Good merch starts with a conversation

A buyer might know they need “gifts for reps at our kickoff” without knowing which products to choose or what they can get within their budget. For Flywheel & iPROMOTEu, which sells branded merchandise through a sales team, turning that idea into product selections, on budget, with a logo proof, and a quote can take days.

We built MerchButler.AI to handle that first conversation online. The AI concierge asks about the event or occasion, recommends products from a catalog of more than 13,000, and creates mockups with the buyer’s logo. By the time a request reaches the sales team, the rep has a complete brief to work from.

The Butler asks one useful question at a time and recommends products that fit the answers. Search considers what the buyer means, then filters the live catalog by category, budget, and quantity. Pricing reflects the order size, so a request for “$45 a head for 150 people” stays within budget and avoids products with a 500-piece minimum.

A five-step tracker covers order details, budget, timeframe, items, and confirmation, so buyers always know what comes next. Suggested products collect on a shelf where they can review and confirm their favorites.

The conversation is the starting point for a connected workflow: product matching, mockup generation, a structured brief, lead scoring, and routing to the sales pipeline. Scheduled workers keep catalog details, pricing, images, and inventory in sync across five suppliers. They also update product search data and flag large price changes before those reach buyers.

We started with grayscale wireframes for the buyer experience and the admin. What would help a buyer trust a recommendation? What would a rep need before following up? Those questions shaped the interface and the structured brief both sides would use, before we brought AI into the flow.

Some buyers arrive with a quote already in hand. The free Quote Analyzer reads an uploaded image or PDF, matches each line item to an equivalent product in the catalog, and estimates what MerchButler would charge at the same quantities. The comparison excludes tax and freight.

Buyer guides, sizing calculators, and product spotlights help visitors work through other questions along the way. AI drafts the written content from editor briefs and checks it against the house style. A person reviews and approves each piece before it publishes.

We kept the interface focused, with black providing the backdrop and gold guiding the next action. Mint marks completed steps. That leaves room for the merchandise and the buyer’s branding to stand out. The same design system supports branded organization portals with their own colors, logos, and catalog rules.