Jul 29, 2021
The holiday season is the promotional products industry busiest time. Now is the time to start proactively planning for the holiday gifting season. There is great wisdom in ordering year-end branded merchandise in as far advance as possible. That will give you best chance of securing the products you desire, and to arrive, when you want them. This is how you can separate yourself from the competition. Planning for this now, is a great way to do just that.
Why? Because the supply chain issues that have triggered rising prices, inventory shortfalls, longer production times and related fiascos within the promo industry appear here to stay for 2021, and potentially beyond.
The supply chain challenges, which are affecting virtually every industry and which in general are beyond the control of promo suppliers, have potential to worsen amid the Q4 sales crush, possibly exacerbating stock scarcity and delays in order fulfillment.
Indeed, the autumn run up to year’s end is traditionally the promo industry’s busiest time as clients order items to gift to employees and their own customers, which means demand on already stressed industry stock levels could intensify, making it harder to find first-choice products and alternatives when those are depleted.
Because many suppliers, like companies across industries, are struggling to establish adequate staffing levels given the economy’s current jobs glut, delays in getting orders decorated and shipped could possibly lengthen. Add to that the fact that domestic transport carriers are stretched and could be further so given all the late-year shopping activity…and in promo the reality is that last-minute orders just might not make it on time as they have in the past during the fourth quarter.
This is certainly real and not a FOMO ploy. Better to hope for the best and plan for the worst. And in this case, that means proactively planning now for Q4 and getting orders in early, wherever possible. Do yourself a favor and act now.