Indicators point toward continued growth for most promotional products industry companies through 2017, but looking ahead to 2018, the PPAI/ITR Economics’ first quarter 2017 Market Outlook Report expects growth to slow down as the new year progresses.

The economic research and consulting firm’s supplier member index annual growth rate slipped below zero during first-quarter 2017, in line with ITR Economics’ forecasts for the industry segment. ITR’s forecast, which extends to 2019, expects 4.1-percent and 3.8-percent growth in 2017 and 2018, respectively, but warns that inflationary pressures and higher interest rates may put a damper on corporate spending, pulling suppliers back 1.1 percent in 2019.

A similar decline is expected for distributors in 2019—negative 0.9 percent—but ITR projects PPAI distributor members to turn in six-percent and 4.6-percent growth in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Its distributor member index for first-quarter 2017 is up 1.6 percent on a year-over-year basis, but the pace of growth is slowing.

The PPAI Market Outlook Report is a quarterly snapshot of the promotional products industry. In order to best provide resources to members, this report was created by ITR Economics to provide information on macroeconomic, industry and competitive landscape trends. The goal of the report is to provide insight into current business cycle trends that affect member companies, allowing members to make better business decisions to increase profitability and mitigate risk.

An executive summary of the PPAI/ITR Economics’ first quarter 2017 Market Outlook Report is available here. To access the more detailed and comprehensive full report and help better capture the state of the industry, become a participant in PPAI’s quarterly Market Outlook Survey. Find out how by contacting Mo Das, PPAI market research coordinator, at MoD@ppai.org or 972-258-3058.