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IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES
for some, it was the worst
of times for others. Then again, maybe that’s too extreme on
both ends of the spectrum. While there were both huge gains
and lackluster sales among industry companies in 2015, in general
it was a year of average positive growth for promotional product
distributors. It was also a year in which the gap between small
and large distributors widened enough to change the balance
between both groups in the total sales volume figures for the
industry. Overall, 2015 was the year of the large distributor.
Total industry sales by distributors increased by 3.82 per-
cent to nearly $21 billion ($20,808,170,722)—breaking the
record set in 2014.
While sales continued the upward trend started in 2009, the
net positive result is due solely to a significant increase in rev-
enue among large distributor companies. In contrast, small dis-
tributors’ revenue declined further compared to 2014. Small
distributors, those with sales of less than $2.5 million, experi-
enced a 6.63-percent decline over 2014, while larger companies
saw a 14.05-percent increase.
The other big news in 2015 is that promo-
tional products’ percentage of growth was
greater than any other traditional advertising
media (see page 53), except for broadcast TV at
four percent and billboards at 4.3 percent. With
a growth rate of 3.82 percent over 2014 sales,
promotional products beat out direct mail at
three percent growth, consumer magazines at
two percent, business magazines, which were
flat, and radio, which plummeted by 18.2 per-
cent. However, it’s interesting to note that print
advertising shows signs of stabilizing with busi-
ness magazines remaining steady year over year,
consumer magazine revenue actually growing
last year and newspapers down only three per-
cent compared to -3.5 percent in 2014.
“The results of the 2015 Annual Distributor
Sales Report reflect year-over-year growth for the promotional
products industry in a relatively flat year for non-digital adver-
tising in general,” says Paul Bellantone, CAE, president and
JULY 2016 •
PPB
• 47
FIG. 1
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Distributor Sales: A Ten-Year Snapshot