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Sustainability April 14, 2022

Sustainability, Relationship-Building Take Center Stage at Merchandise World

The largest promotional products trade show in the United Kingdom was back for its first two-day exhibition since before the pandemic.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Taylor Tassie was chuffed.

The director at Norfolk, England-based promo products distributor Totally Branded was only about halfway through walking the trade show floor at Merchandise World, but already it had been a highly productive day.

Thanks to the face-to-face interaction, Tassie had re-strengthened bonds with suppliers he hadn’t seen in person since before the pandemic. He’d connected with new quality vendors for key niche product categories, including football scarves and sliders. (Soccer, not American football.) And, he’d trained freshly hired Totally Branded team members, who were accompanying him, with greater ease and efficiency because such a broad range of products was immediately at hand.

Merchandise World is the U.K.’s largest promo industry trade show

Jointly organized by Sourcing City and BPMA, Merchandise World is the U.K.’s largest promo industry trade show.

“A show like this is the best possible place for training,” said Tassie. “It’s been a great experience. It’s really nice to reconnect with people in person and start new relationships.”

Tassie was among the distributors and suppliers who sang the praises of Merchandise World, the United Kingdom’s largest trade show for the promo products industry, cooperatively organized by Sourcing City and the British Promotional Products Association (BPMA).

A smaller one-day in-person event was held in September 2021, but the two-day Merchandise World on April 13th and 14th at CBS Arena in Coventry was the first major in-person show for the U.K branded merchandise market since the onset of the pandemic.

Nearly 150 exhibitors participated in the show. Through the first day, upwards of 600 attendees had been counted, with the number expected to rise. The attendance and exhibition tallies weren’t at pre-pandemic levels, but nonetheless executives said it represented a strong showing for the U.K. industry as society continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions. Organizers, suppliers and distributors noted the high quality and depth of conversations.

Foot traffic at Merchandise World

Foot traffic at Merchandise World was strong and the discussions meaningful and mutually beneficial for suppliers and distributors. Organizers and attendees emphasized that quality of conversation was a key facet of the experience.

“The U.K. promotional merchandise industry is historically very relationship-based,” explained David Long, founder and executive chairman of Sourcing City, a trade service organization that provides a suite of solutions to the U.K. promo market. “It was important to get back to in-person for a number of reasons. People like to meet the people they’re doing business with to engender trust and build relationships. Also, physically seeing product and discussing face-to-face is always more effective than other channels of communication.”

Carey Trevill articulated similar sentiments.

“We’re a human-to-human industry – everything we think, feel and do is connected to the right brain leading to emotional reaction,” shared Trevill, CEO of BPMA, a professional trade body serving the approximately £1.5 billion promotional products industry in the U.K. “Anyone looking for inspiration and innovation needs to see and feel this in person to ensure they can sell these amazing goods.”

PF Concept, Europe’s largest supplier and a business division of Polyconcept

PF Concept, Europe’s largest supplier and a business division of Polyconcept, had a large exhibition space that resembled a trendy retail shop.

Many suppliers said the same, opining that being able to put items in distributors’ hands and chatting in person is a more effective method for helping those potential customers understand what differentiates a product and makes it uniquely attractive to certain end-clients.

“Virtual is good for certain things, but seeing and feeling a product makes a massive difference,”
said Jonathan Woodcock, a business development manager at WCM&A Ltd, a supplier/manufacturer that specializes in a range of Made-in-Britain products, including badges and awards. “It’s amazing to be meeting with people again.”

Outlook UK: On the Upswing

Merchandise World came at a pivotal time for the U.K.’s promo products industry. As in North America, COVID routed industry sales in 2020 and it’s been a case of fits and starts to get back to normal given impositions and revocations of societal lockdowns over the course of the pandemic.

Still, distributors and suppliers alike reported that through the first quarter of 2022, business has been heating up and there’s a sense that things may truly be back on track.

Data seems to support that narrative.

Sourcing City provides a searchable online database where promo pros source a gamut of promotional products. Statistics from the firm show that product inquiries in the database through the year’s first three months are approaching 70% of the peak 2020 monthly average. During the dark days of the first COVID lockdown in March 2020, inquiries were running at only 35% of the previous year’s average.

CareyTrevill

“I’d say we’re headed for a good year and we should expect to see the real benefits kick in toward the end of 2022.” Carey Trevill, BPMA

The figures indicate that “there is a sustained recovery at present in the promotional merchandise industry,” Sourcing City said in a bulletin. “This trend gives reason for optimism and distributors and suppliers report that these figures are reflecting their personal experience.”

One supplier that’s having an excellent 2022 is WCM&A. Customers have been drawn in by the company’s Made-in-Britain capabilities and commitment to sustainability in its operations and products. “Business is back to pre-pandemic normal and then some,” said Woodcock.

Of course, there are caveats. While sales are increasing, margins have been squeezed amid supply chain challenges and runaway inflation. “Costs,” said Trevill, “are biting.”

“The industry is both optimistic and cautious,” noted Long. “Generally business has picked up since the height of the pandemic, but most of the trade are still short of pre-pandemic levels. People are cautious as significant risks still face our industry with inflation, skyrocketing fuel costs, rising transport costs, exporting difficulties to the European Union and the horrific war in Ukraine. It remains to be seen what full impact these risks will have on the industry in the coming months.”

Even so, Long, Trevill and others see the general trajectory of the promo industry in the United Kingdom as being on the way up. “Overall,” said Trevill, “I’d say we’re headed for a good year and we should expect to see the real benefits kick in toward the end of 2022.”

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