Currently the biggest issues facing anyone planning to buy promotional items are supply shortages and upcoming price increases.
We’ve seen a growing trend in 2018 of suppliers being out of stock on popular items. We are not sure if this is due to increased demand or poor planning on the part of the supplier’s buyers. Regardless it could affect you when planning to purchase some promotional items.
Our suggestion is to start early and be open to alternative items. You have to pretty much go where the inventory is. We do not foresee this situation improving during Q4 as that is typically the time of year when demand is highest.
The price increases you can expect in the near future are due to new tariffs. Since only a small miniscule amount of promotional items are produced in the United States, and most come from China, this is going to happen.
You may avoid these price increases by purchasing now items already in stock, and hope they are not out of stock.
If you are planning on large orders then working with someone like Promo Hounds and sourcing overseas is another option. The upside to this is that it will also save you money. The downside is you can look at 90-120 days production in most cases.
Please let us know how we can help.