This guide is mainly suitable for the gift marketing of corporate and premium gift suppliers. It is applicable to those that requires logo printing or personalization/customization of the gift items ordered.
Sourcing of Gifts
Gift sourcing is one of the most tedious and difficult part in the corporate premium industry. Most of the time, clients does not have a clear idea what type of products they want to give out to their targeted market. In many cases, they will have a budget per piece and quantity (e.g. $2.00 per pc for 10000pcs) but have no idea where to start. It is essential for any gift company to be extremely resourceful in searching for the required goods they need. It is easier if your company has a wide range of selection of goods, but it only helps a little bit if your gift client is very demanding. There are some issues in choosing the right product even if you have a large available ready-stock because of the following constraints:
- Quantity Required – The client may want a quantity that is not matching to the items available in the country (ready stock).
- Colour - Certain companies with strong corporate branding may require the items to be in a particular colour of their choice because of branding policies, and the stock may not be available in sufficient quantity for the colour they require.
- Uniqueness – Clients may think that the stock available is not unique as the gift items is already available here, and prefer something very unique that other companies do not give out.
- Deadline – In general, most clients wants the goods as soon as possible, and many last minute orders with personalization is required. These may benefit ready-stcok companies as they can meet their deadline but not necessarily the first three constraints mentioned earlier.
So the tips here for corporate gift companies for sourcing of products is as follows:-
- Resourcefulness – Due to the constraints as mentioned above, it is very difficult to get exactly what client wants unless you have all the gift products in the world. So you will have to be very resourceful and well-equipped by knowing as many gift stockist as possible in your area or country. Do extensive research on websites, or go to gift and premium exhibitions locally and throughout the world to learn about available products and once you get to know every products, the sourcing becomes much easier.
- Network with Other Stockist/Wholesalers – Even if you are yourself a stockist, you must also be closely networked with other gift stockist to meet the client requirements. Better still if you can get a good reseller price from the other stockists.
- Sourcing agent from source countries – You need to also rely on good sourcing agents from the source of the product, mostly from manufacturing countries such as China, India, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. Better still if you have source from local manufacturers.
Stay Tuned for Other Topics of Guide to Successful Gift Marketing coming soon including:
- Branding/Logo Personalization on Gifts
- Packaging and Presentation of Gifts
- Delivery of Goods
Please contact us to learn more from GIMC, your preferred web business networking for gift association.