Seeking consistency? There’s no better place to find it than in the promo industry’s top markets. Education is once again number one – the eighth time in nine years that’s occurred. The same with healthcare as the second leading market. (It was in 2020 that the two markets flipped spots.) As is customary each year, in 2022 select markets dropped a couple percentage points (manufacturing, government), while others crept up (nonprofit, finance) by the same margins. This overriding stability underscores the wisdom of client diversification, particularly with distributors learning the hard way again about specializing too much in one industry.
Hover over the bar charts to see more detailed State of the Industry statistics.
Top 10 Promo Markets
Education is number one for the eighth time in nine years.
4 Intriguing Market Trends
Major markets from healthcare and tech to retail and nonprofit have all shifted over the past few years.
1Healthcare No Longer as Healthy
Fueled by a desperate need for PPE and a desire to reward frazzled nurses, docs and workers, the healthcare market had the largest gain during the pandemic. It’s decline since then isn’t surprising, even as it still commands more of promo’s spend than in 2019 (9.8%).
HEALTHCARE
2The Tech Bubble Bursts (Slightly)
With their services in need during the pandemic, tech companies staffed up and shifted into hyperspeed. Now, the hangover is here with major layoffs (such as Meta eliminating 10,000 roles), hiring freezes and slimmer budgets, and it shows in the SOI data.
TECHNOLOGY
3Retail Gets Big
At 5.9%, retail didn’t grow from last year, but the figure is still the highest ever for the sector since Counselor started tracking the metric in 2008. And while it’s a middling market for most distributors, it’s the third leading sector for the largest distributors of $5 million+ in revenue. In other words, retail’s been having a moment, and the companies in this space are looking to the largest players to fill their needs.
TOP 3 MARKETS FOR XL DISTRIBUTORS
($5M+)
4Nonprofit Gains the Most
The nonprofit market was the biggest winner in ’22, with the return of events providing a huge boon to the sector. Another reason – a wave of charitable giving in 2020 and 2021 started to recede, forcing organizations to become more intentional in their use of promo items to elicit donations.