ourselves in position to take full advantage of the recovery. You trim back on everything else that you can.” Among those employees who kept their jobs, of course, were Worwood and Campbell, who joined us in the conference room for the latter half of my visit. Roughly 40 people kick up to them in supply operations, merchandising development, product data and compliance and corporate social responsibility. Amid the pandemic’s many challenges, these teams stayed busy rallying a more customerfacing focus on product sustainability. It was then that 4imprint began designing its Better Choices program, which has since launched as a curated offering of items with less environmental impact from within the company’s larger catalog. “That was in the depths of Covid,” Worwood says. “For 2020 it was like, what is the framework? What do we need to learn?” Emerging from that time, Better Choices is in some ways 4imprint’s effort to steer customers and suppliers alike to more sustainable products. Campbell says, “I think we all hope as an industry that people will pay a little more for something that’s 100% recycled, and I think that’s what we want to do for the planet. So, yes, we do go out there and we do engage with our supplier partners. We don’t act as a customer with our suppliers. We act as a partner. “I mean, we can’t grow unless we both do a good job. And that’s how we treat the relationship, and that’s where, in this area, I think we can lean into it.” Better Choices currently highlights more than 6,600 products, which Worwood quickly points out is only the beginning. “That doesn’t now get a box ticked,” she says. “That’s the starting point, having something in place that we can use with teams, with suppliers, with ourselves to go, ‘All right, how do we now elevate this further, and what’s next?’” Data is a big part of how 4imprint will judge its progress in driving buyers to Better Choices. It’s hard to imagine any distributorship doing more with the information gathered from its customers. 4imprint simply has more data to go on, owing to its early digital transformation. “Our model does have advantages in that way,” Lyons-Tarr says. “There are a lot of customers to talk to. You can get really good, reliable, statistically valid information coming back to you to make good decisions. Must Read | Distributors Rank Score Name 2022 Revenue (Millions) Change Since 2019 31 188.7 PromoShop $68.2 30% 32 Mercury Promotions & Fulfilment $41.0 64% 33 Kotis Design $56.4 18% 34 SomethingInked $67.0 24% 35 SLWM $51.1 12% 36 Summit Group $68.7 6% 37 CC Creations $64.0 12% 38 Genumark $51.4 20% 39 Harper + Scott $35.2 41% 40 Smart Source $60.5 12% Score equals the total number out of a possible 500. * Estimate. 2019 revenue calculated based on figures reported to PPAI and others. All 2022 revenue figures have been certified by a company representative unless denoted. Revenue Growth Industry Faith Professional Development Responsibility Innovation Employees Happiness Online Presence Distributors Earned HIGH MARKS in The Following Categories 56 • JULY 2023 • PPAI
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