Optimism with a steady dose of challenges. That’s our current read on the promotional products industry as we described it in our just-published 2022 Counselor State of the Industry report. The surge of sales and client demand is being counterbalanced by headaches with order fulfillment and staffing.

Last year “brought a slew of challenges that we hadn’t expected that were different from the COVID challenges of no business,” says Sara Lavenduski, ASI Media’s executive editor of digital content. “Now what we’re seeing is business is coming, and people are enthusiastic about being on the other side of COVID and starting to buy again. The problem is that the supply chain can’t keep up, and that’s a big problem that’s keeping sales tamped down, which is posing a challenge to distributors. And suppliers who really want to get back to business and they’re ready to go, they have buyers who are ready to go, but they just can’t get the sales done in the time that we’re used to. They can’t get stuff out the door quick enough to meet client demand.”

In this episode of Promo Insiders, Lavenduski, ASI Senior Executive Director of Research & Corporate Marketing Nate Kucsma and Editor-in-Chief C.J. Mittica take to the virtual airwaves to discuss the most interesting findings from SOI, as well as their current read on the marketplace.