Promotional merchandise
Market statistics
Market statistics
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### United Kingdom

According to research completed and published in 2008 the UK and Ireland promotional merchandise industry had an overall value of £850m. By mid\-2009 the market had decreased to £712m as the UK's worst\-ever recession took a grip. In July 2009 published research demonstrated that the top 10 promotional merchandise products were [promotional pens](/wiki/Promotional_item "Promotional item"), bags, [clothing](/wiki/Clothing "Clothing"), [plastic](/wiki/Plastic "Plastic") items, [USB memory sticks](/wiki/USB_memory_stick "USB memory stick"), [mugs](/wiki/Mug "Mug"), [leather](/wiki/Leather "Leather") items, polyurethane conference folders, and [umbrellas](/wiki/Umbrella "Umbrella"). The July research from a representation industry focus group also found that the current fastest\-growing product was [hand sanitiser](/wiki/Hand_sanitiser "Hand sanitiser"), which at the time coincided with the outbreak and growth of [swine flu](/wiki/Swine_flu "Swine flu") in the UK.

### United States

[thumb\|A promotional bottle of water from Porsche of Ocala in Ocala, Florida](/wiki/File:Porsche_promotional_merchandize%2C_a_bottle_of_water.jpg "Porsche promotional merchandize, a bottle of water.jpg")
Sales of the US promotional products industry totaled $24 billion in 2017 and growing at a rate of 2\.5 percent since 2012, according to statistics released by IBISWorld. There are 26,413 business in this category and they employ 392,820 people across the United States.

The most common promotional items include T\-shirts (25% of the market), writing instruments, tech accessories, bags, [keychains](/wiki/Keychain "Keychain"), [brochures](/wiki/Brochures "Brochures"), [bookmarks](/wiki/Bookmark "Bookmark") and [notepads](/wiki/Notepads "Notepads").

### Australia and New Zealand

The *Australasian Promotional Products Association* (APPA) has conducted research to show the value of the promotional merchandise industry in Australia and New Zealand. According to APPA the industry has a turnover of AUD$1340m in Australia and NZ$144m in New Zealand  APPA states the effectiveness of promotional merchandise is demonstrated by their research which shows that 52% of recipients of promotional merchandise say their impression of a company is more positive after receiving a promotional product, 76% recall the name advertised on the product, 55% keep the item for more than one year, nearly 50% of recipients use them daily and 52% of people do business with a company after receiving a promotional product. 
Other considerations and benefits of promotional merchandise include product definition, [residual value](/wiki/Residual_value "Residual value") marketing, accountability, "The Power of Purpose", product types, such as printing and artwork.


What are some limitations or downsides of using promotional merchandise?