Zest includes two tools for corporate gifting — Storefronts and Concierge — and understanding when to use each one can dramatically improve your team's efficiency and your customers' experience.
Overview: Two Ways to Handle Corporate Gifting
Both Storefronts and Concierge are included in your corporate gifting subscription at no additional cost. You can activate one or both at the same time.
Storefronts are self-service gifting portals where your corporate customers browse products, upload their recipient lists, and complete checkout on their own. Your team doesn't need to be involved at all.
Concierge is a backend order management tool where your team manages white-glove orders: building projects on behalf of customers, uploading recipient addresses, applying custom pricing, and sending invoices.
Think of it this way: Storefronts are DIY, and Concierge is full-service.
Self-Service Storefront: How It Works
With Storefronts, your corporate customers can place orders 24/7 — no phone calls, no emails, no rep involvement required. You set up the experience once, and it runs itself.
Here's how the customer experience works:
Your customer visits your branded storefront on your gifting subdomain.
They browse and select products.
They upload a spreadsheet of recipients (with name, address, and optional gift message fields) or enter recipients manually.
They pay by credit card at checkout and receive order confirmation.
Key storefront capabilities:
E-gifting: Customers can choose to send gifts digitally — recipients receive a notification and enter their own shipping address. You can disable this per storefront if you prefer direct-ship only.
Public or private: Set a storefront to public (so anyone can shop) or private (restricted to specific email addresses, useful for custom reorder portals).
Custom branding: Add your logo, brand colors, and banner images to match your brand identity.
Multiple products and add-ons: Curate the exact products — including add-ons — you want available in each storefront.
Up to 1,000 recipients per order: Customers can upload up to 1,000 recipient rows in a single order.
Gift message support: Customers can include personalized messages per recipient.
Concierge: How It Works
Concierge gives your team the tools to manage even the most complex, high-touch corporate orders on behalf of your customers. You stay in control of every detail: pricing, products, recipients, and invoicing.
Here's how a typical Concierge order works:
You create a new project and assign it to a customer.
You build one or more orders within the project — selecting products, applying custom pricing, and uploading recipient addresses.
Optionally, you send the customer a recipient address collection link so their recipients can enter and validate their own shipping information directly.
You generate and send an invoice for payment.
Once payment is confirmed, you submit the orders to fulfill.
Key Concierge capabilities:
Custom pricing: Set a custom price per product for each order with full flexibility.
Multi-tier projects: Group multiple orders under one project — useful when different recipient groups receive different products.
Flexible invoicing: Create invoices with custom line items and send them directly to the customer for payment.
Address collection link: Send customers a unique link where their recipients can enter and validate their own addresses, without needing access to your dashboard.
Full control before fulfillment: Orders stay in draft status until your team is ready to submit. Nothing goes to fulfillment until you say so.
Direct-ship only: Concierge orders are always physical, direct-ship. E-gifting is not currently available in Concierge.
Important — e-gift workaround: If a Concierge customer wants to send e-gifts, you can place a storefront order on their behalf and share the order details with them using the order sharing feature.
Feature Comparison Side-by-side
Feature | Storefronts | Concierge |
E-gifting (recipients enter own addresses) | ✅ Yes (can be disabled per Storefront) | ❌ No — direct-ship only |
Payment method | Credit card at checkout | Invoice-based (credit card; ACH availability depends on account setup) |
CSV/spreadsheet upload | ✅ Yes — name, address, gift message | ✅ Yes — also supports product SKU and quantity fields |
Recipient address collection link | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
Maximum recipients per order | Up to 1,000 | Up to 1,000 per grouping |
Custom pricing per order | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
Multi-tier project | Separate orders required | ✅ Single project, multiple orders |
Expedited shipping arrangements | ❌ Not supported | ✅ Yes — via flexible shipping method selection |
Hold before fulfillment | ❌ No — submits immediately | ✅ Yes — draft until manually submitted |
Gifter fee at checkout | Variable fee charged to customer | No gifter fee |
Self-service for customers | ✅ Yes | ❌ No — team-managed |
24/7 ordering | ✅ Yes | ❌ Requires team involvement |
When to Use Each: Decision Criteria and Thresholds
There's no single right answer — many brands use both. Here are factors to help you route customers to the right experience.
Direct customers to Storefronts when:
The customer is comfortable completing checkout on their own.
The order involves standard products at standard pricing.
The customer is making a repeat purchase or reorder.
Speed and convenience are the priority.
The customer wants to send e-gifts.
Direct customers to Concierge when:
The order requires custom pricing or special product configurations.
The customer prefers phone or email interaction.
The order is large or high-value with uncommon products.
The customer needs to send different products at different prices to different recipient groups in a single project.
The customer needs expedited or special shipping arrangements.
The recipient count is high (some brands route orders with 100+ recipients to Concierge).
Tip: These thresholds are yours to define and communicate to your team. There's no universally "correct" number — it depends on your product complexity and customer base. The split between self-service and Concierge orders varies significantly by brand.
Using Both Together: Routing Customers to the Right Experience
Running Storefronts and Concierge simultaneously gives you the best of both worlds: 24/7 self-service revenue alongside a managed path for complex or high-touch orders.
