Not all, but so many, of the traditional outlets that built and sustained this industry up until the turn of the millennium are gone. Sales to these types of clients allowed many distributorships to live in and sell to the local businesses. Not everyone enjoys a fortune 500 company in their sales region. It was a drive down Main Street and the prospects were all around you. Down here in South Carolina, most Main Streets feature rows of abandoned stores. When this industry created the “A” discount, it was an effort to allow a mama-pappa company in Smalltown USA to make a good living on a sales volume of $15,000-$25,000 in the days before the great depression.
So many markets are simply not here.
CVS, Walgreens, and a few others have killed small local pharmacies. Items such as a measuring spoon, pill box and apothecary jar shaped products were a huge seller. GONE.
We know what happened to the local bookstore. They are GONE and their frequent purchase of bookmarks, magnifiers, book covers and booklets has gone with them.
The change is so rapid it is getting hard to remember just what places we used to visit before the likes of Amazon on the internet and big box stores
Auto dealers for new and used cars - well, they are still there but for how long? GM has eliminated many brands; Carvana, AutoMax, and a host of big companies have changed how used cars are bought. Magnets, key rings, emergency kits, and travel mugs are just a few products suffering a loss of market.
Banks, credit unions, savings & loans – it was a mega market even in bad years throughout the S&L scandal and bank consolidation. We no longer go into a bank building. We do it online, through our phone or drive through. GONE are traditional banking premiums for new accounts, kids’ clubs, holiday gifts, calendars, pens and a host of products they would buy.
Magazines and newspapers are disappearing; budgets for those remaining suffer. GONE are carrier gifts, subscription premiums and more.
We can look at small office product stores, local hardware stores, smaller department stores, vacant malls. It is amazing what has gone and equally amazing what has taken their place. There are scores more illustrations and not every travel agent or used car dealer has disappeared - I think I made my point.
Our industry thrived on good will items. They were handed from the merchant to the customer or stuffed into a bag. The conundrum… If you can’t hand a goodwill item to a person, the cost of distribution will make it unaffordable to send it any other way. Shipping eats up everything. That is one of the reasons my older eyes see a resurgence in the future. Future shoppers will enjoy the novelty of going to a store to touch, rub, taste, sniff and do whatever it is that people did in stores before they disappeared. These future shoppers will see historical videos of people going to stores and the resurgence of retail will probably be called “retro”.
So why did I choose to write on this subject? It was because of a bottle of wine I shared at a holiday party. It triggered the question to me…what is the shape of future promotional items in our industry if the “tangibles” are in trouble? The wine is called 19 Crimes and is from Australia. Pretty good for under $10.00. There are 19 different labels. Each has a different criminal. If you download the app, aim your smart phone at the label, it animates, begins to talk, looks like a hologram and shows the table the bottle is on as a background. It is so super “cool”, it can be applied to a gazillion promotional programs. So, for me, the takeaway is that change will bring change. We are and will continue to move towards technology promotions. Despite my age, I am heading there with a soon to be robust engine to build online e-greeting cards and more. I’ll let you know if technology sells, if you can profit and it achieves the end buyer goals. For now, stick to things with batteries and look for innovation in promo product.
Joel D. Schaffer, MAS is CEO and Founder of Soundline, LLC, the pioneering supplier to the promotional products industry of audio products. Joel has 48 years of promotional product industry experience and proudly heralds “I was a distributor.” He has been on the advisory panel of the business and marketing department of St. John’s University in New York and is a frequent speaker at Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is an industry Advocate and has appeared before the American Bankers Association, American Marketing Association, National Premium Sales Executives, American Booksellers Association and several other major groups. He has been a management consultant to organizations such as The College Board and helped many suppliers enter this industry. He is a frequent contributor to PPB and Counselor magazines. He has facilitated over 200 classes sharing his industry knowledge nationwide. He is known for his cutting humor and enthusiasm in presenting provocative and motivating programs. He is the only person to have received both the Marvin Spike Industry Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) and PPAI’s Distinguished Service Award (2011). He is a past director of PPAI and has chaired several PPAI committees and task forces. He is a past Chair of the SAAGNY Foundation, Past President of SAAGNY and a SAAGNY Hall of Fame member. He was cited by ASI as one of the 50 most influential people in the industry.