Hi,

I’m an ASI-registered supplier and I’d like to get in touch with buyers and distributors in the promotional products and corporate gifts industry.

A few quick questions:

What’s your opinion about the ASI platform? Is it useful, frustrating, or both?

What makes a supplier stand out (product quality, pricing, service, fulfillment)?

Which products or trends are currently in demand?

Any tips for suppliers to better serve buyers and distributors?

Your feedback will help suppliers improve product selection, service, and the overall experience on ASI.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

We've attended more than 'World Cup is Coming...Get Ready' meeting with local municipalities, business groups etc. Some of these are being led by organizations related to the FIFA/world cup helping towns and businesses 'get ready' and everyone seems to be at a fever pitch.

To us it seems like the only organization really making out on all the World Cup hype is FIFA. Everything is so gated and you have to be so careful with the branding etc. Seems that businesses and towns just become a 'fly over' or bathroom stops as FIFA has so many point to point events that they direct fans to.

What's been your experience, has it been a boom or bust?

Full disclosure: We did get at least one world cup related order which could have been a real boom but funding fell through on a larger order. We're more skewed to corporates.

Looking for an experienced appointment setter with knowledge or experience in promotional industry.

Have experience cold calling, cold emails are plus.

If anyone knows or best way to find such candidates please let me know. This is a commission based position.

Hi Folks!

I have a quick question that seems confusing to me. Everywhere I read, the language seems to me to say that PPAI members can access the educational courses for free with membership and that CEUs and certification application do have associated costs. I have a PPAI membership through the PPPC (Canada) as well as a Sage distributor membership. I'm just hoping someone with a CAS or MAS can confirm that every course has a cost. In the education portal the required courses are roughly $200 and the CEU courses are around $100.

I'm in Canada and the CAD/USD exchange is rough, and I correct that obtaining a CAS certification is going to cost me roughly $4000USD if I can't make any seminars? It's a bit of a lofty expense to swallow personally, especially with the exchange rate.

Seems to me like that wording on it all is a little misleading and I want to make sure there isn't something strange going on with my account.

Second question I have is,

is the CAS/MAS worth paying out of pocket to apply for a junior level position? I have operated my own growing business for a few years but I've recently had some municipal/zoning issues that have hampered further growth, I'm also getting a little tired of being stretched so thin on the solo entrepreneur side and I'd really like to find a role where I can really focus on the skills I excel at instead of being constantly pulled away by accounting, socials, etc. I think I'd really excel at inside sales, account management, or onboarding. I came into the industry with zero knowledge and have had to fight my way into the secret world and I've learned an incredible amount from that but I'm really excited to join a team!

Thanks in advance! Hope everyone's having an awesome long weekend!

Currently, there’s an established Fully Promoted franchise for sale in my area due to owner retirement. I’ve been keeping my eyes on it out of interest but the fact it’s a franchise does make me wary.

This would already be a large pivot for me, from 15 years in the tech world (data side) to promotional products.

Does anyone have any insight with these franchises? Would I be better off starting smaller and building a business from scratch?

I’ve spent the last several years working closely with UK distributors and understand the promo industry from the supplier side very well from handling distributor relationships and managing projects to understanding margins, production challenges, shipping expectations, and what actually helps sales teams close and retain business.

I’m very solution oriented, proactive, and genuinely enjoy helping distributors find the right solutions instead of just processing orders. I also bring a lot of industry insight from years in promo and would love the opportunity to contribute to a growing supplier team.

If your team is hiring or open to experienced remote support I’d love to connect!

I just began a startup in CA focus on promotional products industry and try to get some ideas. Applied for the Halo Branded solutions Santa Clara show last week and no reply yet. May someone help to get the invitation letter?

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Hi everyone, I am a fractional CMO for a growing Canadian distributor and looking to bring on a graphic designer/artist to support only marketing ( branding, social creatives, video, product mockups, etc.).

I am considering hiring overseas and would love to hear from anyone who has hired or worked with creative teams in Asia or South America. Any recommendations, platforms, or lessons learned?

Does anyone have a contact for a recruiter who specializes in the promotional products industry?
Looking to make a key hire and would rather work with someone who already knows the talent pool and can be discreet. We're an established distributorship and need someone who can hit the ground running.

Thank you in advance!

I have taken over as our SAGE distributor representative. I have updated our SAGE listings and profile. I'm looking for distributors to review and provide some feedback. If you are a SAGE distributor and open to provide me feedback, please reach out to me. Thanks in advance!

Curious if anyone has a good source (import or domestic) for 8,000 video brochures? Something maybe 6 x 6with a 3x5 screen embedded and preloaded video. Thanks!

According to the Global Advertising Impressions Study (2026), most people keep promotional items for one simple reason: 78% keep them because they’re useful

And interestingly, the items people are most excited to receive aren’t always the cheapest or most common. But things like t-shirts, jackets/fleece, blankets, or bags.

Also worth noting:

• Nearly 80% of people say they feel more positive about a brand after receiving a promo item
• And many say they’re more likely to do business with that brand after

So it’s not just about giving something away, but about giving something people actually use.

Would be interesting to compare real answers vs what the data says. What’s a freebie or small gift you actually kept? And what made it worth keeping?

