Analysis of UK Promotional Merchandise Market by Region

Sourcing City have published a geographical location analysis of the 2032 recognised promotional merchandise distributor companies in the UK. The overall size of the promotional merchandise market in the UK & Ireland is around £715 million, and in the past twelve months the market size is considered to have remained more or less static. 

When reviewing the distributor companies by geographical regions, it is interesting to observe that distributors based in the South of England have a combined turnover of almost £340 million. This equates to around 50% of the entire UK & Ireland market spend.

Greater London is the largest regional area spending over £108m, this is closely followed by Central England, which has the greatest number of English counties within its boundary. The South East is the third largest region at £101m.

Interestingly, the average distributors size in Greater London is over double that of their counterparts in Central England. It is also interesting to note that over 50% of all distributors with a turnover in excess of £1m are based in Southern England. Around 14% of £1m+ distributors are based in the Midlands and 18% in the North of England.

The average size of distributors in Ireland on first glance may appear high, particularly in a market that has suffered to an even greater extent than the UK. However, this high average is likely to be due to the much smaller number of distributor companies sharing the market in Ireland.

Traditionally, industry trade events have been held in places such as Telford, Birmingham & Coventry. The selection of a location has often been based on the folklore that venues in central UK are most favourable for visitors. It is probably fair to say that there is no ‘perfect’ geographical location for everybody. It is almost certain that some companies from the south do not travel to events further north, and it is likely to be conversely true for some northern companies at southern based events. However, most professional business owners take a view that if an event is of value to their business, then it is worth travelling to.

This geographical research gives a compelling argument for an event in a southern location. A southern location has obvious travel benefits for distributors in the South of England, who are the largest group of distributors in terms of numbers, size and value. A southern venue could also enable more of their team members to attend. Midland based distributors could see the southern journey as worthwhile, as this would only be equivalent to the reverse journey normally taken by southern based distributors. For distributors based in Scotland, Ireland and the North of England, flying is often the preferred means of travel, and there becomes little difference between travelling to a London or Midlands airport.

Sourcing City are holding Sourcing City Marketplace in a southern location in September, and subject to the response, have future plans for further new trade events for the industry in the future.

Share this page