A Day in The Life Of a Merch dealer…

As a graphic designer running an owned business selling graphic design services and branded solutions from Corporate Gifts to indoor and outdoor display media, to websites, I often wonder how my competition is doing. I attended our local supplier, AMROD’s new catalogue launch and symposium last week, on 22 August, and got to experience some of the feedback that I had sought…
 
The Corporate Gift sector of the Marketing Services industry in South Africa is to coin the phrase - chugging along - having experienced massive growth in the decade and a half leading up to 2020. Following the still recent COVID three year disaster, the sector is now back on it’s proverbial feet. AMROD launched their first printed catalogue following a 3 year hiatus. When AMROD, who are notorious for their aggressive expansion across the corporate gifting and recently into display media sectors of industry, were not releasing catalogues, then that says something about the pulse of “industry” and the negativity of COVID’s insidious knock-on effects.  
 
Since 2020, TNT Design & Promo has certainly felt the lag in demand for our wide spread of different offerings, within the current mix Corporate Gifts taking the mainstay of orders followed by a matched tussle between Graphic Design Services and Display Media. Traditionally we welcome the opportunity to quote on just about any branded medium or design solution and have successfully provided orders across a wide range of client enquiries.
 
Just recently we supplied some extraordinarily effective over-size pull up banners. The client was on the road doing multiple presentations at a number of South African Cities and needed impact that could be carried efficiently on air transport. (See image of the 1.5 meter by 2.3 meter high pull up banner that certainly did the trick in terms of visibility on stage next to the speaker).

Oversize Pull Up Banners - great for on-stage / large space presentations

Our conversion from quote to order is an on-going concern however. This challenge appears, from discussions with other stakeholders in industry that we chatted with at the AMROD Launch, is a common trend. COVID was devastating in that it caused our clients to all but cancel marketing and promotions, which occur right at the periphery of the financial spend basket or end of the value chain. Who could blame them for taking care of their staff under trying circumstances.
 
The good news is that branded goods or “Merch” as the new catchphrase refers to, are ever popular and our offering remains broad. The quality of Corporate gifts continues to improve and our clients are able to explore multiple price points on a large variety of options that ensures “bang for the buck” spent.
 
For those marketing service providers who have weathered the storm, the proverbial survivors of the COVID Cull, there is ample future opportunity on the horizon, we are just not sure of stability of the system that heretofore acted as the bedrock that the likes of ourselves and AMROD to have evolved out of.