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www.psi-network.de PSI Journal 2/2016
in second place, after television, on the
scale of net advertising revenues of advertising
media,” Freter summarised. However,
sales of promotional products have
become disconnected from the development
of the overall economic cycle, as GWW
President Patrick Politze explained. He sees
the cause of the industry’s failure to keep
up with the economic growth in tax disadvantages,
excessive compliance requirements,
especially for big corporations, and
the legal restrictions the industry is having
to struggle with. Here there is important
work to be done which the enlarged,
restructured GWW will be taking on in the
future.
VERY POSITIVE PROSPECTS
The annually updated industry report on
the structure and business performance of
the European promotional products business,
published by PSI, is also showing an
upward tendency. On the whole, 62 per
cent of suppliers and 60 per cent of promotional
products consultants in Europe
chalked up sales increases in 2015 compared
to the previous year. By contrast, 24
per cent of suppliers and 22 per cent of
distributors registered a drop in sales. So
this is a clearly positive record which, how-
ever, indicates a very uneven performance
for individual companies. Yet the outlook
remains very positive, since an impressive
majority of companies are expecting sales
growth in the coming five years. Among
suppliers, these amount to 84 per cent,
and 83 per cent among promotional products
consultants. Another figure worth noting
is the magnitude of the predicted sales
growth: 46 per cent of suppliers and a whopping
54 per cent of distributors are expecting
growth of more than ten per cent.
TARGET GROUP EXPANSION 2017:
NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE INDUSTRY
The PSI is changing – nothing shows this
as clearly as the expansion of target groups
planned for 2017, which Michael Freter
addressed at the opening of the trade show.
“Expansion of target groups does not mean
that the PSI is ‘opening up’, but rather the
possibility of promotional products consultants
to invite their clients on the last
day of the trade show,” Freter clarified. “All
customers invited by the trade are qualified
and accredited in advance, and receive
specially marked admission tickets with an
endorsement on them. So suppliers will
continue to be obligated to the trade.” The
aim of this decision, borne by great responsibility
for the industry and mutual trust,
is to enhance the market opportunities of
suppliers as well as the trade and consultants,
Freter said. “Since the PSI is Europe’s
leading trade show, it offers the best opportunities
for promotional products to
reach larger groups of advertisers,” Freter
explained. Patrick Politze agreed, “We would
be very happy to welcome advertisers invited
by consultants and be able to convince
them of our industry’s capabilities.
Nowhere does the industry give as good
an account of itself as here in Düsseldorf
at the PSI. I consider passing this impression
onto the decision-makers in companies
to be the most important signal of our
industry.”
PSI: THE INDUSTRY’S “DISPLAY
WINDOW” IN EUROPE
In years past, the PSI has done a great deal
to enhance its attractiveness, its international
relevance, and its function as Europe’s
most important display window for
the industry and as a business broker. This
course was consistently pursued at the PSI
2016.
After this initial overview, you can read our
comprehensive trade show report in the upcoming
issue.
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