Major changes in the promotional and corporate gifting industry
More than a year ago, our professional and personal lives changed unexpectedly. In the field of corporate promotional items and gifts, the industry took a significant turn. Whether it was the addition of PPE items or the new offer of boxes that are now sent directly to the recipient’s home, the various players in the industry have had to follow the demand and the new trends to better serve their clientele.
Having lived through these extraordinary and/or sometimes surprising situations, we wanted to layout the current trends that we foresee will continue in the coming months, by making sure that we put all our efforts in finding solutions to minimize the impacts for you.
- Transport delays (maritime, air and ground): we have many different options to make sure that the transport delays do not affect your delivery date. Being in constant communication with our transporters, if there is a risk of delay, we will offer a different transport option, or perhaps a product that is made locally and requires less transit time could be an option.
- Inventory shortages: If the product you are looking to order is not in stock when placing the order, although we are more limited on the choice or colours of products that we can offer, we always have several alternatives.
- Delay in virtual proofs: Not to worry, if we have confirmed a delivery date, the fact that the proof is received a litter later than normal, if approved quickly, will have no impact on the delivery date.
- Delay in production: while some extraordinary situations are out of our control we discuss lead times regularly with our partners and we will always have solutions to find options that will meet your delivery date.
- Increase in raw material and labor prices: the Canadian dollar has been doing fairly well over the past few months, which helps us in keeping our prices almost stable.
- Products delivered with slight defects: rest assured that we do have a solution and have undertaken a tighter inspection process to ensure that we meet the required quality criteria.
As a crisis is often an opportunity to improve. Since the pandemic, we have updated and adapted our services to offer you:
- A website with an integrated catalogue
- Private links to online product proposals
- The option for online payment by credit card
- A customer portal for you to see the progress of your projects with us (in development)
- All of the logistics to send packages directly to your employees or customers homes
- A collection of personal protective equipment (PPE) with or without customization.
Our team is working continuously to meet your needs and we adapt quickly to propose solutions that will meet all of your requirements. By planning ahead, you will have a lot of choice while respecting your budget. When not possible, but we will find a solution, no matter what!
Do not hesitate to contact our team that will surely able to find a solution to meet your criterias.
The Sobezone Team
