How To Save 10%-50% On Promotional Products Via Offshore Production

By Author: Matthew Cummins
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A carefully selected promotional product can become an ideal relationship building tool. One of the key benefits of promotional products is that they are the only advertising your client will thank you for †everyone loves getting a gift!

Among the major goals of any promotional campaign will be to achieve the maximum impact, at the most reasonable price possible, leading to a superior return on investment. What many companies fail to realise is that with a small amount of extra planning they can improve in both these areas, by providing products with superior impact, and often at a reduced cost.

In business, the value of time can never be overestimated, with promotional products even more so. Whilst many people are aware of the possibility of overseas production (commonly known as “indent”), they are often surprised at the savings that can be made, and the many other benefits that exist. Even if a product is to be produced locally, the benefit of time can produce great savings.

Consider this scenario; a customer contacts five promotional products suppliers, asking ...
... for their best price on Cooler Bags, and need them decorated and delivered in one or two weeks. Firstly many standard production jobs take this long to decorate with your logo, so each company quoting will have to rush out a basic quote for standard off the shelf Cooler Bags. The client then goes with the cheapest supplier, who may or may not do a good print job (sometimes cheap does equal nasty in terms of print quality), and with any luck the company will have a reasonable quality item in a stock standard colour, ready for their promotion.

Now consider an alternative scenario; A customer starts planning a promotional campaign four or five months in advance of release date. They have also developed a solid relationship with one (or maybe two) promotional products suppliers, who through working with the customer over a period of time, gain a good understanding of their customers, target market etc. They give a solid brief on the requirements of and ideas for the campaign to the promotional supplier.

If the promotional supplier is a quality supplier, given the good lead time they will then invest a few days coming up with creative ideas, developing design concepts and working on product sourcing †rather than the rush situation in the first scenario. Each party can then worth together to refine concepts, work out artwork and finalise an order.

Given the good lead time, in this second scenario the order could be produced offshore and sea freighted in. The product (let’s say it’s still a Custom Cooler Bag) can have a huge variety of decoration options not available locally, including the fabric being dyed to a custom colour, advanced decoration options such as all over prints may be included, subtle branding such as custom zip pulls can be added, the list goes on.

What the client ends up with is a promotional item that it part of their brand †rather than just a standard item with a logo slapped on the front. It increases the perceived value to the end user who receives, and generally just looks a lot more cool.

Sounds great, but the upside continues! In addition to being a more unique promotional item, the price will in many cases be lower than a standard off the shelf product! The reason for this is that while the product itself is worth about the same, the decoration (printing, embroidery) can be completed offshore at the point of manufacture at much lower rates than local production. While lower labour costs play a part, it’s also quicker and easier to decorate sheets of fabric which are then sewn to become a the final product, rather than printing it after it’s fully made which is what must be completed locally. The savings made from purchasing factory direct (in some cases) and through not having to warehouse the stock locally will also be passed onto the client in most cases.

Ordering promotional products via offshore production does require a bit of extra time, thought, planning and some reasonable quantities, however the benefits are significant and well worth considering when planning your next promotion.
About Author:
Global Advertising Products is a leading Australian supplier of promotional products. Global operates both an in-house production facility in Australia as well as a Product Sourcing and Order Management office in Beijing, China, and has many years of experience in importing custom made promotional items. Our website can be viewed at www.adproducts.com.au