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Industry News: Industry Sales Showing Signs Of Recession's End
Issue: 2009oct
The worst is over for the nation’s economy, say news sources, but the signs may be harder to spot when it comes to promotional products businesses.
Craig Nadel, vice president of operations for Culver City, California-based distributor Jack Nadel, Inc. (UPIC: NADELINC), says nationally, the estimate seems true. "Traditionally the market recovers six months before the economy recovers," says Nadel, who majored in economics in college.
Nadel says since his company held a sales meeting four weeks ago, the company’s numbers have been the best since this time last year; however, he hesitates to call it a trend. "Hopefully it will be the third quarter for us [that shows improvement]," he says. "It isn’t as if each month has been better than in the past. For us it’s been in six-month blocks."
St. Paul, Minnesota-based supplier 3M Promotional Markets (UPIC: POST-IT) has seen an increase in its sales activity in the past several weeks. "Requests for quotes are up, order count has improved, mid-size orders have increased,” says Debra Obermueller Leptien, 3M's business unit and marketing operations manager. "While the numbers are only slight, they are moving in an upward direction."
Kerri Harkness, vice president of marketing for St. Paul, Minnesota-based distributor Brown & Bigelow (UPIC: BB1896), says the distributor has seen signs of economic improvement in each of its four sales regions. "Since the beginning of September, our order count and order volume is up when compared to the same six-week period last year," says Harkness. "We expect this momentum to continue with end-of-year sales, well exceeding last year’s numbers."
Tracking positive results such as those from 3M, Brown & Bigelow and Jack Nadel seem to reinforce the idea that all indicators point to a waning, or even dead, recession. While Nadel questions how much time needs to pass before a steady sales increase equals a sea change for business, he has confidence in the economy for 2010.
"I’m cautiously optimistic. Historically, the deeper the recession the stronger the recovery,” he says. "I think the economy is going to be stronger than ever next year."
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