As a relatively new player in the corporate gifting space, is Monday Merch a reliable platform for managing and distributing swag? What does it offer that its competitors don’t? And is it the right platform for your corporate swag and gifting needs?

We answer these questions (and more!) in this comprehensive review of Monday Merch.

Monday Merch Overview

Founded in 2022 by Jeroen Westerbeek, Florian Frenken, Kevin van der Veer, and Daniël Salimian and headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Monday Merch is a full-service merch partner that you can use to organize and distribute your swag.

Monday Merch’s goal is to simplify merchandise management by handling all process aspects—from product selection and design to warehousing and shipping.

Main Features

What are the key aspects on which Monday Merch prides itself?

Bulk swag and merch packs

The platform specializes in bulk swag and merch packs (also known as swag kits) that are customizable and suitable for various events, conferences, or onboarding new hires. With this approach, you can save time when preparing giveaways for big events and ensure consistency across your items.

Product tracking

Monday Merch aims to provide its users with consistent updates and information on orders. As such, its Merch Consultants will keep you informed about your order by sending you a track-and-trace code once it is dispatched from its warehouse. This ensures that you will immediately know if there’s any delay in your swag delivery.

Sustainable products

Monday Merch emphasizes eco-friendly merchandise, offering items made from organic materials and sustainable packaging options. This is great if you are focused on sourcing items with environmental responsibility.

Pricing

Monday Merch has different pricing tiers for warehousing, shipping, and the merch store. It can be quite confusing as they vary, so we’ll break them down for you.

Platform, design, and account manager

The use of Monday Merch’s platform, creation of merch or swag design, and assignment of an account manager are free.

Production

The costs for producing swag or merch may vary per user as it’s based on the items’ quantities and customization.

Fulfillment

For its fulfillment fees, Monday Merch offers a fee of $1.6 per pack based on bulk quantities. This can still change depending on the number of orders you’ll have.

Shipping

The shipping costs depend on the swag’s overall weight and delivery location, so we listed them here.

Warehousing

Having your merch and swag warehoused in Monday Merch’s hubs is optional, but here’s a quick breakdown of how much it costs to do so. Do note that the prices listed here are for one piece of merchandise or swag.

Extra small

For extra small items like stickers and insert cards, it costs $0.05 if it’s made by Monday Merch and $0.10 if not.

Small

Small-sized merchandise and swag such as beanies and tote bags will be warehoused for $0.25 or $0.50 if it’s made by a third party.

Medium

Mugs and hoodies are considered medium-sized and will cost you $0.75 when warehoused. However, it can cost up to $1.50 if it’s manufactured by a different supplier or vendor.

Large

Items like yoga mats are quite large and can set you back $1.50 when stored in a Monday Merch warehouse. The price can also double up to $3 if it’s made by a different vendor or supplier. 

Merch pack

Merch Packs, or swag kits, are products bundled in one box, and they cost $3 to store in Monday Merch’s warehouses.

Merch store

For merch stores (known also as swag stores), Monday Merch has different tier prices that you can choose from depending on your needs and budget.

Free: Monday Merch offers a free DIY merch store where you can put all of your branded swag and gift items. Under this free tier, you can distribute globally (with shipping costs depending on the recipient's location), share the link with your recipients, and offer vouchers. However, recipients can’t check out their own items under this plan.

Lite: In addition to the features offered by the Free plan, Lite also comes with a custom domain for your merch store link. You can also add up to 15 products and have up to 3 product pages. Plus, you can now have your recipients check out their preferred items. This tier is priced at $219 per month.

Pro: With this tier, priced at $549 monthly, you’ll have everything offered by Lite on top of store analytics and reporting. You can also increase the maximum number of products to 30 and have up to 5 product pages. There’s also a fast-lane service under this tier.

Enterprise: This tier is the most comprehensive one offered by Monday Merch. You can add unlimited products and pages, offer discounted merchandise, and have APIs and integrations. For its pricing, you would need to get in touch with the platform to get a quote.

Pros and Cons

Pros

✅ Customizable merch packs: Monday Merch specializes in creating tailored merch packs or swag kits. With these merch packs, you can curate unique combinations of branded items that suit your specific corporate gifting needs. You can simply select a pre-curated merch pack and customize it further by adding or removing products.

✅ Ease of use: Many users have commended the platform’s ease of use due to its user-friendly interface.

✅ Europe-based: Since Monday Merch’s main warehouse is in Europe, you will greatly benefit from quicker swag turnaround for your recipients who are from the same region.

