PPB May 2018

Although distributor sales were almost flat among small companies, the number of participants in that category increased to 22,721 from 21,577 in 2016. In contrast, the number of large companies reporting sales over $2.5 million declined slightly to 843, compared to 889 in 2016, and the total number of U.S. distributor companies increased to an estimated 23,564, up from 22,466 in 2016. The lion’s share of the 2017 sales volume increase came from two significant trends: online sales and sales of products from non-industry providers (companies not listed with PPAI, ASI or SAGE). Online sales of promotional products grew significantly in 2017, representing 23.2 percent of the year’s total sales volume compared to 19.8 percent in 2016. Total online sales grew by 28.1 percent to $5.3 billion, compared to $4.2 billion in 2016, and that trend is driven by a significant increase from both large (30.5 percent) and small (19.8 percent) distributors. In addition, on average, almost $3.4 billion came from product sales from non-industry providers—14.6 percent of the total dollar volume. Overall, sales from non-industry providers increased by 20 percent over 2016. One other item of note is the timing of this year’s study. The research was conducted slightly earlier than in previous years. Surveys were in the field by early February so that PPAI could publish results in the second quarter, giving members the data to benchmark their businesses earlier in the year. Read on for highlights from the 2017 study, and view the full report with UNDER $2.5 MILLION OVER $2.5 MILLION TOTAL 22,721 843 23,564 $ 9,792,129,462 $ 13,493,850,947 $ 23,285,980,409 $ 9,705,916,077 $ 11,599,015,380 $ 21,304,931,457 $ 86,213,385 $ 1,894,835,567 $ 1,981,048,952 0.89 % 16.34 % 9.30 % NUMBER OF DISTRIBUTOR COMPANIES 2017 SALES VOLUME 2016 SALES VOLUME TOTAL DIFFERENCE % INCREASE/ DECREASE IN SALES VOLUME OVER 2015 Figure 3: 2017 U.S. Distributor Sales Vs. 2016 Figure 4: Industry Sales By Company Size, 2012 - 2017 Figure 1: 10-Year Industry Performance 2017 $5 B $10 B $15 B $23.3 B $18.1 B $15.6 B $16.6 B $17.7 B $18.5 B $19.8 B $20.0 B $20.8 B $21.3 B $20 B $25 B 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Figure 2: Market Share By Distributor Size, 2007 - 2017 OVER $2.5 MILLION UNDER $2.5 MILLION 52 % 48 % 45 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 49 % 49 % 49 % 54 % 55 % 56 % 50 % 50 % 50 % 51 % 51 % 51 % 46 % 58 % 42 % 45 % FEATURE | PPAI Exclusive Research: 2017 Distributor Sales Volume Estimate COMPANY SIZE 44 | MAY 2018 |