Merchandising for companies and COVID-19

Increase direct or indirect sales at the point of sale and reinforce your brand image

We can define merchandising for companies as a series of promotional strategies seeking an objective, which is mainly to increase direct or indirect sales at the point of sale. We also use merchandising to reinforce the image of a brand. This definition is very theoretical. Currently we associate on most occasions merchandising for companies to any of the corporate gifts or advertising items that are made in the companies.

We can include any of the promotional products as merchandising. Among the types of products that we can include in this group of gifts for companies we can find: • USB sticks •Tshirts • Polo shirts • Personalized mugs • Personalized glasses • Stemware glasses with logos • Headphones • Tablet • Pens • Personalized bottles • Thermos Annually, within the marketing strategies and plans of the companies, we could always find items, larger or smaller, for merchandising. Banks, large beverage brands, beer producers, food companies ... there was a more or less regular market in the different sectors and we saw how the frozen fish brand gave a cutting board or the meat producer gave one USB memory for the purchase of its flagship product. This was the case for a long time and merchandising companies had, despite the fact that repetitions of campaigns were not common due to the diversity of gifts, some visibility and a more or less regular sale. All this until the coronavirus or COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan, in the Chinese province of Hubei.

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN COVID-19 ARRIVED?

From here and after landing in Europe, the situation changes, and it changes a lot. What companies need to produce promotional items? Who is prioritizing their marketing campaigns with promotional products to the survival of their company? Does anyone think that spirits companies or beer producers, organizers of large events are thinking about promotional or advertising items? Does any company consider making a mug with its logo for its teleworking employees? We already know the answers. The companies that increased their sales during the pandemic did not need to promote their products and those related to the tourism or hospitality sectors only thought about surviving. Yes, business gifts and promotional items have suffered from COVID-19. Will we see corporate gifts or personalized mugs again? Surely yes. The question is when? And it is clear that the answer is: when we return to normality, when we are vaccinated with the vaccine from Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford, Janssen, Sputnik V, Sinovac or Novamax ... it will be then when the big brands of drinks will once again bet on giving away to the hotel industry that personalized glass with your logo, that keychain with your brand or those t-shirts of the most popular summer party on the island of fashion.

WHAT ARE THE ADVERTISING ITEMS THAT HAVE MOST FALLEN DURING COVID-19?

Most likely, everything related to parties, hospitality, events, hotels, concerts, cinema, football and sports ... Does anyone know a friend who has bought the scarf of their favorite team since they can not go to a stadium? ? How much will Real Madrid or FC Barcelona have suffered since no one goes to their official store before the game? In addition to the problem of lack of budgets, there is a drop in demand for the product to be promoted. A clear example is beer in a bar or wine in a restaurant. How are you going to give a beautiful personalized glass to a bar that doesn't buy you even a quarter of beer of a normal year? The large glass factories for the table and mainly for professional use in the hotel industry have had a drop in demand in their promotional part due to their clear link to the world of hostelry. Will this market recover? Absolutely yes, and it will also be an extremely fast recovery, as soon as the door of recovery opens and we return to a certain normality. As soon as we can travel and refuel those catalogs of points of service stations such as Cepsa or Repsol, they will once again have thousands of points that now, due to the absence of refueling due to low traffic, we do not win. Will promotions return to a pre-covid level? Yes. Will personalized items and corporate gifts return to businesses? Sure too.

WHAT ARE THE MOST INCREASED CORPORATE GIFTS DURING COVID-19? Here we have it clear: technological gifts. Who doesn't like to receive a new iPhone, an iPad, a Tablet or a bluetooth headset as a corporate gift? All these types of products have risen like foam as they are highly appreciated gifts. As long as the company has a certain budget and can aspire to this type of gift, they are a great option at this time. Some of Everia's partners told us, they have sold many tablets for gifts for people of a certain age to be able to communicate with the family during the pandemic. But without a doubt the star gift and possibly the most demanded has been the personalized mask. This fabric mask, always homologated, with your company logo, your supporters club, with your town's crest or with the favorite phrase of your football, basketball or athletics team. Sports product factories have been transformed to be able to manufacture personalized and approved masks with which to help people not to get infected and also so that the factories themselves can get out of trouble and not close due to lack of demand. A highly demanded gift that we hope will not last many months and will disappear in a short time and we will keep it as a souvenir. I hope to complete the entry shortly with the following steps and that these are those of the vaccine, those of recovery, those of friends, beers, drinks, concerts, trips, luggage gifts, experiences , of dinners ... that the fairs return with their corporate gifts, and travel offers. We will be back and merchandising will be back!