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It's fairly common for distributors to allocate some design work (ie. embroidery, screen printing) to a third-party company. However, complications can arise and sometimes cause delays for promotional products to get delivered to the clients. Distributors should consider the pros and cons of in-house decoration in order to meet deadlines and allow more creativity to create their products.
When a distributor uses a third-party business to design their products, they often are at the mercy of that company's schedule. The third party might not prioritize the distributor's order or their first designs might not fit what the client wants, causing unnecessary delays. When a distributor owns their own design equipment, they can set their own schedule and create their own samples to show clients, which saves time. In-house designers will show more loyalty to the distributor's brand and yet be given more creativity with their work than an outside party. Distributors also gain more direct revenue when they use their own employees to design their products. The color pattern used in digital printing remains much more consistent in-house. There's less erroneous designs and rejected samples because of better communication between distributors and their clients and that leads to less waste.
While promotional products companies do save money by not outsourcing some decoration work to third parties, that only applies if they already have some designer workers already onboard. For those distributors who don't have employees that decorate their items, they'll need to hire and train new employees. Smaller businesses especially will struggle to pay for more employees, so they might be better off still collaborating with third parties for decoration work.
More equipment and facility space could also lead to drawbacks. Distributors will need to raise more capital to buy more decorating equipment and determine how much to buy based on available workspace. For smaller facilities, consider purchasing direct-to-film transfer printers and small screen printers as they take up less space.
Some distributors try to be an all-in-one decoration shop, but that might not be the best strategy. Look into which printing method is used for the most orders and then gather input from your current employees on which methods they prefer. Distributors should focus on a few specialties rather than do everything in-house. Third-party designers can still be used occasionally for special orders. Owners should talk with their financial department team to figure out which decorating strategy receives the best rate of investment for the company before committing to more equipment or manpower.
If you want more tips or have questions about the pros and cons of in-house decoration, please contact one of our representatives at Brand RPM.