Be the promo supplier brands find easiest to approve.
Zilch keeps your company and product information ready for every buyer request. Less time on admin, more business from customers who want merchandise they can stand behind, and faster approval onto their supplier lists.
The challenge
Your customer’s logo goes on every item. So do their questions.
Corporate, government and university buyers want to know where their merchandise was made, what it’s made of and whether it’s safe. Most of that information sits with the factories and suppliers behind your catalogue.
So the questions land on you, product by product, often with a quote or tender deadline attached.
Thousands of products. Hundreds of factories.
A promo catalogue spans bags, drinkware, apparel, tech and stationery, often sourced from overseas manufacturers through several suppliers. Ranges change every season, and the same item can be decorated a dozen different ways.
Each category carries different evidence, and the details buyers ask about, like where the bamboo was grown or which factory sewed the tote, are the hardest to get back from a supplier.
What larger buyers ask for
Requirements vary by customer, product and order. A pen for a trade show won’t need the same evidence as uniforms or tech gifts for a government department.
See the requirements and information buyers ask for
Ethical sourcing and Modern Slavery
Buyers ask for supplier codes of conduct, factory locations and ethical audit reports such as BSCI or SMETA. These requests reach smaller distributors even when they don’t have their own Modern Slavery reporting obligation.
Product safety and testing
Drinkware may need food-contact test reports, tech items electrical safety evidence, and products containing button batteries must meet mandatory Australian safety standards. Items for children carry extra requirements.
Evidence for sustainable merchandise claims
Recycled, organic or eco claims need supporting evidence such as GRS, OEKO-TEX or FSC certificates, and any conditions that apply. Buyers want proof before their logo goes on it.
Carbon and material information
Customers assessing their purchased-goods emissions may request product footprints and material breakdowns, including decoration and packaging. Supplier-specific data can support Scope 3 calculations.
Supplier onboarding and tenders
Before a large account approves you, procurement checks your business: policies, insurances, certifications and questionnaires, often through their own supplier portal.
The work sits between the brand and your suppliers.
The factory holds the details.
You sell the product, but audit reports, test results and material specifications come from manufacturers, often several steps back in the supply chain.
The evidence has to match the item.
A factory audit or a generic material statement may not cover the exact product, colour or decoration your customer is ordering.
Every buyer asks in a different format.
Spreadsheets, portals and questionnaires, each asking for the same facts in new wording. Your team chases suppliers, re-keys answers and hopes nothing has expired.
What Zilch does
Less admin, more business, faster approvals.
Relevant requirements and credentials
- Modern Slavery questionnaires
- BSCI / SMETA audits
- GRS / RCS recycled content
- OEKO-TEX
- FSC
- Food-contact test reports
- Button battery safety standards
- Scope 3 supporting data
01 · Save time
Eliminate admin and compliance work.
Zilch's agents automate compliance and keep it current.
- AI agents automate questionnaires, responses, and questions
- Supplier portal requests and finds your suppliers' information
- Product intelligence matches each SKU, no manual work required
- Expiry tracking flags audit reports and test certificates before they lapse
02 · Win and sell more
Win more sustainability-focused merch buyers.
Buyers want 'better' merchandise. Give them the choice between product A, B, and C on impact and increase order value.
- Product comparisons show customers product A vs product B
- Sustainability credentials shown on the product, backed by the document
- Decoration included footprints cover printing, embroidery and packaging
- Customer reports reporting-ready data for each customer order
- Supplier redaction manufacturer names removed before anything goes out
03 · Shorten the deal cycle
Procurement-ready every time.
Search our buyer database to see what they will ask for and close the gaps, and benchmark your bids.
- Readiness assessments score you against each buyer’s requirements
- Gap identification lists exactly what’s missing and who owns it
- Policy generator drafted for you to review and adopt
- Faster tender responses prefilled from your profile
How it works
From your catalogue to their compliance report.
We ingest your company & catalogue
Company details from public and private sources, products by CSV or supplier feed, and the documents you already hold.
We flag any gaps & generate solutions.
Every SKU and policy is checked against what promotional products buyers ask for. Missing items become tasks.
You answer buyers and sell more.
Questionnaires, tenders, product comparisons and order reports, all from the same profile.
Case study · Ethstat
Ethstat puts product impact in front of merchandise buyers.
Ethstat supplies ethical and sustainable stationery, promotional products and office supplies to corporate buyers.
Ethstat introduced Zilch across its catalogue and embedded the Zilch widget into its online store. Buyers can see each product’s carbon footprint, explore the emissions breakdown and download it alongside the details they already use to choose.
Read the Ethstat story →Give brands merchandise they can stand behind.
Bring sourcing evidence, product safety and impact data into one place with Zilch.
FAQ
Questions promotional products suppliers ask
Wait, weren’t you doing sustainability for promo?
Yes! We are still the first sustainability tool for the promotional products industry, but we now do compliance automation — company, supplier and product information in one profile, with sustainability data inside it. Everything you already used Zilch for is still here.
My suppliers are slow to respond. Does this still work?
Yes. Materials, weights and footprint can be modelled from the product itself, so most SKUs have usable data without waiting on anyone. Documents that can only come from a supplier, like audit reports and test certificates, are requested and chased automatically.
Does Zilch audit factories or certify products?
No. Zilch collects, tracks and flags the audit reports and certificates your suppliers hold, and shows you where something is missing or expired. Audits and certifications stay with the relevant schemes and assessors.
Who can see my supplier and pricing data?
Only you. Manufacturer names, pricing and origin detail are redacted automatically before anything goes to a customer, and you can add your own rules for anything else you want to hold back.
Does it connect to my catalogue or order platform?
Yes. The Partner API pulls footprints and PDF reports for your products into your own systems, and the Carbon Emissions Widget shows footprints on your product pages. Through Zapier, a new order in Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce, or an invoice in Xero, can automatically email your customer the footprint report for what they bought.
Your customers’ next merch order is already on its way.
Send us a product list and we’ll show you what your buyers will see, and what’s missing.