Industry News: Industry Companies See 2010 As Rebound Year


How often do you multi-task?
All the time, it's the only way I get things done. Sometimes, I try not to but sometimes I can't help it. Never, I just can't do more than one thing at a time.

Article Tools: Print

| Email

| Add Comment

Share |

Industry News: Industry Companies See 2010 As Rebound Year

Issue: 2010jan

No business is more ready to shed the economics of the past year than one in the promotional products industry. And the enthusiasm of thousands of industry members flocking to Las Vegas this week to attend The PPAI Expo is a good indicator of a brighter 2010.

“I don’t expect to see all the doom and gloom this year,” says Dana Zezzo, vice president of sales at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based supplier Pro Towels Etc. (UPIC: PROTOWEL). “Great suppliers will thrive this year. But growth is not going to come easy—it’s going to have to be earned.”

Zezzo says he sees the industry moving further away from acting like a commodity to end users and focusing more on such selling points as return on investment and cost per impression. “The level of professionalism is going to have to come up in order to sell,” he says.

New product launches also will allow some in the industry to do well in 2010, he adds.

Sales took an unexpected surge in the last weeks of December for the account representatives of Newton, Iowa-based distributor The Vernon Co. (UPIC: Vernon), says Andrea Smith, recruiting specialist for Newton.

“We have heard a number of our account executives say that they were flooded with orders the last few weeks of the year from clients who were cautious earlier in the year and now found they had the budget to do something,” she says. “For us it’s certainly going to be a rebound year.”

Stacy Schalk, CAS, owner of Herndon, Virginia-based distributor Zingify (UPIC: Zingi108) says her first week of January was strong in restoring some of the order volume she lost last year. Schalk said she was able to retain most of her customers in 2009, but their orders shrank by as much as one-third over previous years.

“The volume of orders was there, but the volume of dollars wasn’t there,” she says. “We’re going to try to get more proactive in customer acquisition this year.”

Comments (0)

* Name:
* Email:
Company:
* Title:
* Comments: