Promotional products distribution brings its own set of warehouse challenges. Distributors often hold stock on behalf of their clients, that stock feeds live ordering sites clients rely on every day, and a single order can involve picking hundreds or even thousands of branded items. Every count needs to be right.

For Thumbprint, formerly ScreenBroidery, warehousing grew out of a client need: helping clients buy in bulk for better pricing, then holding and distributing that stock across their subsidiaries and locations. But as ScreenBroidery grew, its Indianapolis warehouse was still running on paper pick sheets, manual data entry and no verification between pick and dispatch.

By implementing SkuVault by Linnworks, ScreenBroidery rebuilt its warehouse from the ground up. Following its 2025 acquisition of Thumbprint, the combined team now ships hundreds of orders a day at 99.96% accuracy, across two sites and to 40 countries, all without adding warehouse headcount. We spoke with VP Brandon Holloway to find out how.

About Thumbprint

Thumbprint is a marketing solutions company that partners with the marketing and procurement teams of large organizations, including Fortune 500 businesses. Rather than managing separate vendors for promotional products, apparel and print, clients rely on Thumbprint as a one-stop partner for sourcing, brand management, custom ordering platforms and warehousing.

Today, Thumbprint has 90+ employees, fulfillment sites in Indianapolis and Florida managing more than 8,500 SKUs, and accounts across the transportation, healthcare and ecommerce retail industries. It runs roughly 150 client ordering stores on Shopify and Four51, and its growth has earned it a place in the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Fast 25 in 2023 and 2024 and 31st in PPAI’s Top 100 for 2026.

We sat down with VP Brandon Holloway, who has been with the business for 11 years and oversees its logistics and warehouse operations.

The challenge: A warehouse capped by physical workload

Before SkuVault, ScreenBroidery’s Indianapolis warehouse had no warehouse management system in place. There were no automations, no location identifiers and no reliable inventory tracking, and orders came through on paper.

“Shipping was so bad that we had to manually type in tracking numbers into our system to close them out. Picking orders was taking a sheet, walking over and hoping you counted right when you’re pulling a thousand pens.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint

With no verification between pick and dispatch, miscounts could leave the building undetected, and when a client reported a missing item there was no record of where it went wrong. Brandon estimates order accuracy sat at around 80%, with every error leading to reshipped orders, expedited freight and credits issued back to clients. And with every task carried out by hand, the team was limited by how much physical work it could get through in a day.

Accuracy mattered even more for clients running lean inventory, as many rely on stock that Thumbprint holds and publishes live to their own ordering sites.

“Some customers don’t have the ability to have large inventory, so their inventory gets cut close. Being one or two off is important.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint

Choosing SkuVault by Linnworks: Four criteria that set a warehouse management system apart

ScreenBroidery set out to find a warehouse management system that could connect to its ecommerce systems and either include a built-in shipping solution or partner with one such as ShipStation. Several platforms were shortlisted and reviewed by the company’s programmers, and SkuVault also came recommended by others in the industry.

“A lot of warehouse management systems work essentially the same. What sets them apart is going to be the reporting, the API connections and the shipping solutions. Those big four components are what we look for in a partnership.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint

SkuVault by Linnworks stood out across all four criteria: reporting, automations, API connections and shipping. The existing partnership with ShipStation made shipping straightforward, while reporting, QC tools and API access covered the rest. As Brandon puts it, the other options “just didn’t have the all-around holistic solution that Linnworks offered.”

A phased approach to implementation

When ScreenBroidery moved to SkuVault in 2024, Brandon took ownership of the rollout. Rather than switching everything on at once, the team replicated its existing manual process inside SkuVault first, then introduced automation in phases:

1. Mirror the manual process: Pick tickets were printed from SkuVault and ShipStation closed orders out, so the team could learn the platform without changing how they worked.
2. Refine the pick ticket: Tickets were adjusted until they showed exactly what pickers needed.
3. Introduce scanning: Pickers moved from paper to scanners, scanning inventory out of its warehouse location so every pick is recorded.
4. Connect the systems: Integration flows were built so orders arriving through ShipStation moved into SkuVault, purchase orders flowed in, and each system talked to the next.

“I thought the implementation process was super easy. Once we got started it was just constant refinements to make it better.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint

Inside the warehouse: Built around client inventory

Today, a 10-person team runs both sites on SkuVault, with every workflow built around holding and distributing stock on behalf of clients.

Receiving that fills backorders first

Once a product is verified and received, it is checked against committed inventory in SkuVault for open backorders. Anything that fills a backorder goes straight to shipping, and the rest is stocked and located.

Picking by location

Pick routes are set up by aisle, bay and shelf. Orders are either picked complete one at a time, from pick tickets organized by location, or in waves, which handle most of the Indianapolis volume. In Florida, the average order is 3 SKUs and 27 pieces.

