 |
After two years of posting sales declines — the only sales dips in 30 years
of tracking — the promotional products industry once again headed up in sales
for the 2003 calendar year.
In its annual measurement of sales by promotional products distributors,
published in June, the Promotional Products Association International and its
magazine PPB said the industry posted sales of $16.3 billion in 2003,
up from $15.6 billion in sales for 2002, an increase of 4.57 percent. After
growing steadily, and most often in double-digit territory, for 27 straight
years, overall industry sales declined 7.29 percent in 2001 from levels achieved
in 2000, and then fell again 5.59 percent for the 2002 sales year.
For 2003, wearables, once again, was the top sales category measured,
garnering an impressive 29.5 percent of overall PPD sales, or just under $5
billion, almost dead even with the percentage for the category calculated for
the 2002 sales year. The next largest category measured, writing instruments,
managed just 10.5 percent of PPD sales for 2003.
The industry has grown precipitously over the years, posting some $841
million in sales for the first year measured by PPAI, 1974, and then crossing
the $1 billion mark for the first time in 1976. The $2 billion milestone was
eclipsed in 1981, and then the steady increase was maintained throughout the
1990s. The watershed year was 2000 when PPDs reportedly sold $17.8 billion worth
of promotional products, up a whopping 19.5 percent from the sales figure
measured for the 1999 sales year.
Beginning the in the early 1990s, the wearables category began taking off,
and it has never looked back. In a 10-year summary, PPAI said the wearables
category was 22.2 percent of sales in 1993, rising throughout the decade. It has
maintained a more-than-29 percent share since 1999, and wearables was also the
fastest-growing sales category in the industry for much of the 1990s.
The PPAI survey also noted that the top five sales program categories were:
Business Gifts (17.9 percent of sales), Employee Relations & Events (10.1%),
Trade Shows (9.1%), Brand Awareness (9.0%), and Employee Service Awards (7.5%).
For more information of the PPAI sales volume study visit www.ppa.org.
| © 1993-2004, PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media
Inc. All rights reserved. | |
 |