How Many Distributors Are There?
Chicago is a market with many promotional product distributor companies. It is not uncommon to have two or three asi distributors located within blocks of each other or even in the same office complex.
Competition has always been fierce. It is not uncommon to call on a customer and see the same supplier catalog with a different distributor’s sticker on the front cover!
Distributors Going Out Of Business
Recently a friend of mine was working for On Time Promotions. They boasted to be in the top 5% of all promotional product distributors in a 37,000 square foot facility.
Then they ran into the buzsaw of the current economy. With many sales people earning draws against commission, salaries of their support staff, on-site embellishment, rent, health care, etc. the economic scales tipped against them.
Unable to pay suppliers, they could simply not get new orders produced for their salespeople and were forced to shut their doors.
Is the Grass Greener Elsewhere?
Clients need servicing. Company stores with inventories and the sales people who managed them needed a new place to hang their hats. Groups of sales people have defected to several other well-established local distributors. In some cases the move …
