Kotis Design Overview

Based in Washington, US, Kotis Design is a branded merchandise and swag management company founded in 2003. Established by Nicolay Thomassen and now led by Jeff Becker, Kotis blends creative design with full-service swag management. It has fulfillment warehouses in Utah and Ohio.

Main Features

Custom swag

One of Kotis Design’s main features is its offering of custom swag. Under this feature, you can have your swag items fully customized to showcase your brand colors, mascots, or visual identity. Kotis leverages its creative team to help you produce completely customized swag and merch for whatever use case you may have. As for the process, the platform handles everything from sourcing to compliance and quality control and checks.

Swag stores

Kotis also offers multiple types of online swag stores, each with a specific purpose. The first one is pre-order stores (or what Kotis calls iBuy), which is ideal for when you want your recipients to choose their preferred items and size before production. Manufacturing and fulfillment only occur once orders are placed. The second one is a redemption store, where your employees or customers can pick from curated swag collections. These are ideal for events or campaigns. Lastly, the e-commerce stores which are designed for you to sell branded merchandise. Such stores function like retail websites, wherein users can buy whatever they want.

Creative services

Another feature of Kotis Design is its creative services. The platform has a creative team that includes illustrators, fashion designers, graphic designers, photographers, and production artists who specialize in various designs for swag. Kotis also uses Adobe Creative Cloud Libraries to manage brand assets consistently.

Pricing

Kotis Design has four main subscription tiers.

Core 

The Core tier is the simplest and cheapest tier offered by Kotis. It’s most suitable if you only need swag without the warehousing component, as it doesn’t require you to pay a platform fee. It requires a $500 minimum on the first order and includes online order management, order tracking, pro design services, overseas sourcing, and international shipping. You’ll also receive domestic support for issues you may encounter. Since this doesn’t need a long-term contract, it’s an option for occasional swag needs only.

Standard

The Standard plan is Kotis’s second tier. Under this subscription, you’ll get both warehousing and fulfillment. The platform is free if you spend at least $5,000 per quarter; otherwise, you’ll have to pay a $499 monthly platform fee. There’s also a one-time setup fee of $2,500. The inclusions for this tier are 100 SKUs, five pallets of inventory, unlimited users, and unlimited custom swag stores. Additionally, you’ll have access to SSO, real-time reporting, and brand customization. Product photography and shipping discounts are also other inclusions you’ll get if you choose this plan.

Premium

The next tier, Premium, is for larger organizations. This is because it requires $100,000 swag spend per year. There’s no platform fee under this tier, but it also requires $2,500 one-time setup cost. As for the features, it includes everything from Standard, with a higher number of SKUS (250) and pallets (20). Additionally, you’ll have a dedicated three-person team (Customer Success Manager, Creative Project Manager, and Project Manager), top vendor discounts, and quarterly creative pitches. You’ll also get bi-weekly meetings and enhanced security audits.

Enterprise

Enterprise is the last and most expensive plan offered by Kotis. This tier is most suitable if you’re a large company that can spend $500,000 or more on swag annually. For this plan, you’ll have everything from standard plus 500 SKUs and 50 pallets for storage. Under this tier, you’ll also have the chance to meet with Kotis’s leadership, receive business reviews of your stores or swag, and have priority support, vendor, and brand requests, and dev feature requests. There is still a $2,500 one-time setup cost under this tier.

Other fees

Setup fee: As mentioned above, Kotis charges its users (except Core) with a one-time setup fee of $2,500 that it requires to configure admin controls and prepare your inventory program.

Shipping: While Kotis doesn’t exactly publicly disclose its shipping costs, it charges a 10% markup on shipping. It’s unclear whether this is per item or per order.

Pros and Cons

Pros

✅ Bulk swag and warehousing for US teams: Kotis’s offering focuses on bulk swag and warehousing for US teams, thanks to its Ohio and Utah warehouses and fulfillment centers.

✅ Different kinds of swag stores: Kotis offers different swag store formats, which give you the flexibility to showcase your swag depending on your campaign or needs.

✅ Suitable for marketing events: Due to the customization options that Kotis offers, its swag items are suitable for marketing events that require bespoke swag options. The platform also has the logistics to handle sending swag to events located in the US.

✅ Great customer service: Many users have praised Kotis for its attentive support team.

✅ Sustainability: The platform has various sustainability commitments in place, such as using 100% biodegradable or recyclable packaging and submitting its carbon emissions report to CDP.

Cons

❌ No On Demand swag: Since Kotis focuses mostly on bulk swag, it doesn’t offer On Demand swag. While its platform states that it can offer On Demand swag on a case-by-case basis, it’s not its biggest strength.

❌ Lack of gift flexibility: Aside from not offering On Demand swag, Kotis also only offers physical swag and doesn’t support digital gifts, gift cards, or experiences.

❌ Absence of global warehousing: Kotis operates warehouses only in the US, particularly in Utah and Ohio. This restricts its ability to offer localized fulfillment or more affordable international shipping for global teams.

❌ Expensive shipping fees: Without a global warehousing network, Kotis’s shipping fees can be costly as all swag items are shipped from its US warehouses.

