Promotional Product Budgets, Quantities and Lead Times

Four things decide what branded merchandise costs: the product, the quantity, how the logo is applied and how fast you need it. Quantity moves the number more than the other three put together.

Two more things decide whether you can order at all, and they catch people out more often than price does: the minimum order quantity on the product you want, and how long you've actually got. This guide covers all six.

What sets the cost of branded merchandise?

The product

A pen and a power bank are different orders of magnitude before anything is printed on them. Within a category, the things that move the price are material, weight, size and any certification behind it.

The quantity

Covered properly below, because it's the biggest lever by some distance.

The branding method

Screen printing, digital printing, pad printing, embroidery and laser engraving all cost differently, and the right one depends on the product and the design rather than on price alone.

The number of colours and positions

Some methods charge per colour, because each one is a separate screen and a separate pass. A two colour logo costs more than the same logo in one colour, and printing two positions costs more than one.

How fast you need it

Where a product supports it, you'll see a choice of delivery options in the basket, each with its own guaranteed date. Faster costs more, and you can compare them side by side before you decide.

Rather than publish a price list that goes out of date, every product page shows the price for the quantity and options you enter.

What is a minimum order quantity, and why does it exist?

A minimum order quantity, or MOQ, is the smallest number of units a supplier will produce in a single run.

It exists because setting up a print run costs the same whether you're doing 50 items or 5,000. The screens have to be made, the artwork positioned, the machine set and a test print checked, and that work happens once. Below a certain quantity there isn't enough of an order to carry that cost, so the supplier sets a floor.

Minimums are set per product rather than as a blanket policy, and they vary a lot. Some items sit in single figures. Others, particularly printed food and anything with a mould or a tooling cost behind it, sit considerably higher. The number shown on each product page is the one that applies to that product.

Will a supplier print just 50 branded items?

For many products, yes. It depends on the product rather than on the supplier's general policy.

If the minimum on the item you want is higher than the quantity you need, you've three options and they're all worth trying before you give up on the order.

Check a similar product. Minimums vary between items that look almost identical, because they depend on how the product is made and decorated. A comparable bag, pen or mug may have a much lower floor.

Look at stocked rather than made to order items. Products held in stock and decorated to order generally have lower minimums than anything manufactured for you from scratch.

Combine orders across the organisation. If marketing needs merchandise for an exhibition and HR needs welcome kits, ordering the same item together reaches the minimum and lowers the price per unit for both.

How do quantity breaks work?

Prices step down at set quantities rather than sliding smoothly, and that has a practical consequence worth knowing.

Because the setup cost is fixed, the more units it's spread across, the less each one carries. At 50 units it's a meaningful part of what you pay per item. At 5,000 it's almost nothing.

The bit most people miss. If your quantity sits just below a break, check the price at the next break up before you order. It's reasonably common to find that ordering more costs less in total, and you end up with spares for the next event.

What are setup and origination charges?

They're the one off costs of getting your artwork ready to print, as distinct from the cost of printing it.

Depending on the method, that covers making the screens, digitising a design for embroidery, matching ink colours and setting up the machine. It's charged per design rather than per item, which is exactly why the price per unit falls so sharply as quantity rises.

Two things follow from that.

• Reordering the same design is usually cheaper than the first run, because the preparation has already been done.
• Splitting one order into two smaller ones normally costs more than doing it once, because you pay to set up twice.

How much should you budget?

Start from the number of people rather than the number of products.

Work out how many items you need, divide your budget by that number, and you've a per head figure. That figure, rather than a product you've already fallen in love with, is what should drive the shortlist.

Two things to build in that people routinely forget:

• Order a few more than you need. Samples get handed out, items get damaged, and more people turn up than registered. A small overage is cheaper than a second order at a second setup cost.
• Check whether artwork needs work. If you only have a low resolution logo, it may need redrawing before it can be printed properly.

How long does branded merchandise take?

It depends on the product and the branding method, and the honest answer is that we won't quote you a number that applies to the whole range because it wouldn't be true.

What we do instead is show you the actual delivery date for the product and delivery option you've chosen, before you pay rather than after. Once your order is placed, that date is guaranteed, subject to the normal BACS payment conditions.

Where a product supports it, you'll see Free No-Rush, Standard and Express, each with its own date, and dates are chosen per order line rather than for the basket as a whole. So if you're ordering three products for the same event, you can set the timing on each one independently.

If your deadline is genuinely tight, our express range is where to start, because those products are set up for speed.

What actually sets your timeline?

Production is rarely the slowest part. Four other things usually are.

• Collecting sizes. If there's clothing in your order, gathering sizes from everyone is almost always the longest step, and it's entirely within your control.
• Artwork. A vector file goes straight into production. A logo pulled off a website may need redrawing first.
• Approving the proof. Your Visual Proof comes back in around 20 minutes, but the clock then sits with whoever has to sign it off internally. Getting that person lined up in advance saves more time than any production choice.
• Payment. If you're paying by BACS, the order progresses once payment clears, so factor that in.

Seeing your own numbers

Open the product page, enter your quantity, choose your options, and the price and the delivery date update as you go. Try the next quantity break while you're there.

Then request a free Visual Proof. Our in-house designers put your logo on the product and send it back with the price and the date, usually in around 20 minutes, and you can request as many changes as you need before you approve anything. The price on your proof is held for 14 days, so there's time to get it signed off without the figure moving underneath you.

If you've been quoted less elsewhere for a genuinely comparable product, quantity and turnaround, our Price Match covers like for like comparisons.