With the advent of the internet the buying of Promotional Merchandise direct from China has become a much easier process than before. Goods that range from promotional clothing such as printed T-shirts or embroidered polo shirts are now seemingly within easy reach. Electrical items that could include clocks or calculators, cheap printed pens and thousands of other promotional products now sit waiting for you to just click a button and buy. And it’s not just China, India is a great source of leather conference folders or promotional wallets. Vietnam make amazing promotional jackets and if you want to go really crazy you can even buy promotional bottled water from Indonesia now.

Is buying Promotional Items in the Far East as simple as that? Is putting a search phrase into Google the next time you need something all you have to do to get a whole new range of suppliers? The fact is it is not, this is a not a simple process and many people have learned that lesson the hard way by losing lots of money, trading in the Far East requires specialist knowledge and experience. The following true story should be a salutatory lesson.

This true story is about a very cocky young procurement professional who joined a long established promotional merchandise company that had been trading in the Far East for many years and doing so successfully. They prided themselves in taking their time to get communications right and apart from the odd natural disasters such as flood and famine they usually got what they ordered on time. The new procurement man refused to take any advice form people with much more experience, in fact he told them that they could learn from him how to make some considerable reductions in cost.

His first order was for 350,000 watches for a promotion run by an oil company. The senior promotional items buyer at the company offered him advice on who to buy from but he informed him that he had a better factory. The watches were duly delivered and looked great, everyone in the company felt that maybe they were wrong and the guy was really good.

The consignment duly arrived, a few watches were tested to make sure they worked and the shipment was sent to the client. Everything seemed to be just fine until a few days after the promotion started calls about the watches not working started to come in. People claimed that just a day after they activated the watches by inserting the battery they just stopped ticking. Our arrogant buyer looked extremely worried and contacted the manufacturer. Another buyer who was working in the office at the time he made the call said that his face drained of all colour when he realised what had happened. His poor communication had resulted in him ordering a 24 hour digital watch with a 24 hour battery. You can rest assured that this particular promotional merchandise company got rid of him fast.

That example was just one of thousand of things that can go wrong if you choose to deal direct with Chinese manufacturers. One of the big challenges with buying Promotional Gifts is that they are often purchased to a particular promotion. If the printed T-shirts or embroidered polo shirts that you ordered are emblazoned with the date and details of the event then when they arrive late they may as well be used as dishcloths. Image having the branded promotional bottled water and leather conference folders arrive days after the convention is over? It does not bear thinking about.

Careful communications is essential if you do decide to go ahead and buy in the Far East. In fact why not ask a promotional merchandise supplier to take the stress out of your hands. The costs may be a bit higher but it’s better than losing your job like the guy in the story above.

Many major companies now prefer to put out tenders for a single supplier for their Promotional Merchandise rather than use a number of different business gift suppliers. The reasons for doing this are many and a well run tender for the supply of promotional items can save a company a great deal of expense over the course of a year.

Controlling the supply of promotional items is a good reason for using the tender process because once it is in place you determine who buys what products from whom at at how much. It also means that you can agree terms in relation to service level agreements rebates etc.

Any corporation who allows the procurement of goods such as leather conference folders or promotional bttled water is wasting a lot of money. The reason is that untrained an unskilled buyers tend to keep going back to an original supplier and never look at alternative cheaper sources of supply. These suppliers may even send in a few inexpensive gifts to the buyers every year in an effort to persuade them to stay with them. These free promotional gifts are often sponsored by the manufacturers and given to the distributors free so there is nothing illegal in people accepting them as long as it is not against company policy.

In the case of promotional clothing such as Printed T-shirts or embroidered polo shirts for example you could have as many as 20 people in large organisations buying them. The problem is that every single one of them are probably paying repeat origination charges every time. An origination charge for embroidery could be as much as £50 and for silk screen printing £30 per colour. This means that every time each of them put in an order for these goods or any other Promotional Items with a 4 colour logo for that matter they are paying around £170, if you multiply that by twenty buyers that gives you £3,400 so if they buy say three times a year a large corporation could be spending over £10,000 on origination costs that would come free of charge form one supplier.