❌ High swag spending requirement: One of the many issues that user reviews mention is that Kotis Design’s quarterly spending is expensive, requiring $5,000 per quarter. 

❌ No HRIS integrations: Kotis doesn’t offer any HRIS integrations where you can merge your current systems with the platform.

❌ Absence of automation: Since Kotis doesn’t have HRIS integrations, you also won’t be able to trigger swag sends based on key milestones, such as onboarding and work anniversaries.

❌ Limited selection: According to reviews, Kotis’s catalog feels more limited than other platforms. 

❌ Unreliable delivery times: Reviews from Yelp and G2 state that there are occasional delays, specifically for large or international orders. 

Kotis Design is best for…

… US companies with large-scale swag needs and high budgets 👍

With Kotis Design’s warehouses in Ohio and Utah, it’s a good choice if your swag campaigns, teams, or recipients are within the US as well. The company’s warehouse allows fast domestic delivery and can be useful if you have frequent swag campaigns in domestic regions. Additionally, since Kotis focuses on bulk swag and inventory, its infrastructure is reliable and organized. On top of its high spending requirements per quarter or year, the platform is more ideal for US companies with big budgets.

… marketing teams needing swag for US-based events 👍

You can benefit from Kotis’s offering of creative development and customization methods, which are valuable or important when you require custom swag for events. And since Kotis focuses on bulk swag orders and warehousing, you’ll also be able to order your swag items ahead of time and store them until the event. However, do note that US events will benefit more from such features since Kotis’s warehouses are only within the same region.

… companies that need swag stores for various use cases 👍

Because Kotis offers multiple swag store types, it’s well-suited if you want to centralize swag management across use cases or audiences. You could, for example, run a redemption store for your employees, a pre-order store for conferences or events, and an e-commerce store for brand fans all within one platform.

… teams looking for bespoke swag items and designs 👍

Looking for highly customized swag? Kotis Design can help you with that thanks to its in-house design team. Since its team specializes in making custom swag that stands out, you can utilize such swag items to offer high-quality swag items to your recipients.

Kotis Design may not be a good fit for…

… global companies that need international warehouses and reliable deliveries 👎

Kotis Design’s key strength of having US warehouses is also its main weakness. Since it primarily operates within the US, the platform’s capabilities of sending and fulfilling orders for global teams are more limited. For instance, if you’re a global team or company, you may experience unpredictable shipping times and higher shipping costs.

… organizations with On Demand swag requirements or other gifting needs 👎

Kotis focuses on bulk swag orders and company swag stores, which means it doesn’t offer On Demand swag, gifts, gift cards, or experiences for that matter. What this really means is that you can’t send individual items whenever you need them. Additionally, this further restricts your ability to send more unique or digital items if you prefer a less physical approach to gifting.

… busy leaders looking to automate swag sending for milestones 👎

HRIS and CRM integrations aren’t supported by the Kotis platform. As such, it also doesn’t support automated gifting based on your employees’ milestones, birthdays, or anniversaries. You’ll need to place every order manually, which can be time-consuming and more hassle, especially if you’re a busy team.

… businesses that have lower budgets 👎

With the platform’s pricing structure and high minimum swag spend of $5,000, it’s more suitable for you if you have consistent swag needs and/or very big budgets. If you only have a modest budget or won’t be able to reach the swag spend threshold every quarter, Kotis Design isn’t a good platform for your team. While Kotis’s quality and customization options are strong, the high spend expectations make it less accessible.

In summary, Kotis Design has great custom swag and creative services, backed by US-based warehouses and a strong support team. However, its lack of true global reach, swag and gift flexibility, and automation can make it less appealing, especially if you come from a global company. Additionally, its high quarterly swag spend may turn away potential customers due to the requirement that’s only ideal for enterprises with big budgets and constant swag sends.

Looking for better swag solutions? Explore the best Kotis Design alternatives

If Kotis Design’s creative services appeal to you but its limitations don’t, there are several strong alternatives to consider. Many swag and gifting platforms combine the creative flexibility Kotis is known for with more swag flexibility, true global logistics, and advanced automation. If you wish to know more about these platforms, then be sure to check out our list of Kotis Design alternatives.

Kotis Design vs PerkUp, the #1 platform for global, automated, and cost-effective swag

Everything Kotis Design offers, PerkUp does, and more. Both platforms support custom swag, branded swag stores, customized designs, and swag for marketing events. However, PerkUp builds on those features by providing a global warehousing network that extends beyond the US, with locations in Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, India, China, and Australia. Additionally, PerkUp also offers both bulk and On Demand swag, in addition to gifts and gift cards, providing you and your team with more flexibility when it comes to swag choices. In terms of marketing event swag, PerkUp can also schedule and plan swag shipments to wherever your events may be, whether it’s domestic or global. Add in automated milestone gifting and cost-effective platform costs, and PerkUp becomes the strongest Kotis Design alternative.

Curious to see how Kotis Design and PerkUp compare? Explore our Kotis Design vs PerkUp to understand why companies like Solo.io and Mapbox choose PerkUp for their global swag needs.