Two-step quality control without item barcodes

Many of the products Thumbprint distributes can’t carry barcodes. Instead, pickers scan inventory out in SkuVault, and at packing the team verifies each order against product photos and descriptions in ShipStation before it ships. That validation is something clients expect, and it has helped protect business.

Kitting in three clear phases

Kits move through three stages: components are picked, kits are assembled, and finished inventory is added to the kit SKU. The team uses a manual sales order to pick the components, then an inventory adjustment to add completed kits to stock.

Client-owned stock and live inventory feeds

SkuVault classifications mark which inventory belongs to clients and which belongs to Thumbprint, with no need to separate the two physically. Stock levels feed directly to clients’ Shopify stores, and via API to Zoho, which updates Four51 stores and flags any bad data along the way.

Velocity-based cycle counting

Instead of an annual inventory, cycle counts are scheduled by velocity using ABC classification: high-velocity items are inventoried monthly and cycle counted quarterly, and standard items twice a year. Root causes are tracked so problem SKUs are corrected before they cause backorders or client escalations.

International shipping through one source

International orders run through ShipStation on a negotiated rate with Thumbprint’s primary carrier, so any issues can be controlled and resolved quickly. ShipStation generates customs documents electronically and estimates duties and taxes, helping the team give clients accurate quoted pricing across the 40 countries it ships to.

Seven-day client onboarding

The warehouse stage of client onboarding takes just seven days, covering product descriptions, image collection, barcoding, staging on shelving and listing content.

From reactive to proactive: Five pillars and better data

With the warehouse running reliably, Brandon’s focus has shifted from fixing problems to anticipating them.

“Warehousing in general is a reactive scenario. I’m reacting because I received an order, or an error happened. My focus this year is creating a proactive warehouse environment, and SkuVault is at the forefront of that.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint

To get there, he has built a five-pillar framework:

1. Communication as infrastructure: Daily touchpoints, a defined escalation matrix and client pre-alerts, so problems are raised before customers see them.
2. Shipment visibility: Real-time tracking of inbound and outbound shipments
3. Carrier optimization: A ShipExec connection for cost visibility, tracking and billing exception reports.
4. Inventory accuracy: Velocity-based cycle counts in SkuVault, replacing the annual inventory.
5. Growth and training: Workshops, cross-training and KPI education to build a proactive culture.

Better data is part of that shift. With SkuVault’s reorder point notifications, it gives the sales team inventory insight they never had before, helping them raise reorders and slow-moving stock with clients.

“Now it’s refining things to allow our sales team to be better by providing them data that they didn’t have access to before. That’s something we were not expecting as a result in the beginning.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint

The impact: Scaling volume without scaling the team

Implementing SkuVault has delivered measurable results across Thumbprint’s warehouse operations:

• 99.96% order accuracy: Orders are shipped complete 99.96% of the time, measured across lines and units. That is about one incomplete order in every 2,500, compared with an estimated 80% accuracy before SkuVault.
• Order volume up by more than 65%: The warehouse now handles significantly more orders each day.
• Growth without new warehouse hires: Handling current volume on the old process would have required around 30% more warehouse staff.
• Fewer costly recoveries: Reships are down around 10%, expedited freight costs by around 15% and credits issued to clients by around 10%.
• Less manual entry: Time spent on manual order entry has dropped by around 25%, with shipping close-out now fully automated.

Those gains trace back to the changes inside the warehouse brought by SkuVault with scanning and two-step quality assurance catching mistakes before orders ship. Shipping close-out is automated, and cycle counting keeps inventory reliable for clients’ live ordering sites.

“We went from shipping 100 packages a day to 600 packages a day. It allowed us to scale without having to bring in more manpower. We made those large changes without ever adding to the team.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint

Looking back, Brandon is clear about the difference it has made.

“I think Linnworks helped us come into the 21st century. We were running an archaic system that allowed us to move slow, not provide good solutions and be reactive to what the clients needed. I think it held us back from being the giant that we’ve become in our industry.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint

Looking ahead

With SkuVault at the core of its operations, Thumbprint’s priorities for the year ahead are new account growth, technology advancements including AI, and further operational efficiency. The business is on track for continued revenue growth, and further acquisitions are part of the plan, with new operations folding into existing processes.

“Having a robust warehouse management system allows us ease of scalability and multiple warehouse workflows, alongside easy data collection and reporting.”

Maxi Luna, Brand Coordinator, Thumbprint

Advice for prospective customers

For businesses considering SkuVault, Brandon’s advice is clear.

“Don’t be complacent. The program offers so much, you just have to get your hands into it. You can always find ways to refine the way you’re using the system and what the system can offer your business. There’s always going to be something better in the system that’s going to help you. Every day I learn a different aspect that I didn’t know before that makes my job easier.”

Brandon Holloway, VP, Thumbprint