As of this moment, right now, Promotional Products factories in China are shutting down for Chinese New Years 2018.

My Spidey senses are telling me that as of this moment in time that if you are talking to a direct from offshore supplier like me and they are still taking your orders for a guaranteed to deliver before #CNY18 shutdown you are hooped! Run!

If you place an order with a supplier like me after today you are likely not going to get them anytime before Feb 28th and as late as March 5th! 

I know this as I have successfuly run this exact style of business for a long long time.

In #CNY18 I anticipate it will be a longer than usual closure for factories this 2018 Chinese New Years. This is especially true for the promotional products factories. Why?

Business is good in China right now because business is good in the West. People in China are feeling prosperous and with this sense of prosperity history shows us that those specific Chinese New Years are often longer and more pronounced upon their impact at factory level in China. Why?

Population Metrics. 4 years ago for the first time in China’s history more people retired than entered the workforce. This means there are more jobs available than people to fill them.

At the Chinese promotional products factory, the average worker is compotent, young and with a basic set of life skills. It is often their second job in a Big city.  Think of promotional products factories being our equivalent to our first real cool job we had here in North America. We we’re the same age 18-22!

What is keeping a focused workforce in certain Chinese promotional products factories is the creation of new, unusual, trending and dare I say “fun” promos that mirror their own youthful culture in China. Factories producing these ideas are fun to work for. In short the first real cool job anywhere in the world is mostly populated by 18-22 years olds.

The Promo is Getting Cooler and Quality Better!

At this moment in time as the old year draws to a close and the new year remains yet unborn, at least in China, I can tell you this past year was a siesmic shift in promo. New brands emerged, new sales paradigms took place and the millenial was targeted as if they were a new found vein of gold.

Thank God The Promo is Getting More Interesting.

How does that happen…talk about the queckness of direct oorders, no inventory, sell my business model….wait a bit get cooler, cheaper and train clients.