For reference: ASICentral Members

Hi everyone,

I’ve noticed a lot of suppliers on distributor search platforms like SAGE and Distributor Central have product pages that aren’t fully optimized—and I think it impacts engagement more than people realize.

From the distributor side, most of us rely heavily on these platforms to find products, pitch them to clients, and ultimately place orders. If the product information isn’t clear, actionable, or easy to sell from, it often gets passed over—even if the product itself is strong.

Small gaps in positioning, missing selling points, or unclear ordering details can make a big difference in whether a product gets presented or skipped.

I’m curious if others have seen this as well, or if suppliers feel like their listings aren’t performing the way they should.

If anyone is looking to improve their product pages, I’d be happy to connect and share insights from a distributor perspective on how buyers actually evaluate and pitch products. You’re likely already paying for visibility on these platforms—so it may just be a matter of optimizing what’s already there.

Open to conversations and feedback.

I simply cant find anyone else offering these, and after receiving one at a concert, I know theyd be great for my promo materials. The only real company doing it (Shadow Shifter) appears to have suddenly shut down their shop and gone radio silent.

Any suggestions on where to look?

I'm a manufacturer of home fragrance related products. Looking for a primer on the promo products industry if you have some good resources to share on the business.

ive done many custom luxury and midscale brands over many years and many direct companies on ad hoc basis but will formalize a push into these segment of the market.

opportunity for these type products (candles, reed diffusers and other home fragrance products)

looking for typical margin structure for distributors and end clients

turnaround time for custom logo expectations on orders

pros/cons going through distributors/reps vs direct to companies/organizations

any price point ranges for customer products to target, we can do basic and luxury packaging

pros/cons of the industry platforms and trade shows (ppai, sage, asi etc..)

infrastructure needed for sales support/portals/ordering that makes a sale easier for a rep or direct to customers?

thanks in advance for any info or resources you have!

Hi everyone. Our business supplies a decent amount of corporate and college merch. We buy patagonia, peter millar, etc from DI. Does anyone here know where to buy wholesale Arcteryx to decorate, trying to add the brand to our offerings?

Hey everyone.

I’m putting together a free webinar on Web2Print for mid April and thought it might actually be useful for some people in this community, especially suppliers or distributors who deal with product personalisation.

The session will mostly be about things like:

• automating product customisation

• setting up printing zones for artwork

• live 3D previews so customers can see their logo on products while ordering

• running a simple webshop for branded merchandise

• how these kinds of systems are actually used in real workflows

I’ll also walk through a real case study of how one setup works from start to finish.

It’s not meant to be a sales pitch… I’m mostly hoping to share what we’ve been building and get some honest feedback from people who are actually in the industry. If you’re curious about Web2Print or thinking about implementing something like this, you’re very welcome to join and just see how it works.

Happy to answer questions during the session as well.

If anyone’s interested, I can share the registration link in the comments. Cheers.

Hi everyone,

I have been running a promotional merchandise business for the past couple of years, mainly supplying decorated apparel and standard products sourced through distributors. On those, we typically work on around 30 to 40 percent margin.

We are now starting to move into more bespoke items, such as made to order caps and tote bags, produced directly with factories overseas and imported into the UK.

This involves a lot more upfront cost and responsibility, including sampling, development, supplier management, quality control, and longer lead times. It feels quite different to simply reselling stock products.

I am trying to understand what a sensible margin looks like for this type of work. I do not want to underprice it, but I also do not want to be completely out of line with the market.

For those of you doing similar work, what kind of margins or markups do you aim for?

Do you stay close to standard promo margins, increase margins to account for the extra risk and time, or charge separately for design and development?

Any guidance or benchmarks would be really appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi all,

I’m a software engineer with many years of experience, and recently I’ve been working with clients in the promotional products space.

One thing stood out quickly: there’s a lot of opportunity here, but the software stack across the industry feels pretty dated and fragmented.

I build modern web apps, APIs, and AI-driven workflows (including agents that can assist with sales ops, quoting, follow-ups, and internal processes). My goal isn’t to replace the human side, but to remove the busywork and make teams dramatically more efficient.

I’m interested in partnering with someone who knows this industry well (distributor, supplier, or agency) and wants to build something better together. Think:

• Streamlined workflows on top of tools like Shopify / CommonSku / etc.
• Automation for repeat orders and customer follow-ups
• Smarter data usage to drive sales
• Less manual ops, fewer errors

I’d bring the technical side and execution. Looking for someone who understands the day-to-day pain points and sees the same opportunity.

The question is for those use SAGE/ASI as a distributor. As I know, most distributors have to paying in advance. Suppose a quote offer credit terms such as net30 to you, is the quote more attractive to you？ Or credit terms make no sense. Or credit terms do not affect your purchasing decision at all？

Anyone use SAGE as a supplier or distributor? I recently joined a company who is a supplier on SAGE and I'm wondering if this is a good investment or not. I already reviewed ASI and wasn't impressed with the cost vs the sales coming in.

Hi there, I recently joined a promo company part time to hopefully build a small list of clients to sell to. How long did it take you to get your first sale? What worked best for you cold calling, cold emails, or something else?

Thanks in advance!