Promotional merchandise tenders offer the opportunity for proper service level agreements to be set up. These are usually standard conditions with any supplier who trades in a professional way. But a company setting up a single source supplier for their Business Gifts or come to that for any other sorts of products, can make more stringent demands on these service levels if it feels it necessary. Financial rebates will also usually form part of the service level agreements with money being returned based upon annual expenditure.

If you do decide to go ahead with a tender you should contact a few promotional merchandise suppliers first and ask them for details of well run tenders they have already completed. This will undoubtedly save you a great deal of time further along in the process as a poorly constructed tender wastes a good deal of time for both the company setting the tender up and the suppliers who are tendering for the business. Experience in running full promotional merchandise programmes is essential so make sure you choose a company that can demonstrate lots of expertise in that area.

Promotional Clothing is one of the very best ways of getting your company name advertised. Having your brand or message on the front and back of Corporate Clothing or an embroidered jacket works because people naturally read what they see in front of them. This article explains why advertising on Promotional Clothing is so cost effective.

The Promotional T-shirt has been around for many years and is probably the most commonly worn piece of clothing in the world. Everyone from young children to elderly ladies and gentlemen wear these iconic garments. Manufacturers began using these pieces of Promotional Clothing way back in the 1930’s to sell everything form cigarettes to drinks. The great thing about a printed T-shirt is that if the brand is well known a person hardly has to read the message they just recognise it subliminally. A good example of this is Planet Hollywood whose printed t-shirts are identical throughout the world apart from a name change. People recognise the logo instantly then look a little more closely to read where it is from. It’s the closest thing to playing I Spy with printed T-shirts.

Embroidered Polo Shirts are a cut above the printed T-shirts and can be seen in all walks of life. Worn by Presidents and paupers they are available in very inexpensive versions of poor quality 100% cotton. Or for a really classy Promotional Product they are available in the finest combed cotton which can cost many pounds but look and feel fantastic which is why they make such great Promotional Gifts.

When it comes to giving away Promotional Products there is no doubt that products such as Promotional Bottled Water or even Leather Conference Folders are very useful but they don’t last like a piece of Promotional Clothing. An embroidered polo shirt for example is likely to be kept by the recipient for a long time especially if the quality is good. Even Printed T-shirts will be worn for a considerable length of time, firstly as an over garment then as they fade and get less attractive they are used as undergarments. After that you will often see them being used to clean the car or the windows around the house. So when you look at the return on the investment of giving away a Printed T’shirt or an Embroidered Polo shirt as a Promotional Item it makes a lot of economic sense.

Other types of Promotional Clothing such as Customised Jackets or an embroidered baseball cap work equally well as business gifts especially in places that are colder and have more rainfall. It is important to always try to budget to give away the best quality Promotional Clothing that you can. Cheap printed T’shirts or Embroidered Polo Shirts are soon discarded because people like to look good in what they wear.

Lastly it is important to ensure that when you give any clothing away as Promotional Items they must be branded well. This means that the embroidery must be well positioned on each garment and any screen printing is clear and well defined. This will be another reason for the recipients to wear your Promotional Clothing with a sense of pride.

Buying Promotional Merchandise or any other sort of advertising products for your company should be done carefully and considerately to ensure the best return. Too often buyers seem to settle for the easy route and always buy the same things such as promotional bottled water or leather conference folders. If they are looking for promotional clothing then they will always choose a printed T-Shirt or an embroidered polo shirt. This is a waste of budgets because in the vast majority of cases these promotional items are going to the same people year in and year out. A new fresh approach takes very little organising, can be fun and will produce excellent results.

When considering your next purchase of Promotional Items take a step back and look at all the various departments in your company and see what works best where. Too often buyers of business gifts think only of the big departments like Sales & Marketing. When was the last time you considered the loading bay, logistics or even reception. All these areas are key to your business. Giving away a few well targeted promotional gifts such as air fresheners for delivery drivers or promotional sweets at reception will do down extremely well and provoke a feeling of goodwill towards the company.

