The promotional gift market in South Africa is made up of manufacturers [a few specialised ones], import agents [a few dealing with companies in mainly China, Japan and Holland], gift wholesalers [marketing the products both imported and manufactured locally] and gift houses [agents specialising in the sales and distribution of gifts and in no way connected to the production and importation].

Here in the Republic the industry is largely driven by the importers and the wholesalers buying from them. The product direction is masterminded by the importers who annually make their major product selections and then, through highly graphic catalogues, propel the sales agents along lines that they feel are trends being dictated by the market. This is not always a true system and neither is it always the case – exceptions to the rule do take place.

This hierarchy is good as it gets products moving throughout the country – although, because there are so many steps in the organisation of the industry, costs are higher than if customers were able to deal directly with the factories.

This is not really possible if the market is to benefit from the expanded and vast range of products currently available to it. Because of the great variety, stocking of lines is limited to really good sellers. Fast sellers will fit into the wholesalers special importation programs while slow moving items will be restricted to special indent orders.

Another great advantage of the marketing system unused by our industry is that clients can order products and have upgrades and product enhancements added for them – making for a one shop deal in most cases. The international production companies do not want to be involved in stock holdings in the various countries, they do not want to be involved in branding, and they do not want to be involved in limited stock deliveries nor many thousand accounts and the control thereof. They therefore encourage the gifting wholesalers and selling agents – often supporting their efforts with services that they would not normal embark in their own company strategies.

These services should include:

• Product selection – offer the market a wide variety of products available from factories through out the world, through the use of catalogues and modest sampling
• Offer market acceptable prices
  
• Offer shortest delivery times [also at times offer to hold stock]
  
• Offer branding of product
  
• Offer bulking services [supplying more than one product and packing facilities to hold the combo gifts]
  
• Offer other promotional services [demonstrations where needed]