Strategies for effective routing:
Set a recipient count threshold. Communicate to your customers and team that orders under a certain recipient count (e.g., fewer than 100) go through Storefronts, and larger orders go through Concierge.
Set a dollar threshold. Route orders above a certain value to Concierge for a more personalized experience.
Publish your Storefront link broadly so most customers self-serve, and reserve Concierge for inbound inquiries that need special handling.
Use private Storefronts for Concierge customers who want to reorder. Set up a custom Storefront with their preferred products so they can reorder independently next time — no rep involvement needed.
Customer records are shared. A customer who places orders through both Storefronts and Concierge shares the same customer record in Zest. You can see their full order history across both channels and cross-sell between them.
Heads up! Storefront orders and Concierge orders live in separate parts of your Zest Partners portal. You cannot look up a Storefront order inside the Concierge dashboard. If you need to create an itemized receipt for a Storefront order, you can use the Concierge invoice feature as a workaround by manually entering the order details.
Transitioning Customers from Concierge to Self-Service
Moving Concierge customers toward self-service Storefronts over time can meaningfully reduce your team's workload while maintaining a great customer experience. Here's how to make the transition smooth:
Set a minimum order threshold for Concierge. Gently redirect smaller or simpler orders to self-service by communicating a clear threshold — this trains customers over time.
Create private Storefronts for repeat customers. Build a custom Storefront with curated products and invite the customer to reorder there directly — no rep involvement required.
Reach out to past Concierge customers proactively. After the season, identify customers whose past orders were simple and standard. Send them a Storefront link with a short how-to video or guide.
Keep complex customizations in Concierge. The more specialized your products, the harder the transition to self-service. Start with straightforward catalog items in Storefronts and reserve heavily customized orders for Concierge.
Set up recurring reorder workflows in Storefronts. For customers who need to reorder regularly (like monthly employee welcome kits), a private Storefront is a better fit than Concierge — Concierge projects are designed as one-time or infrequent programs.
FAQ and Common Scenarios
Can I offer only Storefronts or only Concierge?
Yes. Both are included in your corporate gifting subscription, and you can activate either independently. Many brands launch with just Storefronts for self-service corporate gifting, while others start with Concierge to maintain control before opening self-service. You can add the second product at any time.
Should I launch Storefronts or Concierge first?
It depends on your priorities. If your team is already managing orders manually via email and spreadsheets, Concierge gives you better tooling immediately. If your priority is enabling self-service revenue around the clock without team involvement, start with Storefronts. Many brands take a phased approach — launch one, get comfortable, then add the other. Concierge can be added as late as October or November ahead of the Q4 holiday season.
How does payment work in Storefronts vs. Concierge?
In Storefronts, customers pay via credit card at checkout — payment is collected immediately. In Concierge, your team creates the order first, then generates and sends an invoice. Invoices support custom line items, adjusted pricing, and flexible due dates. This makes Concierge better suited for orders that need payment terms or tailored billing. For orders needing deferred payment on a Storefront, Concierge is the recommended path.
Can I send e-gifts through Concierge?
No — e-gifts are only available through Storefronts. Concierge orders are always direct-ship and require physical shipping addresses. As a workaround, you can place a Storefront e-gift order on behalf of the customer, then share the order details with them using the order sharing feature.
How does the CSV upload differ between Storefronts and Concierge?
Both support spreadsheet uploads for recipient addresses. In Storefronts, customers upload their own recipient lists during self-service checkout (fields include name, address, and gift message). In Concierge, your team uploads the spreadsheet on behalf of the customer — and the Concierge CSV also supports product SKU and quantity fields for multi-product orders. You can also send the customer a recipient address collection link so their recipients enter their own addresses directly.
Can I handle tiered or multi-product gifting in a single order?
In self-service Storefronts, each product tier requires its own order with its own recipient spreadsheet (about 90 seconds per order). In Concierge, you can handle multiple tiers within a single project by creating multiple orders under one project umbrella — making it much better suited for complex programs where different recipient groups receive different products.
How do Storefronts and Concierge relate to consumer gifting (Gift Notes and Multiship)?
They are completely separate products. Consumer gifting integrates directly into your Shopify Plus checkout for individual shoppers sending to a small number of recipients. Corporate gifting (Storefronts and Concierge) uses a separate branded portal on a subdomain, handles bulk orders up to 1,000 recipients, and uses its own checkout flow. You can use both product suites simultaneously to capture all gifting intent from your audience — they don't conflict.
What about consumers accidentally using Storefronts for 1–2 recipient orders?
If you link to Storefronts from product pages, some consumers may use the flow for single-recipient orders. The spreadsheet upload step can feel heavy for small orders. For these cases, consider the consumer Gift Notes app for single-recipient orders and reserve your Storefront link for multi-recipient use cases.
Are both products included in my subscription?
Yes — both Storefronts and Concierge are included in your corporate gifting subscription at no additional cost. The key pricing difference is that self-service Storefront orders include a variable gifter fee paid by the customer at checkout, while Concierge orders do not charge a gifter fee to the customer.