In terms of promotional clothing why settle for a boring printed one colour T-Shirt or embroidered polo when you can now buy polo shirts in an amazing range of co-ordinated colours. If you are ordering as little as 50 pieces you can now get these great promotional products Pantone matched to your company colours. Other promotional clothing like promotional jackets or promotional baseball caps are always well received. And when it comes to branding these products don’t do what you have always done in the past. Rather than stick a logo on the left breast of your next order of promotional polo shirts or printed T-Shirts try something different. Your promotional clothing supplier should be very happy to suggest a different layout, say for example a small logo at the top back of the garment just under the collar. Or a small logo at the bottom front of a garment. Just make sure wherever you put these logos they will be seen because that’s the whole point of the exercise.

It’s always a good idea for sales staff who are on the road to have a small selection of Promotional Clothing so that they can thank their clients. They also act as good reminders to your customers especially when they are practical items. The range could include printed pens or maybe promotional paper products perhaps.

Lastly do go and visit promotional merchandise exhibitions if you get the chance. This is really important as it is at these shows you will see what the latest products and trends are in the promotional merchandise industry. If you or a colleague can’t make it yourself then make sure your promotional merchandise supplier goes on your behalf and then reports back to you with what’s new and what’s not. You should treat your promotional gifts like your fashion clothes and you would not go out in something that was years out of date would you?

Companies who consider using Promotional Merchandise programmes are usually those looking for a single source solution for their Promotional Products or other advertising giveaways. The number of companies in the UK that can provide this service can be counted on the fingers of one hand and it’s important that you get all of them to quote for you. The advantages of such a programme are many but it should not be looked at if cost savings are your major objective.

An experienced provider of Promotional Merchandise programmes will be able to let you know very quickly if your company would benefit in terms of time and cost savings by distributing your Promotional Items in such a manner. Not all companies have the right set up for this initiative so please check this out first before you go to the trouble of creating a lot of work for yourself. This is particularly relevant if you are looking to do an on-line tender for the work. Winston Churchill said if you fail to plan then you plan to fail and it’s true, you must go into such a programme with your eyes wide open. Your potential supplier must be able to demonstrate experience in the area especially in Promotional clothing which is almost certainly going to form part of the programme.

The amount of Promotional Merchandise you buy must be high enough to make all the effort of setting up a Promotional Merchandise programme so you need to ask yourself if that figure justifies all the work. Next you need to be sure you are not just running a couple of different products. Finally how many distribution points will you be shipping your Promotional Merchandise to? If you are using just a handful of products and are sending them to a couple of places then stop now and don’t waste any more time. Unless you have at least 10 products and turn over in excess of 25,000 then this is not the route for you.

You simply cannot run such a Promotional Merchandise programme without a website because it is an absolutely vital element. Any potential supplier that cannot provide a free, well designed and built website should not be used, they should shoulder the cost of this themselves and not charge you for it. The ongoing updating and marketing of the site is an essential element of a successful programme.

If your supplier can’t offer on-line stock control and you run out of Promotional Items in the first few days then your whole project is dead in the water before it’s hardly begun. If you do nothing else you must visit each and every potential supplier at their place of work and see how they run their own business and how their staff treat you. Anybody can set themselves up as a supplier of Promotional Products these days by creating a website and making it look as if they are a massive outfit when in fact they operate from a shoe box under the stairs. Lastly but most importantly ask them for a list of satisfied clients, if they can’t provide one then wave goodbye and don’t look back.

Promotional Merchandise has been used to advertise major sporting events for many years. Lots of famous companies give away millions of promotional products from printed T-shirts to embroidered polo shirts and from promotional bottled water to leather conference folders to make sure their name is kept well in front of their customers.

The Olympics has to be the world’s largest sporting event, held once every 4 years it is impossible to miss the fact the same sponsors are there every time. These household companies such as Hitachi or Honda can spend unbelievable sums in sponsorship at this event alone. Such is the power or advertising that they probably feel that if they are missing from the list of advertisers people will worry about their financial position.

