Competitive Positioning of Promotional Products Sources Based on Client Perceptions and Experience

Abstract

Respondents evaluated four different sources of promotional products—promotional products distributors, manufacturer/ imprinters, catalogs, and advertising/promotion agencies—in terms of 18 source selection criteria and 10 services. Using importance-performance analysis, client rankings of importance were compared with client ratings of performance on each of these 28 items to determine where discrepancies occur. Out of 18 criteria that clients use to select their promotional products vendors, the top criteria were negatively disconfirmed (i.e., importance was significantly higher than performance). It was found that no one source has a distinctive competitive advantage over the others on the most important source criteria.

KEYWORDS:

• buyer selection criteria
• importance-performance analysis
• promotion management
• promotional products
• sourcing channels

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Promotional Products Association International for providing funding for this project.

Notes

^aSD = Significant Difference; NSD = Nonsignificant Difference.

*Nonsignificant.

^aSD = Significant Difference; NSD = Nonsignificant Difference.

*Nonsignificant.

^aSD = Significant Difference; NSD = Nonsignificant Difference.

*Nonsignificant.

^aSD = Significant Difference; NSD = Nonsignificant Difference.

*Nonsignificant.

^aSD = Significant Difference; NSD = Nonsignificant Difference.

*Nonsignificant.

^aSD = Significant Difference; NSD = Nonsignificant Difference.

*Nonsignificant.

^aSD = Significant Difference; NSD = Nonsignificant Difference.

*Nonsignificant.

^aSD = Significant Difference; NSD = Nonsignificant Difference.

*Nonsignificant.