Promo distributors’ sales have experienced a steady growth rate rise in 2024.

After industry revenue decreased on an annual basis in the first quarter, distributors’ sales ticked up 1.3% year over year, on average, in Q2 and then shot up 4.2% in 2024’s Q3 compared to the same three-month stretch in 2023.

In this edition of Promo Insiders, Nate Kucsma, ASI’s senior executive director of research, and Christopher Ruvo, ASI Media’s executive editor of news and content strategy, delve into the factors that have shaped the merch market’s sales journey so far this year. They also offer early forecasts on Q4 performance and share insights on why promo may be on the cusp of another all-time industry sales record. Lastly, there’s word on what may lie ahead for the promotional products market in 2025, a chat that takes into account the just-concluded presidential election.

Podcast Chapters:
1:01: Q3 sales growth and factors that drove it. Distributors of all sizes find success.
5:39: Despite the sales rise, distributor confidence was flat. Why?
9:26: How is Q4 shaping up?
11:55: An annual industry sales record in 2024? “Barring something catastrophic … the answer is ‘yes.’”
14:05: The early outlook on promo’s 2025.

For those who’d rather read than listen, here’s a few key takeaways:

• Strong Q3 Performance: In Q3 2024, promotional product distributors saw a 4.2% sales increase compared to Q3 2023, marking the best quarterly performance in over a year.
  
  
• Factors Behind Growth: The rise was attributed, in part, to pent-up spending coming into play, particularly from corporate buyers who had held off on purchases earlier in the year.
  
  
• All Distributor Sizes Benefited: Distributors of all revenue sizes – small to large – experienced sales growth, with those in the $1 to $5 million annual company revenue range seeing a more than 7% increase in sales, on average, in Q3.
  
  
• Q4 Outlook: There is optimism for a strong Q4, driven by less buyer uncertainty and clients keen to spend budgets before year’s end.
  
  
• 2024 Sales Record: Barring an unforeseen major issue, promo distributors are on track to surpass the previous high-water mark for annual industry sales – $26.1 billion, which was set in 2023.
  
  
• 2025 Outlook: While it’s uncertain, the promo industry is expected to continue its upward trajectory into 2025, though potential policy changes under the new presidential administration have the potential to impact the merch marketplace – some potentially positively, some possibly negatively.