Choice Stores for Higher Education

 Give students, donors, alumni, and employees the power to choose the branded merch that’s right for them. 

Instead of sending the same item to everyone, a choice store lets recipients select from a curated collection. Magellan makes this easy for your team by managing the store, product sourcing, fulfillment, and data reporting.

Hear From Higher Ed Marketers
Missouri S&T University Admit Pack Choice Store
Cornell University “Give to Get” Alumni Donor Choice Store
Marquette University Admitted Student Post-Event Choice Store
Grinnell College Alumni Donor “Gratitude Shop”
Drake University Deposited Student “Bulldog Bonus” Choice Store
Choice Stores for Higher Education

What Is a Choice Store?

A choice store is an online, branded merch experience where recipients choose an item from a curated collection.

Colleges and universities use choice stores for student recruitment, donor stewardship, alumni engagement, employee recognition, milestone celebrations, and rebranding initiatives.

Why Choice Stores Work

Trackable Results
See what recipients choose, and use those insights to see engagement results and inform future outreach, campaigns, and product decisions.

Timely Delivery
With products kept on hand, orders can be fulfilled quickly, keeping the experience timely and the excitement fresh.

Elevated Experience

A custom online store aligned with your institution’s brand creates a polished, personalized experience from selection through delivery. 

Resonate With Your Audience
Giving recipients a choice increases the likelihood they’ll value and use their branded merch, keeping your institution top of mind. 

Support Sustainability
Letting recipients choose what they want can help reduce unwanted merch and make each item more likely to be used.

Simplify Fulfillment
Magellan manages the store, inventory, fulfillment, and shipping, reducing the logistical work for your team.

How Higher Ed Uses Choice Stores

Student Recruitment

Build excitement or influence next steps among admitted and committed students before they arrive on campus. .

Donor Stewardship

Create a more personal donor experience and use branded merch to recognize or incentivize giving.

Employee/
Volunteer Recognition

Recognize the people who support your institution with branded merch they choose themselves.

Milestone Celebrations

Mark admission, reunions, memberships, loyalty or leadership giving, and campus events.

Rebranding Initiatives

Introduce a new brand while letting your community choose the merch that fits them best.

Real Results

See how colleges and universities are using choice stores to engage students, steward donors, and create more meaningful branded merch experiences.

  • Multi-Touch Recruitment

How Lawrence University Built a Multi-Touchpoint Admissions Strategy from Admit to Arrival

Challenge: Creating Consistent Engagement Across the Admissions Journey Lawrence University set out to solve a broader challenge than any single

  • Brand Visibility, Improved Yield, Lasting Usability, Milestone Celebration
  • Apparel, Choice Store, Direct Mail, Fulfillment, Kits, Packaging
Read the Full Story
  • Donor & Advancement Initiatives

Cornell University Reimagines Alumni Giving with a Choice Store Experience

Challenge: Rethinking How Institutions Thank Their Donors Cornell University wanted to rethink the traditional “give-to-get” alumni engagement strategy for alumni

  • Brand Visibility, Increased Giving, Lasting Usability
  • Choice Store, Sustainable Products
Read the Full Story
  • Connecting Students to Campus

Marquette University Extends Admitted Student Engagement with a Post-Event Choice Store

Challenge: Maintaining Momentum After Events While Supporting Counselors on the Road As Marquette University focused on attracting admitted students from

  • Improved Yield
  • Apparel, Choice Store, Fulfillment, Slate/CRM, Stickers
Read the Full Story
view more project stories
“The fact that we were able to set everything up in Slate and partner with Magellan on the fulfillment process made this a very easy process for my team and me, especially during the very busy yield season.”
Joel Johnson, Ed.D.Dean of Admission, Drake University
“We know that Magellan has just as high of standards as we do. They help us understand what does well, what doesn’t, and help us better think about the very items we’re giving out.”
Rose HowardDirector, Enrollment Communication and Marketing Strategy, Marquette University
“The process of hosting this on our site and only printing what we needed worked great! It was a great way to be thoughtful about budget, resources, and fiscal responsibility.:”
Katharine F. ConollyAssistant Director of Integrated Marketing, Communications, Marketing, and Participation at Cornell’s Alumni Affairs and Development, Cornell University
“Allowing students to select their own gift from the choice store really amplified their excitement and connection to Missouri S&T.”
Ashley CrillyDirector of Admissions, Missouri S&T
“What I most loved about this plan is how the merch touchpoints complemented our communications and relational strategy. We were able to maintain access to students through subtle, yet intentional ways.”
Robert J. NowakAssociate Vice President and Dean of Admission, Lawrence University

Innovative Uses for Your Choice Store

Enhance or transform your existing engagement strategies with a choice store, offering a unique way to connect with your community. Whether replacing in-person distributions, or elevating mailed items by offering personalized selections, a choice store adds a modern, interactive layer to your audience’s experience, making every interaction memorable and impactful.

Admits

Enhance admit campaigns by offering new students a choice in welcome gifts, such as college-branded sticker sheets, for a quick, personalized connection.

Deposits

Motivate student deposits with the promise of exclusive merchandise. A compelling incentive that shows value and appreciation.

Donor Appreciation

Express gratitude to donors by upgrading from a one-size-fits-all approach to offering a variety of high-quality, branded gifts. This enriches the donor experience with a sense of personal touch and appreciation.

Insights & Ideas

Explore what we’re learning as colleges and universities use choice stores across enrollment, advancement, and alumni engagement. 

  • Advancement

Choice Stores Beyond Recruitment: Applying the Model to Donor Engagement

Read More
branded merch choice stores for college admissions
  • Enrollment - Full-Funnel Strategies

Early Learnings from Choice Stores in Student Recruitment: What the Data is Showing

Read More
  • Advancement

The Power of Choice: Revolutionizing Alumni Engagement Strategies

Read More
explore more insights

Ready to Build Your Choice Store?

We’ll help you build a choice store around your audience, goals, and budget.

contact us
build your choice store

Variable Data Best Practices

  • At the quoting stage of your project, please let us know how many fields of variable data your piece will have as this can affect pricing.
  • Data should be provided to us as an Excel spreadsheet with only the applicable data included.
  • Verbiage for variable data fields on artwork file should match up exactly with data fields on spreadsheet.
  • Spacing on artwork must allow for longest data entries. We recommend that your designer tests this in advance to confirm that the fields in the design can fit your longest pieces of data.

Postage Permits

We are happy to mail using a client’s USPS non-profit number. Here are a few best practices for this to go smoothly. Let our team know up front on the project so we can make sure to get the information we need right away. 

While our mail house does prefer to use their permit number for the mailing, we can use the client’s permit, If using their permit number, ensure there is enough postage to cover the mailing.

The information we need to in order to use a client’s nonprofit number includes the following:

  • CRID (customer registration ID)
  • Non-Profit Authorization Number (with USPS, not their nonprofit number for the university)
  • Non-profit indicia
  • Return address that is on file with USPS for the non-profit authorization number
  • Permit number

Formatting the Mailing List

Our account team will advise on specific requirements for your project’s mailing list.  We generally recommend these best practices to format the mailing list:
  • Send your data in a spreadsheet, saving it in the comma-separated values (CSV) format
  • International addresses must be separated from domestic addresses
  • Domestic addresses should at least contain data fields for “first name”, “last name”, “address 1”, “address 2”, “city”, “state” and “ZIP code”