Industry expects promotional products market to boom.
 
D?sseldorf.
Visitor growth of nearly 18%, increased demand from abroad and a myriad of refreshing promotional ideas: The 52nd PSI was the perfect event to launch the international promotional products industry into the new business year. Boasting a total of 16,228 trade visitors (prior year: 13,772), the largest trade fair of the promotional products industry in Europe forcefully underscored its international leadership position. A total of 852 exhibitors from 33 countries (prior year: 962) presented the latest trends and innovations of the promotional products market at PSI.

“After two challenging years in the international markets, characterised by sometimes severe drops particularly in Western Europe, this year’s trade fair was buoyed by a renewed, forward-looking sense of optimism. That was the basic tenor heard at PSI 2014,” says PSI Director Michael Freter at the close of the three-day trade fair.
 
Industry is expecting an economic upturn
Additionally, the improved mood is reflected in the representative survey on the economy conducted annually by an independent market research institute for the PSI event. It makes clear that the gloomy mood of the past two years mostly has been replaced by a renewed expectation of significant upward momentum in the sector. More than half of the surveyed promotional products traders from abroad expect strongly improving or at least improving sales; a year ago, that figure had only been at 30%. By contrast, merely 8% of international customers expect an economic slowdown. This snapshot of the current mood indicates that the markets in Western and Eastern Europe are catching up again with the German promotional products market. The latter, according to GWW, the General Association of the German Promotional Products Industry, remains pleasantly stable, reaching its second-best result of all time with total industry sales of EUR 3.42 billion (prior year: EUR 3.47 billion).
 
Strong ordering activity

The same is true for ordering activity, as about two thirds of PSI visitors arrived in D?sseldorf with concrete purchasing intentions. Nearly 10% of them placed orders worth more than EUR 500,000 while still at the trade fair, and half of that group even ordered promotional products in excess of EUR 1 million and more.
 
This surge in demand was responsible for some amazement, including among first-time PSI exhibitors: “We had throngs of people and a huge number of interested visitors from all over the world swarming our stand. Participating was definitely worth it,” emphasises Birte Serra from Michael Schiffer Promotion GmbH in a statement that represents the general sentiment among PSI newcomers.
 
“Be it a completely new product or a reimagined classic: The promotional products world reinvents itself anew each year at PSI, which sustains the entire sector,” says Michael Freter. The cr?me de la cr?me were recognised with awards in three categories this year: The “PSI Campaign of the Year,” which honoured a brand campaign, the “PSI FIRST Award” for innovative world premieres and the “PSI Genius Award” for the best invention. Detailed information about all award winners is available at www.psi-messe.com.
 
PSI initiatives are well received

But even the PSI event as such was able to reinvent itself, for example by developing new attractions that generated great interested across the board – such as the PSI CATWALK, a stage presenting promotional articles as fashionable lifestyle products. “The initiatives and new formats we brought to life at PSI delivered a breath of fresh air and lots of inspiration,” rejoices PSI Trade Fair Project Director Silke Frank.
 
Up-to-date image material is available at www.psi-messe.com.