Sales Promotion Services
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Industry Overview
The sales promotion services industry includes about 4,500 companies and departments of many advertising companies with combined annual revenue of about $10 billion. Major companies include subsidiaries of large marketing firms such as Maritz, and subsidiaries of major advertising agencies such as Omnicom and WPP. The industry is highly fragmented: the top 50 companies account for less than 30 percent of industry revenue. Most companies are small and independent with limited geographic coverage and product offerings.
The industry provides promotional products imprinted with the name, logo, and/or marketing message of clients.
Competitive Landscape
Demand is driven by economic growth and by corporate profits. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient order fulfillment and marketing. Large companies have economies of scale in procurement and the ability to offer other marketing services. Small companies specialize by type of sales promotion product and differentiate themselves on customer service, particularly speed of delivery. The industry is labor-intensive: average annual revenue per employee is about $125,000.
Products, Operations & Technology
Major products are shirts, writing instruments, desk/office accessories, glassware, and caps/headgear, all customized with the customer’s name, logo, and/or message. The most popular products are shirts (offered by almost 75 percent of companies); writing instruments (about 50 percent); and desk/office accessories (25 percent). Other products include other apparel, calendars, and magnets.
Sales promotion services companies have offices with showrooms to display the products and services offered. Companies process a large number of small custom-imprinted orders. Customers place an order with the sales promotion firm, which then orders the items from various suppliers that engrave, imprint, or embroider the logo or marketing message. Turnaround time from final order to delivery is generally two to three weeks; rush orders can be filled within two to three days, depending on the product.
Sales promotion products may be made in the US or imported from overseas. Most promotion services companies have numerous suppliers and buy from them using purchase orders. The industry experiences little seasonality.
Large sales promotion services companies have begun to install a common information platform to integrate business and make reporting more efficient. Large companies have installed integrated systems for order entry, warehouse management, sales, and purchasing management. Other systems are designed to reduce order processing time and improve customer billing. Some companies have pull order-flow processing systems designed to process a large number of small orders efficiently.