2023 Top Suppliers: How Hit Promotional Products Built On Its Past Success

As part of Print & Promo Marketing's 2023 Top Suppliers list, we asked some of the top-ranked suppliers about how they managed to continue their growth throughout the uncertainty that has still loomed over 2021 and 2022.

Read on for our conversation with CJ Schmidt, CEO of Hit Promotional Products, the No. 2 supplier on our list. Or, download the full Top Suppliers resource for the complete interviews, detailed stats and analysis for the Top Suppliers list, and results of our 2023 Supplier Excellence Awards

Hit Promotional Products - No. 2
2022 sales: $633,292,865
Largo, Florida
3,735 employees, four locations
Established in 1952

CJ Schmidt

A half-billion-dollar year is a milestone for just about any company. After Hit Promotional Products improved on its previous year by almost 50% — no easy task when you’re dealing in such high figures — it would be easy for the company to rest on its laurels and cruise. But that’s not what CEO CJ Schmidt intends for his company to do. Quite the opposite. On the back of such a successful year, it’s back to the grind to make 2023 and 2024 even more noteworthy. Still, it’s OK to recognize achievement every now and then, and Hit’s place in the silver-medal position is impressive and worthy of all of the accolades.

Schmidt says the plan going forward will be organic growth through channeling resources into areas like new decoration techniques to reach new customers, expanding product offerings, and just overall continuing to grow Hit’s market share.

“We continually work to better the company through product offerings, programs, and more efficient processes,” Schmidt says. “As orders increase, our output must as well. Reinvesting in the business through our people, new machinery and decoration offerings, or increased capacity is the key to maintaining growth.”

Short-Term Goals: The most exciting part of the year might be right around the corner for Schmidt and Hit, as he anticipates the holiday season and fourth quarter of the year to be a pivotal time for programs like kitting. This trend has only gotten more and more popular since the pandemic has caused companies to reach remote workers, or businesses to reach potential customers in their homes through mixtures of promotional products, apparel, edible products, and more — all packaged together with branded boxes and bags.

Schmidt also thinks even more physical growth is coming for Hit Promo in the near future.

“We expect the holiday gift-giving season to kick into full gear in Q4,” Schmidt says. “With our kitting abilities and wide range of gift offerings, we’re poised to handle any type of request. We have some exciting facility growth happening in the next few months that will enable us to further expand for 2024 as well.”

Long-Term Results: Even with the financial success and tangible growth that Hit Promotional Products has enjoyed over the last year, Schmidt underscores that the real metric for his company’s success is the culture that Hit has cultivated with its employees. He’s proud that as the company has set lofty goals for itself, it hasn’t changed how the people at the company feel. There are so many horror stories about fame and money ruining personal relationships, and Schmidt says that that’s something he won’t let happen at Hit. The company still wants to operate like a small business, where it cares about each and every customer, and each facet of the company has a face. It’s not some giant conglomerate.

“Even with the growth we’ve experienced, we’ve been able to maintain a family company feel and develop strong partnerships with our distributors,” he says. “Our relationships are our greatest assets, and we look forward to continuing to grow them as we move forward.”