Cons

❌ Lack of features: Monday Merch’s platform looks great—on the marketing side. However, the actual swag platform may feel inadequate due to the lack of useful features such as integrations and automations. 

❌ Expensive shipping fees: The platform’s limited warehouses in the US and Europe make international shipping expensive due to longer transit distances and customs fees. Additionally, since Monday Merch focuses on bulk orders and merch packs, the overall package size and weight can also be a factor in costly shipping expenses.

❌ Confusing pricing: Monday Merch’s pricing can be quite unclear since it has different tiers for the merch store, shipping, and warehousing.

❌ No On Demand choices: While Monday Merch focuses on bulk swag and merch packs, it doesn’t offer On Demand swag or gifts where you can buy one item minimum. This is a downside if you wish to buy a swag item for one recipient or only have occasional gifting needs.

❌ No gift cards: In addition to the lack of On Demand swag and gifts, Monday Merch also doesn’t offer gift cards, making it difficult to choose digital choices for international recipients.

Monday Merch is best for…

… companies with consistent swag needs throughout the year👍

If your company or team runs multiple campaigns, events, or hiring cycles annually, Monday Merch’s bulk model is a solid fit. With such an approach, you can plan ahead and order in larger quantities to streamline swag management across recurring initiatives.

… marketing teams who require custom kits 👍

Monday Merch prides itself on delivering customized merch packs to its users. As such, if you wish to give your recipients merch packs explicitly tailored for them, then the platform is a great choice. For instance, you can send your new hire an onboarding kit to welcome them to your company. You can also customize conference kits to help your recipients remember you even after an event.

… companies with Europe-based recipients 👍

Since Monday Merch has its headquarters and warehouses in Europe, you may benefit from quicker delivery time if you or your recipients hail from the same region. However, their shipping costs can range from $6.3+ to $10.5 for merch pack deliveries within the continent, and the fees further increase for recipients outside of it.

Monday Merch may not be a good fit for…

… organizations looking for comprehensive swag management platform👎

While Monday Merch has great custom kits and bulk swag solutions, it lacks a lot of features you may expect from a full-service swag platform. Most notably, the platform doesn’t offer On Demand swag, which can be a drawback, especially if you wish to lessen your upfront expenses. Monday Merch also doesn’t provide digital gift cards. This can be a dealbreaker if you have remote or international recipients who prefer instant and contactless gifts. Lastly, they also lack reporting capabilities, integrations, and automations that make swag campaigns more efficient.

… teams with limited or specific budget 👎

If you or your team has a tight or fixed budget, then Monday Merch is not for you for three reasons. First, their shipping costs tend to be on the pricier side, especially for orders outside of Europe. For instance, a merch pack delivery can already cost you $22+ for North American recipients—an expense that can quickly inflate if you have more giftees. Second, Monday Merch focuses on bulk orders and merch packs, meaning you need to purchase larger quantities at once, increasing upfront costs. Third, the platform has different costs for a merch/swag store, shipping, and warehousing. If you need all of these features, the overall cost can reach over a thousand dollars.

… enterprises with international recipients 👎

As mentioned above, Monday Merch isn’t the best swag platform if you have international employees, clients, or prospects due to their high shipping costs. For instance, merch packs to Asia can already cost $27.3 per send, and for bulk swag, it can be as high as $410+. In addition, the platform lacks digital options, which could otherwise help mitigate shipping expenses. If you were to choose Monday Merch, every item you’ll purchase from the platform would require physical shipping, further increasing costs and delivery times for your international recipients.

Monday Merch is a strong choice if you’re focused on bulk swag distribution with a need for customization and ease of use, particularly if your recipients are in Europe. However, if you require more cost-effective international shipping, flexible ordering options, or digital gifting, then you should consider alternative platforms that better accommodate these needs.

Looking for comprehensive swag solutions? Explore the best Monday Merch alternatives

Monday Merch is one of the many swag platforms you can choose from. If you’re looking for a swag platform that offers a more comprehensive solution, lower international shipping costs, or additional gifting options, there are many swag alternatives you should definitely consider. Don’t let Monday Merch’s drawbacks restrain you—check out our list of Monday Merch alternatives.

Monday Merch vs PerkUp, the #1 swag management platform

When it comes to corporate swag solutions, Monday Merch focuses on merch packs, bulk orders, and European fulfillment. But if you need a more comprehensive swag management solution for all of your swag needs, then PerkUp is a much better choice. Not convinced? We prepared a detailed comparison of Monday Merch vs. PerkUp so you can see it for yourself! Dive into this side-by-side analysis to see why leading companies like Microsoft and Product Hunt trust PerkUp for their swag and gifting needs.