step | Handled by the route | Needs a person |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient list | Checked and cleaned on upload | Only unresolved problems |
| Gift creation | One gift per recipient, linked to the order | No |
| Invoice | Created with the purchase order number | Approval, if you want it |
| Changes before cut-off | Buyer updates through their link | No |
| Report to buyer | Sent after each dispatch | No |
Pricing, payment terms and minimum orders for corporate buyers are yours to set. The route applies them; it does not decide them.
A corporate order that runs like any other
The office manager uploads the list, fixes two missing postcodes and removes a duplicate before submitting. The gifts appear in your subscription app, marked with the company name, and join the December packing plan. The invoice goes out with their purchase order number. When someone on their team leaves, they update the list themselves before the cut-off.
After dispatch, they receive a report they can file, and next year they can reuse the same list.
Signs corporate orders are costing you
- Corporate gifts are created by hand, one checkout at a time.
- Recipient lists arrive as spreadsheets in different formats.
- Duplicate recipients or missing postcodes have caused problems.
- Corporate invoices are managed outside your subscription app.
- You have turned down corporate enquiries because of the admin.