The U.S. is still 8.4 million jobs short of where it was pre-pandemic, but March brought unexpectedly good news. According to the Labor Department’s most recent report, the U.S. economy added 916,000 jobs over the last month, far more than the 675,000 economists had projected. Some industries saw significant job growth…
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When we last checked in with Amazon Business in 2018, the B2B e-commerce marketplace was set to top $10 billion in annual sales just three years after it launched. Now, three years after that, annual sales on the platform have topped $25 billion worldwide. More than half of those sales came from third-party sellers…
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One distributor’s one-on-one meetings at a recent Promo Marketing virtual business development event led to $7,000 in orders after the supplier helped put together virtuals for a few of her clients. More than that, though, the meetings laid the groundwork for future business. Here’s how…
Read MoreEugene Seroka, executive director for the Port of Los Angeles, said shipping volume is about to surge again over the next few weeks, continuing “into the spring and summer.” And analysts are worried that the $1,400 checks issued as part of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package will make delays worse as Americans keep spending online…
Read MoreIn January 2020, Ampersand Group’s Todd Mellon and his team officially launched The Power of One Group. The idea was simple: Create a robust directory of vendors in print, promo and office supplies, giving distributor members easy access to all three segments…
Read MoreThe PRO Act (H.R. 842), passed in the House with a 225-206 vote on Tuesday. The bill, intended to support workers in the gig economy by making it easier for them to unionize, would effectively eliminate independent contractor status on a nationwide level. The bill now heads to the Senate, though it is unlikely to…
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We’ve watched BAMKO closely over the last year, as the distributor has been one of the promo industry’s biggest success stories during the pandemic. Now, the company’s full-year and Q4 results are in, giving us a complete picture of BAMKO’s sales and providing some valuable insights for the rest of the industry…
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Tullamore Dew, the Irish whiskey brand, is running a two-part St. Patrick’s Day promotion it’s calling “O’Everyone.” One part involves some fun branded merchandise. The other involves legally changing your last name in exchange for a shot at winning a trip to a pop-up Irish pub in the middle of the desert, obviously…
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The Biden administration announced temporary changes to the Paycheck Protection Program to make it easier for small businesses to access loans. For two weeks beginning Feb. 24, the Small Business Administration will only accept PPP applications from businesses with fewer than 20 employees…
Read MoreIn January, Amazon quietly purchased Selz, a small Australian startup that, like Shopify, allows businesses to easily set up online stores. What exactly the company plans to do with Selz is still unclear, but we have some guesses—an obvious one, and a speculative one with branded merchandise implications…
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