OFFICE SPACE

As of late, there are a few unexpected office and desk trends. “Buyers have become increasingly interested in weather functions on desk products,” noted Bohmer. “The interest in the weather functions may be the result of the major weather catastrophes worldwide over the past few years.”

One seemingly paradoxical trend was noticed by Tim O’Boyle, vice president of sales at Journalbooks, Charlotte, N.C. “We find that the tech sector buys a lot of journals and calendars,” noted O’Boyle. “The technology explosion has had a very positive effect” on journals and notebooks. He said, even though people rely on electronics “they still like to have a backup.” No matter what the business, “people still like to have things they can write on.”

One of the selling points of journals as office and desk products has been the quality of the imprinting. “Because you can imprint custom pages,” O’Boyle said, “you can create different niche products for different industries very easily.”

Bohmer also noted the effect of the print process on sales. “Digitally printed products have experienced a tremendous amount of activity from end-users,” he pointed out. “The ability to do multiple color imprints [and] reproduce photographs or images enhances the visual appeal of the product.”

Working in conjunction with imprint capability, style also plays a role in an item’s success. Leed’s has found continuous success with leather products and Journalbooks has also found success in leather items. “Within the promotional products industry, leather is always going to have a special place in our hearts,” said Hoylman, adding that a nicely debossed leather item is “timeless.”

Staple items will adapt to changing office desks and other items are meeting the needs of mobile offices. “I don’t think that the pure traditional desktop and office items are changing,” said Hoylman. “I think that it’s actually cropping up a whole new set of subcategories and categories around travel.”