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Sunday
January 18, 2009

Apparel: The Survey Says!

Filed under: Research, Survey

My sixth-grade teacher once asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and, without hesitation, I blurted out “Game Show Host!” Of course, this admission became increasingly odder and more uncomfortable as each male student after me proclaimed aspirations of a more manly nature … you know, like cop, fireman or breakdancer (did I mention these were the 80s?). My shortsightedness to feign an interest in what was cool or acceptable at the time resulted in a good, old-fashioned playground pummeling, and I never again spoke about an interest in game shows … until now!

Plunked in front of a TV set like Martin Tupper, I was raised on a healthy diet of “Press Your Luck”, “$50,000 Pyramid”, “Card Sharks”, “Jokers Wild”, and … my all-time favorite … “Family Feud”! Richard Dawson was the host with the most, the epitome of smooth, a suave and sophisticated gentleman with a wry wit and intense charm who knew how to schmooze the ladies and steal kisses from the mouths of wives whose husbands clapped and watched. A genius! And I wanted to be him.

And today I get that chance … well, minus the kissing.

WELCOME TO FAMILY FEUD, PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS-STYLE!

With this month’s release of its annual Apparel Sales Survey, Counselor magazine has given me the opportunity I have waited a lifetime for … to take the big stage and ask you, the family audience, questions about a topic that we have surveyed — in this case, distributor apparel sales.

DIRECTIONS: I’ll provide you with the question posed to industry distributors along with their top answers in random order, and you try to guess which one is the most popular. The winner gets, well, not much, maybe a mention in the blog and a Coke or something, but it’s the best we can do with the economy and all. So be sure to send your answers to feedback@asicentral.com with a listing of all your answers. Got it? Then let’s play the feud!

QUESTION 1: In 2008, what percentage of total annual distributor sales from promotional products does apparel represent? Top 6 answers are on the board:

  1. 51-75%
  2. 11-25%
  3. no apparel sales
  4. 26-50%
  5. 1-10%
  6. more than 75%

QUESTION 2: In 2008, which category specified had the highest percent of distributor apparel sales? Top 4 answers are on the board:

  1. women
  2. children
  3. men
  4. unisex

QUESTION 3: Relative to all distributor promotional products sales, how would you say sales of apparel have changed over the past year? Top 3 answers are on the board:

  1. decreased
  2. increased
  3. stayed the same

QUESTION 4: How did distributor sales volume in uniforms change within the past year? Top 3 answers are on the board:

  1. decreased
  2. increased
  3. stayed the same

QUESTION 5: What are the top three purposes for the promotional apparel distributors sell? Top 3 answers are on the board:

  1. company uniforms
  2. spiritwear/athletics (cheerleading, booster clubs, etc …)
  3. employee/consumer incentives

QUESTION 6: What are the top markets of apparel purchases? Top 8 answers are on the board:

  1. non-profit
  2. financial
  3. manufacturing
  4. education/schools/universities
  5. health/medical/hospitals
  6. restaurants/travel/lodging
  7. associations/clubs/civic groups
  8. professional services (real estate, lawyers, etc …)

QUESTION 7: Which category specified represents the highest percentage of overall distributor apparel sales? Top 5 answers are on the board:

  1. bags/totes
  2. golf shirts
  3. t-shirts
  4. sweatshirts
  5. caps/headwear

QUESTION 8: How important do distributors believe brand names are to promotional apparel sales? Top 5 answers are on the board:

  1. somewhat important
  2. neither important or unimportant
  3. very important
  4. not at all important
  5. somewhat unimportant

QUESTION 9: What percentage of distributor wearables purchases are manufactured outside the U.S.? Top 3 answers are on the board:

  1. 16%
  2. 64%
  3. 8%

QUESTION 10: Compared to 2007, has the amount of product distributors decorated in-house changed? Top 3 answers are on the board:

  1. decreased
  2. increased
  3. remained the same

QUESTION 11: What percent of all distributor apparel purchases are blanks? Top 5 answers are on the board:

  1. none
  2. 91% or more
  3. 11-50%
  4. less than 10%
  5. 51-90%

Don’t forget to send answers now and check the blog often for results. Of course, if you want to see how you did, just check out the updated Apparel Research section of ASICentral for the Counselor Apparel Sales Survey … but not before you send your answers!

“Love ya, will see ya here on the feud” (I just had to sign off like Richard — he’d be proud.)

–TheKissingBandit

 

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