A report providing a detailed analysis of thePromotional Merchandise Industry in the UK & Ireland over the past sixyears has been published SourcingCity. The report contain analysis of the UK & Ireland Market Value, Profileof Distributors in Market, Analysis of Over ?1m Turnover Distributors, Distributorsby County, Distributors by Region, Distributors in Ireland, Supplier Analysis, CeasedTrading Company Analysis, Product Group Analysis, Sourcing City Analysis, New Legislationand a view on The Future of the UK & Ireland Promotional MerchandiseMarketplace.
Summaryof 2012
The past three years have seen small year onyear market growth to the current market size of around ?763m. In 2012 a marketgrowth of just 1.1% (?8m) could easily be argued as a flat market.
The effects of 2008/9 world economic creditcrunch was felt significantly by the UK & Ireland promotional merchandiseindustry, with the market spend falling by over 26% from a ?916m market spendlevel in 2008. Today, the market is still around 17% (?154m) behind 2008.
One area of success and the main marketgrowth area were amongst professional distributors with a Turnover in excess of?1m. The average company turnover of ?1m+ distributors grew by 12.2%, whilstthe smaller distributor sector experienced a decline in both average turnovers,market share and company numbers.
The 135 companies with a turnover over ?1mhave increased their market share from 40.6% in 2007, and now represent 52.8%(?403m) of the entire market spend in 2012. Growth has come from increasingmarket share, and also from a level of confidence returning to major end userPLC organisations.
In 2013 it is anticipated that moreprofessional distributors in the ?500k to ?1m category will break the ?1mturnover barrier.
Disappointingly, the UK PromotionalMerchandise Market did not benefit significantly from the 2012 London OlympicGames. It appears that LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the OlympicGames) made no specific attempt to support distributors, suppliers ormanufacturers in the UK industry.
TheOlympic Committee applied strict brand controls, and nounauthorised companies were allowed to use the Olympics logos or references tothe London Olympic event. Few of the promotional productspurchased by the Official Olympic Sponsors appeared to have been bought throughUK companies. Many goods used during the Olympics were of Far East origin, butnot purchased through UK distributors.
The QueensJubilee & the European Championships in 2012 did appears to generate somesales for the industry more successfully,however the volumes were not sufficient to have a significant impact on themarket overall.
Once again a significantly high number ofdistributors ceased to trade in 2012 (117), this is the highest annual levelsince the effect of the credit crunch in 2009. The vast majority lost weregenerally smaller companies.
Over the past four years a combined total of498 distributor companies ceased to trade. In the same period the industry haslost 189 supplier companies. For thefirst time since 2007 the number of professional distributors in the market hasreduced to 1953, from 2041 in 2011.
Suppliers ceasing to trade remains relativelystable at 49 companies in 2012 against the seven year average of 40.
2012 saw the total of UK Suppliers increaseby 57 companies. It is believed this growth is related to the continued pooreconomy driving suppliers previously focused on other markets, to look at thepromotional merchandise marketplace as a new market for their products.
Whilst distributors continue to look for the’best deal’, there is no evidence to suggest that greater numbers ofdistributors are turning to buying directly from the Far East. Indeed increased prices in China, UK creditbenefits and local service is slowly making the UK once again a favourableoption.
Cash of course remains the major danger formost companies & highly geared operations.
No substantial growth is expected in theoverall UK & Ireland promotional merchandise market in the immediatefuture, so the main opportunity for real growth for companies over the nextthree years is likely to come from winning market share.
The full2012 Review of Promotional Merchandise Industry (UK & Ireland) Reportcontain further detailed analysis, detailed review, historical data andgraphical information.
*To read the full report please click ‘More Info’ Button below.
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NOTE: This study does not include sales ofpromotional merchandise by Printers, Stationers, Sales Promotion Agencies,Motivational & Reward Programme Agencies, Premium Houses, ClothingRe-Sellers or ‘Direct Supplier Sales’.
A professional distributor is defined as; ‘Acompany who have a dedicated focus to the sale and promotion of promotionalmerchandise to end users’.
The study has been created to provide a globalpicture of the industry for the use of professional distributors &suppliers and the trade press.
Published on: January 6th, 2013
