A kit is a group of items packed together and shipped to a recipient as one unit. Instead of three separate boxes from three separate items, the recipient gets one branded package with everything inside, often with a printed insert and custom packaging. Kitting is the assembly step that gets you there.
#When kitting is the right shape
Kits show up in a few recurring places:
- New-hire welcome kits — a tee, a notebook, a sticker pack, and a welcome card in a branded box.
- Event boxes — pre-event ship-to-home for hybrid conferences or board offsites, or post-event reward sends.
- Customer gift assemblies — a curated set that arrives as a single experience rather than a pile of separate shipments.
- Sales prospecting boxes — high-touch direct mail with a few coordinated items and a personalized note.
- Holiday and milestone sends — anniversaries, work-iversaries, end-of-year gifts.
If you've found yourself describing a "send" as "we want the recipient to open one box and find X, Y, and Z," that's a kit.
#What can go in a kit
Kits are flexible. A typical kit can include:
- Your own decorated items — anything from your My Products list.
- Sourced items we don't normally carry — your account team can bring in third-party items (chocolates, branded drinkware from another supplier, a specific notebook, a tech accessory) and route them through the kitting flow.
- Non-merch inserts — printed cards, handwritten notes, sample packs, instructional one-pagers, a thank-you letter from your team.
- Custom packaging — branded boxes, tissue, ribbon, crinkle paper, custom labels.
Each component has its own sourcing path, its own lead time, and its own per-unit cost. The kit holds them together as a single shippable unit.
#How kits are priced
A kit's price is the sum of:
- The component costs — each item, decorated or sourced.
- A per-kit assembly fee — the hands-on time it takes to pack each kit. More components mean more time; a 3-item kit is faster to assemble than an 8-item kit with delicate tissue and a custom insert.
- Custom packaging cost — branded boxes, inserts, tissue, if applicable.
- Storage — if components are held in inventory waiting to be kitted, normal storage applies until they ship.
- Shipping — one shipment per recipient, sized to the kit.
The breakdown shows on your quote so you can see what's driving the kit price and what would change if you swapped a component.
#How kits ship
Each kit becomes a single fulfillment order with one tracking number. The recipient gets the same tracking and delivery emails they'd get for any other shipment — see Fulfillment orders and tracking.
If you're running a campaign where each recipient gets a kit, the campaign produces one kit per redemption. The recipient enters their address at claim time, we assemble their kit, and ship.
#Inventory implications
Most kits draw from inventory at assembly time. That means the components need to already be in your inventory in our network. If a kit has eight components, all eight need to be on hand (or in production with timelines that match) when assembly starts. A single backordered component can stall the whole kit.
A few practical patterns:
- Pre-assembled kits — assemble a batch of kits up front and hold them as a single kit SKU. Faster to ship later; trades some flexibility for speed.
- On-demand assembly — keep components in inventory and assemble each kit at fulfillment time. Slower per shipment, but you can change kit contents over time without throwing away pre-built kits.
Your account team will help you pick the shape that fits the use case.
#Lead-time considerations
Kits take longer to ship than single-item orders. The components have to land in our network first (each on its own lead time), then assembly time has to be added on top. For a typical kit with three to five components, plan a couple of weeks beyond the longest component's lead time. Custom packaging adds more.
For tight deadlines, see Rush and expedited orders — kits can be rushed, but every component has to rush, and the assembly step has its own floor.
To start a kit, message your account team with the use case, the items you have in mind, and the timeline. They'll walk you through component sourcing, packaging options, and assembly mechanics.