Key Takeaways
• Print on demand is shifting the role of the promotional products distributor.
• The conversation is no longer about how much to buy, but what should be made available.
• Automate the order, not the relationship with clients.
After more than four decades in the promotional products industry, I have watched our business reinvent itself many times.
We have gone from catalogs and faxed purchase orders to e-commerce, sophisticated company stores, integrated fulfillment and automated decoration. But I believe one of the most important changes happening today isn’t a new product or decoration method. It’s a change in the way we think about inventory.
For decades, the traditional corporate merchandise program followed a familiar formula: Forecast demand, select products, purchase inventory, decorate it, warehouse it and distribute it as needed.
That model worked – and in many situations, it still does.
But it also required the customer to answer one very difficult question: How much are we going to need?
Order too little and you run out. Order too much and capital is tied up in merchandise sitting on a shelf. Then comes the bigger problem: Employees change, branding changes, styles change, sizes don’t move as expected. Eventually, someone has to decide what to do with merchandise nobody wants anymore.
Print on demand is beginning to change that equation.
From Buying Inventory To Providing Access
The fundamental difference with print on demand is simple. Instead of decorating 500 shirts because you think employees will eventually need 500 shirts, you can source undecorated inventory and produce an individual decorated garment when an order is actually placed.
That changes the economics of a corporate merchandise program. The customer no longer has to think only in terms of “How many should I buy?” The conversation becomes “What merchandise should I make available?” That’s a much more powerful question.
A properly designed company store can offer employees, customers, recruits, salespeople and other stakeholders access to a curated collection of branded merchandise without requiring the company to purchase every decorated item in advance. When an order is placed, the product is decorated, packed and shipped.
Less Inventory Means Less Risk
One of the biggest challenges with traditional merchandise programs has always been forecasting. Apparel makes this particularly obvious. You may correctly predict that you need 500 shirts and still incorrectly predict the size distribution. At the end of the program, the company may have boxes of one size remaining, while constantly running out of another.
With print on demand, the objective is to reduce that guesswork. Companies can replenish based on actual demand rather than predictions. They can introduce new products without making a major inventory commitment. They can test merchandise and replace products that aren’t performing.
That doesn’t mean inventory disappears. There will always be products and programs where bulk purchasing makes economic and operational sense. High-volume events, large uniform programs and products requiring certain manufacturing processes may continue to be produced traditionally.
The future isn’t necessarily POD instead of inventory. I believe it’s POD combined intelligently with inventory.
Corporate Merchandise Is Becoming More Personal
There is another reason I believe print on demand will continue to grow: Corporate merchandise programs are becoming more individualized.
Years ago, a company might have selected one polo shirt, put its logo on it and distributed the same shirt throughout the organization. Today’s workforce expects more choice: men’s and women’s styles, different fits, premium brands, multiple colors, jackets, quarter zips, polos, T-shirts and headwear.
The more choices a company offers, however, the more complicated traditional inventory becomes. POD allows distributors to expand selection without necessarily expanding decorated inventory at the same rate.
“Print on demand changes the economics of a corporate merchandising program. The customer no longer has to think only in terms of ‘How many should I buy?'”
It also opens opportunities for personalization. Depending upon the program and decoration technology, merchandise can include an employee’s name, department, location, event or other approved variable information.
The corporate store becomes more than a place to order logoed products. It becomes a controlled merchandising platform for the brand.
Technology Is What Makes This Possible
Print on demand is sometimes described as a printing innovation. I think that description is too narrow. POD is really a technology and logistics innovation. Direct to film, direct to garment, embroidery and other decoration methods are important, but producing the item is only one part of the process. The real challenge is connecting everything:
E-Commerce → Inventory → Order Management → Artwork → Decoration → Quality Control → Fulfillment → Shipping → Tracking
If those pieces don’t communicate effectively, POD becomes labor-intensive and difficult to scale.
When they do communicate, something very different becomes possible. An employee can place an order in a company store. The system can transmit the order to production. The appropriate product can be picked, decorated, quality checked, packed and shipped directly to that individual.
That is a very different business model from shipping 20 cartons of decorated merchandise to a corporate office.
Sustainability Is Part of the Conversation
There can also be an environmental benefit that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Our industry has spent considerable time discussing sustainable products, recycled materials and responsible sourcing. Those conversations are important.
But we should also be talking about how much merchandise we produce in the first place.
A product made with environmentally preferable materials that ultimately sits unused in a warehouse is still an inefficient use of resources. Producing closer to actual demand can reduce obsolete inventory and unnecessary merchandise. It can also encourage companies to concentrate on products people genuinely want to use rather than simply purchasing large quantities because minimums make the unit price attractive.
That represents an important change in thinking. The cheapest product per unit isn’t necessarily the least expensive program.
The Distributor’s Role Is Changing
Perhaps the biggest implication of print on demand is what it means for distributors. For years, our industry described itself primarily in terms of products. We sold pens. Shirts. Drinkware. Bags. Awards. Calendars.
Those products remain important, but I believe successful distributors increasingly have to think like merchandise program managers.
Our responsibility doesn’t end when the product is decorated. Customers increasingly need help with technology, inventory management, warehousing, fulfillment, company stores, kitting, sourcing, brand control and reporting.
That changes the value proposition. If all we provide is a product and a price, technology makes it increasingly easy for customers to compare us to somebody else. If we manage an entire promo product ecosystem, we become much more deeply integrated into the customer’s organization.
That’s a far more valuable relationship.
POD Doesn’t Eliminate the Distributor
Some people look at automation and assume technology will eventually eliminate the traditional promotional products salesperson.
I see it differently. Technology should eliminate the repetitive parts of our jobs – not the relationships. A salesperson shouldn’t have to manually process the same reorder of 25 shirts every month if technology can do it automatically. Let the system handle the transaction. That gives the salesperson more time to understand the customer’s business, recommend new ideas, solve problems and build the relationship.
In other words: Automate the order. Don’t automate the relationship. I believe that distinction will become increasingly important.
Where We Go From Here
Print on demand isn’t appropriate for every product, order or customer. Nor was e-commerce when it first entered our industry. But technology improves, as does decoration and workflow automation. Customers become more comfortable buying differently. And, eventually, something that once seemed like an alternative becomes part of the normal way business is conducted.
I believe we are approaching that point with corporate POD merchandise. These programs are evolving from warehouses filled with pre-decorated products into dynamic platforms where merchandise can be produced and distributed increasingly based on actual demand.
For distributors, that creates an enormous opportunity.
We can continue to be companies that sell promotional products. Or we can become companies that manage the technology, production and logistics behind the way organizations use promo.
After more than 40 years in this industry, I believe the second opportunity is considerably bigger.
Ken Laffer is chief revenue officer of Empire Promotional Products (asi/187780) and has spent more than four decades in the promotional products industry. He’s the founder and former owner of Motivators, a former member of the PPAI Board of Directors and a SAAGNY Hall of Fame inductee.