Every 4 years the largest football tournament on the planet is played, the World Cup. Prospective clients of the sponsors will receive a whole raft of Promotional Clothing that could include anything from printed T-shirts or any other sort of promotional clothing. You will very often see enormous numbers of spectators all wearing printed T-shirts that were given away by sponsors. The only reason they do this si to get as much brand awareness out there as is possible.

But it’s not just the major sporting events that draw the attention of these major sponsors. Smaller events in comparison are also well supported with promotional clothing. The British Open Golf Championship is a good case in point. There must be more embroidered polo shirts in one place then at any other time of the year. Promotional Golf Umbrellas are another sponsors dream especially when it rains. The advertising that can be seen on the umbrellas when they are open could cost a sponsor hundreds of thousands of pounds whereas they are getting it for giving away a couple of thousand pounds of promotional gifts.

Smaller sporting occasions such as the Badminton Horse Trials are another sort of event that attracts corporations who want to advertise their products through the medium of Promotional Clothing. Lots of tricks have been tried by companies who give away thousands of printed T-shirts in the hope they will stand out in the crowd. Recent TV adverts like the amazing Budweiser ads that show the crowds holding up cards that magically tell a story are being used more than traditional promotional products such as plastic keyrings or printed pens.

Regional events are often used by more localised companies to promote their products or services, the event may be run by a local authority or a college etc.
Because printed T-Shirts are very inexpensive they are usually at the top of anyone list of purchases when it comes to promotional products.

If you are considering giving away some Promotional Products one piece of excellent advice is this. It is far better to give away a smaller number of very good quality promotional gifts than lots of cheap and nasty ones. By spending a little more or quality the items will be appreciated more by the recipients and they will be kept much longer. A cheap throwaway printed T-shirt or limp, thin embroidered polo shirts will end up being used as rags to clean the car sooner rather than later.

Promotional Merchandise end user exhibitions used to be very common events where visitors were able to meet suppliers and manufacturers of Promotional Clothing. They were able to touch, feel and discuss the latest widgets and gadgets for themselves. However over the past few years these events, like so many in other industries, have become fewer and fewer. The result of this has meant that it’s even more important for clients to meet up with their Promotional Merchandise suppliers at least a couple of times a year. It is even more important that whoever supplies you with your Business Gifts visits the few Trade Shows available in order to understand the latest trends and to meet manufacturers on your behalf.

The PSI show in Düsseldorf held every year in January is the main showcase in Europe for Promotional Items. Held over 3 days the exhibition brings together all the major suppliers of Promotional Gifts from Leather Conference Folders to Promotional Bottled Water and everything in between. Manufacturers come from all points of the globe and whilst there are not a vast number of Far East suppliers there are enough to make a visit to their stands worthwhile.

Promotional Clothing features highly at such events with manufacturers of Promotional T-shirts, Embroidered Polo Shirts and Promotional Jackets being well represented. Minimum order quantities have been reduced by many manufacturers and it is now possible to order very small quantities of most items including Corporate Clothing. This makes life much easier for clients who do not want to hold large stocks of workwear shirts, trousers and jackets etc.

The 2010 show featured a number of new suppliers in many areas including Promotional Bags and Promotional Paper Products. There appears to be a trend towards manufacturers bringing in-house as many of the manufacturing processes as possible. One Promotional Pen manufacturer in particular not only injection moulded all his own plastic parts of his pens but he also makes his own springs. This in-house production means that he controls all aspects of quality which is very important. Also it means that his lead times are not dependent upon third party suppliers.

A number of ancillary manufacturers at the PSI show were exhibiting also. One in particular was showcasing a fantastic system that enabled you to show your Promotional Merchandise off in full 3D animation. Any items up to a size of approximately 30cm could be photographed in a special light box on a small turn table and then clever soft ware converts the images into a moving showcase. You can then take this file and send it to your clients along with a quotation. Whilst the cost for the system is quite high there is no doubt that these files would really impress anyone who receives them.

Whoever you buy your Promotional Items from it is very important that they visit as many of these shows as possible on your behalf. This will ensure that you are up to date with the very latest Promotional Merchandise and Promotional Clothing on the market.