Key Takeaways
• A new survey by SwagDrop (asi/300621) found that only 30.5% of corporate swag recipients say they would have chosen the last branded item they received for themselves.
• More than half of employees either rarely use company swag or have discarded it. This means organizations spend money on products that fail to drive engagement, brand visibility or employee satisfaction.
• The findings suggest that there’s no perfect item for everyone – the win is giving employees a curated selection of options.
When an end-buyer recently told Mark Jackson she “hates” making decisions on corporate swag at her company, Jackson took note.
“She said it as an aside, but it stayed with me,” said the president of Oakville, ON-based SwagDrop (asi/300621). “The word ‘hate’ is strong, but it’s hard to choose for a large group of people.”
Just four days after that conversation, Jackson decided to survey corporate merch recipients to find out their sentiments about promo products. SwagDrop’s 2026 Employee Swag & Choice Gap Study went to 1,000 Canadians and 1,500 Americans in the span of just one week – all had to be full-time employees at companies with more than 250 people, and at least 25 years old.
“Too many surveys target end-buyers, and they say, ‘we think [the recipients] are happy,’” said Jackson. “That tells us nothing. Every week, we get asked ‘what’s hot, new and shiny?’ That’s our clients trying to increase their odds of success.”
Among the key findings: Only 30.5% of recipients said the last branded item they received at work was something they would have chosen for themselves. That leaves nearly 7 in 10 people who weren’t satisfied, also known as the “miss rate.” Of that number, 33% appreciated the item but wouldn’t have chosen it for themselves, 22.4% already owned something similar and 14.1% didn’t keep the item, either donating it or throwing it away soon after receipt.
The miss rate was higher in Canada (72.7%) than in the U.S. (67.5%).
Nearly 8 in 10 people (77%) would have preferred to choose their own item through a company store or other on-demand platform, while 18.2% were fine with the company-chosen product. Meanwhile, 4.8% would prefer nothing at all if they didn’t have a choice – that probably reflects an anti-waste sentiment, said Jackson.
Also of note: More than half (52.5%) of the people who recently received corporate swag either rarely use it (38.6%) or have gotten rid of it (14%).
“That’s the number with a direct budget implication,” reads the official SwagDrop survey findings report. “The item was procured, shipped and received, and produced zero ongoing engagement. And those who rarely use [the item] are not active brand ambassadors. They’re not wearing the hoodie on Zoom calls. They’re not carrying the tumbler to meetings. The item is in a closet, gathering dust and not doing anybody any good.”
Furthermore, 34.2% of all respondents said the promo buyers at their company have little or no understanding of what employees would actually appreciate receiving. Canadians overall were more skeptical: 40.6% said buyers don’t know what employees want, compared to 29.9% of American respondents.
Jackson says company stores with multiple options and a seamless fulfillment process make a difference, though distributors still need to guide buyers when it comes to the number of options, which can be overwhelming.
“We give them guidance on how many choices to give employees – between 15 and 30 is usually the sweet spot,” he said. “More than that and there’s a paradox of choice. I’m still surprised though at what becomes the most popular product, like a foldable soccer chair we did recently. Everyone wants a unicorn product but there is no unicorn product; the unicorn is choice.”
Read the full survey findings here.
