That’s a direct message to the industry – product quality is a marketing performance issue. If a product feels cheap, poorly designed or irrelevant, the campaign loses one of the strongest advantages merch can offer: staying power. For suppliers, this reinforces the importance of quality control, product innovation, inventory reliability and production speed. For distributors, it strengthens the case for guiding clients away from generic choices and toward products that fit the audience, the moment and the objective. Strategy Before Selection The traditional product conversation often starts with a familiar question: What item do you want? The better question is: What are you trying to achieve? The survey suggests that buyers want distributors and partners to move earlier into the planning process. When end buyers were asked what would make a distributor or vendor partner more valuable, the top response (49%) was better strategic ideas. Better pricing transparency followed closely at 45%, while 36% selected faster quotes and samples and 30% selected product trend guidance. In other words, buyers aren’t only asking for someone to source products. They’re asking for help making better decisions before the order is placed. This is especially important because merch is used for many different goals. In the survey, 54% of end buyers said the primary purpose of their organization’s merch usage is brand awareness. Customer retention or loyalty, employee engagement, events and sales prospecting also appeared as use cases, but brand awareness was the dominant purpose. All of these goals should be approached in a different way. Each has a different audience, different moment and different definition of success. In every scenario, the product matters – but the intention and strategy matter more. This knowledge creates an opportunity for the industry to shift the conversation from “Which product?” to “Why this product for this audience at this moment?” Buyers And Agencies Value Different Strengths One of the most useful findings from the study is that end buyers and agencies don’t describe the value of merch in the same way. Source: PPAI End Buyer Survey Q18; PPAI Agency Survey Q20 Percent selecting What branded merchandise is best at creating Buyers emphasize appreciation, recall and trust; agencies emphasize connection and community. Better Merch Is Better Marketing | Must Read • OCTOBER 2026 • 47
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