Episode 224: The Meteoric Rise of Merchology (with CMO and Co-Founder Ally Ward Delgado)
$80 million in revenue in only a short eight years: Merchology is headquartered in Minneapolis and was founded by a family: Dick Ward, Andrew Ward, and Ally Ward Delgado.
Merchology has provided merch for over 60,000 companies worldwide including 86% of the fortune 500. Merchology is a disability-owned business and they were recognized by the Star Tribune as one of the top workplaces in 2021. Since 2017, Merchology has donated 1% of all sustainable brand revenue to environmental causes through their membership in the 1% for the Planet program and they also started a sustainable lifestyle brand, Zusa.
Ally Ward Delgado is the Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder of Merchology, and Ally oversees marketing, merchandising strategy, brand relationships, and product development for Zusa. Prior to co-founding Merchology with her father and brother, Ally worked in Brand Management at General Mills, with innovation and P&L responsibility for the Nature Valley, Fiber One, and Helper brands. She started her career as a Strategy Consultant for Deloitte Consulting, serving Fortune 500 retail and consumer packaged goods clients. Ally received her B.S.B. from the University of Minnesota and her MBA from Harvard Business School.
Today we talk about Merchology’s meteoric rise in sales growth, their evolution from an online-only player to a fully consultative and service-driven company, their expansion into more sustainable practices, their brand Zusa, and more!