"WA media's" promotional goods year 2018

Every January issue Werbeartikel Nachrichten, the European trade magazine for the promotional goods industry, publishes a review of the past year in the promotional products field. A survey of suppliers and dealers throughout Europe reveals the particular challenges facing the industry. Sustainability v. price optimisation. Automation of processes v. the desire for more individualisation. Fast delivery v. quality control. Digitalisation of communication v. direct personal contact. In the course of this survey WN also spoke to Steven Baumgärtner, Managing Director of Cybergroup.

How are the import markets developing, and what role does China play in this?

For us, China is still one of our most important procurement markets, even though the price war occasionally takes on crazy forms and gets out of control. In addition, imports from non-EU countries are becoming increasingly complex, and the quality requirements of clients are becoming more demanding. However, the latter are urgently needed, as too many products are still being put into circulation that do not comply with any form of regulation, law or standard.

What do you do yourself to ensure quality standards, CSR and compliance with legal requirements?

Since 2016 cyber-Wear has had its own department for these matters, which ensures that global requirements are documented and that we are always up to date. All locations around the world work closely together to monitor and secure our supply chains.

What role does e-commerce play at cyber-Wear?

We programmed our first B2B shop as early as 2001 - since then the development and operation of in part highly complex shop systems in the B2B and B2C fields has been one of our core competencies. We now work with 16 employees in the IT department on various global shops.

How do you assess the new trade fair association which combines PSI, viscom and PromoText Expo, which is taking place for the first time?

In my opinion the new trade fair association is a positive development, not only for the PSI fair but also for the entire industry. The PSI trade show is the highest-quality and most professional platform the industry has to offer worldwide. The expansion of the portfolio and thus of the visitor range will certainly have a positive effect - we are already noticing increased interest on the part of our clients.

What are the current product trends? What are users looking for?

We've noticed that clients want to use more individual and sustainable products, while in some cases budgets are being cut significantly. Many clients are also looking for product developments that are planned as part of an entire collection, rather than simply individual articles.[1]