Not so Secret Santa makes personalization (t)werk for everybody 

Erembodegem, Belgium – TWERK is an employment initiative where normally gifted people with autism work on extraordinary things. This sheltered workshop and labor care center not only provides B2B companies with administrative and packaging services, but also delivers chocolate gimmicks. 

They were considering a one-off web shop opportunity for personalized Christmas cards with a chocolate treat inside. A chance meeting with CHILI publish at #hetcongres16, hosted by VIGC, followed by added support from Graphique Alliance resulted in a brand-new pop-up web shop, the TWEBSHOP (www.twebshop.be).

A chance meeting 

Bram Verniest, COO at CHILI publish, met with Bart Michiels, business coordinator at Twerk vzw at the #hetcongres16, an e-commerce focus initiative event by VIGC, bringing together web2print experts in Belgium. Bart explained the opportunity he saw to launch a pop-up web shop to expand their token expertise with the online ordering of personalized holiday cards containing a chocolate treat. The web shop would be live between 12 and 18 December and would allow the Twerk team to do what they do best: show their added value despite certain limitations. What they lacked was an online editing tool to personalize the cards, the Woocommerce plug-in expertise to create the web shop within their Wordpress website and alas, the financial resources to set it up.

Paying it forward

CHILI publish reached out to its partner Graphique Alliance and suggested a selfless cooperation to provide Twerk with the tools they needed to realize their objective as part of a larger Corporate Social Responsibility effort. CHILI publish would provide a free license to CHILI publisher. Graphique Alliance coordinated the practical set-up of the web shop by integrating Woocommerce in the Wordpress website of Twerk. Bram Verniest comments: “We’ve all paid our dues. But we feel any cooperation has a social responsibility to carry when wonderful opportunities such as these pop up. It’s an original and imaginative initiative, inspiring the employees at Twerk to make the most of their strengths. It’s not just about supporting a good cause; it’s about enabling Twerk to lead by example and inspire others.”

Festive sweet treat

The Implementation and integration ran effortlessly and the web shop was officially launched December 12th at 16h. Visitors to the web shop can create, tailor and order their personalized cards, which will be delivered December 23rd via snail mail. Each card will be a one of a kind, containing Fair Trade chocolate treats.  

Bart Michiels concludes: “The endorsement and guidance by CHILI publish and Graphic Alliance have been invaluable to us. The web shop works flawlessly; team spirit is boosted and we’re getting crazy traffic to our web shop. This was by far the best gift under our Christmas tree.”