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Promotional Products – A changing industry - Chapter One.

Tuesday, 11 May 2010

Over the last seven or so years that I have been working in the promotional products industry, there have been significant changes in not only the perception of promotional products, but also in the use of merchandise as an integral part of brand exposure.

Once an industry at the mercy of a marketing departments afterthought, the promotional merchandise industry has now moved into a position where marketing departments are seeing the vital role that merchandise plays alongside their above the line efforts and are including this element in the marketing mix and budget accordingly.

So why the change in perception? 

Well, there are several factors we can look at, such as the changing habits of consumers, the search for cheaper forms of advertising, the emergence of China and the ease at which wholesalers and direct importers can bring items into the country are a brief selection.

The single factor that I would however like to highlight is the increased competition in domestic markets.

The reason I want to focus on this particular element, is that it is an example that can be seen in just about any commercial market and one that I think will resonate with the majority of you reading this article.

It’s a pretty simple concept. With increased competition comes an increase to both product and service quality.  In conjunction to this we also have the benefit of cheaper prices as wholesalers try to remain competitive.  (The pitfalls of this will be discussed briefly below and in detail in chapter two of this article.)

Historically your promotional product supplier has been hamstrung with limited choice in available product ranges through limited wholesale options and access to the source of these wholesalers in Asia.

Over the last five years these barriers have been broken down and competition has increased dramatically.  In promotional clothing and apparel as an example, the number of suppliers has increased 10 fold over the last seven years and there are now direct lines to quality suppliers in Asia.

So in a nut shell, we have an answer to the question of the changing perceptions about promotional products and their place in the budgeted marketing mix. 

Due to increased competition and the positive effect that this has on price, quality and service within the industry, promotional products can now be trusted to provide an acceptable return on investment; or can they?

The answer is yes.....and no. 

If you are choosing a quality promotional product agency you can be assured that your brand will be represented in accordance with your organisational values and that your initiatives will yield valuable results and add value to you brand.

If however you are shopping around for the cheapest online deal or relying on the bean counters in procurement to dictate what suppliers you use, you are destined to fail at some point.

I’ll leave that thought with you and will readdress it in our next chapter on promotional products where we shall identify exactly why the above mentioned recipe of failure will occur and what you can do to avoid it.

 

Untill then, take it easy, we'll be back soon.....

Related Tags

Promotional Products Industry - Australia History

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