PPB November 2018

feed back Send feedback on articles in PPB or opinions on industry issues to JamesK@ppai.org . The Threats And Opportunities Of Ecommerce In the September issue of PPB , Bobby Lehew, chief content officer at commonsku, pushed back against the idea that large players entering the promotional products e-commerce space, like Amazon, Walmart and Costco, will push out smaller distributors. In his article, “Is E-commerce Taking Over The Promo Space?” he says no, because the transactional nature of e-commerce isn’t a threat to the industry’s consultative, problem-solving businesses. Bobby’s article brings to mind two thoughts that are very relevant in the discussion. First, what do Millennials want? Many successful entrepreneurs I know are changing their businesses to be more reflective of what the emerging buyer wants vs. what they want. An example would be online stores. They do not count in industry sales, but, what percent of transactions that occur in the thousands upon thousands of online stores are counted in online sales? Zero. That is not reality. Stores are a great example of where consultative sales and online sales come together for the greater good of the customer’s needs. The second thought is that decision makers today buy steak online. In another lifetime helping a very vibrant online platform to relevancy, we experienced six-figure sales every year, much more than an anomaly. As an industry, and now that I am helping build a hybrid distributorship, we believe it is important for distributors to accept the fact that very large online orders occur daily. Look at Carvana [an online site to buy cars] as an example. Also, there are thousands of purchase orders issued daily from companies buying promotional products online that are being sent to their vendor of choice because most websites cannot yet accept P.O. transactions. The next few years with all the consolidation will be very interesting, and there is a wonderful niche for the 95 percent of the distributors who generate half our revenue. Billions in sales are available with the tools available. Just do it! JIM FRANKLYN Vice President of Business Development Swag Promo, LLC Alpharetta, Georgia PPAI 562712 Far be it fromme to argue with Mr. Lehew’s wonderfully argued, very persuasive analysis and vision, but this is to put an emphasis on his caution that the “online” threat cannot just be dismissed. Let me play devil’s advocate by using a philosophy professor’s advice I’ve long remembered: “If you accept someone’s analogy, you accept their argument.” Let’s review Mr. Lehew’s clever food industry analogy that suggests the either-or premise that either you are an online-focused distributor or consultative-oriented. Isn’t the reality now, and certainly in the future, that a healthy promo distributor needs to/will need to offer both excellent online and off-line service? In other words, don’t distributors now need to, and won’t they increasingly need to offer both Morton’s Steaks fine dining and Morton’s Burgers fast food experience to satisfy your clients’ diverse needs? It’s food for thought. AL KERNAN Retired Churchill, Pennsylvania Praise for SAGE Show 2018 With over 250 suppliers on site, SAGE brought more than 1,000 industry professionals and more than 300 invited clients to the Irving Convention Center in Irving, Texas, on August 30 for SAGE Show 2018. PPAI partnered with SAGE to provide professional education sessions throughout the day. This is the fifth year that the MLR Alliance has partnered with SAGE. One of the main reasons that our group has purchased more than 26 booth spaces each year at the SAGE show is that they make it enjoyable for all of our suppliers. They also provide excellent marketing of their event and have an abundance of talented staff to support your every need. It is a pleasure working with Blake Bozeman and the entire show staff. Each one of the supplier members of the MLR Alliance continues to rave about the excellent service provided by SAGE, right down to the unloading and loading assistance provided. We only wish more organizations that undertake an event like the SAGE Show would go as far in putting their clients first, treating them with respect and making them look forward to their next hosted venue. Thank you, SAGE team! TONY TUSO, MAS Managing Partner The MLR Alliance Oak Point, Texas PPAI 192002 8 | NOVEMBER 2018 |