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Posts Tagged ‘USB Memory Sticks’

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Early USB Flash Drive Trends in 2011

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

With April almost upon us it’s a good time to reflect on the 1st quarter of 2011 and look at what early trends are emerging in the promotional USB flash drive market.

Overall the market remains buoyant with sales of branded USB flash drives running at higher levels than during the same period of 2010. Given the recent challenges in the market following the disaster in Japan its perhaps surprising that volumes have not only held up but have exceeded those of a year ago. All indications are that this early momentum will continue throughout 2011 resulting in another record-breaking year for the humble, but ever so popular USB flash drive.

The fundamental drivers behind this continued growth are falling prices, larger memory sizes (at a better price), continued innovation in the design of flash drives (shapes, styles, materials) and an un-quenched appetite from consumers for flash drives.

As prices fall and larger memory sizes of USB flash drives become more affordable we’re also seeing some cannibalisation of the CD and DVD market. Increasingly promotional USB memory sticks are loaded with sales brochures, PDFs, movie clips, web links and so on before they are distributed. The savings made by not printing and transporting large sales brochures and technical data sheets can often more than offset the cost of buying the branded USB sticks and this, when it’s realised, again fuels the demand.

The most popular models of USB flash drives so far in 2011 are:

  1. Twister USB Flash Drive – This is an old favourite and continues to be in high demand. It’s a simple, small and portable product that takes print well, can be supplied with a pantone matched body shell and is also available with a range of different colours clips (the bits that rotate or “twist” around the shell to form the cap)

    Twister USB Flash Drives

    Twister USB Flash Drives

  2. Credit Card USB Flash Drives – These have been around for a couple of years but it’s the introduction of the new thin series (only 2mm thick) that has pushed sales forward. With plenty of space to print onto its possible to achieve some stunning effects with these USB cards.

    Credit Card Flash Drives

    Credit Card Flash Drives

  3. Bamboo and Wooden USB flash Drives – For any company that is pushing an “eco-friendly” message then these wooden and bamboo USB sticks are ideal. There’s no compromise on the overall aesthetic or performance and they can be supplied in recycled packaging as well just to reinforce the “eco” message.

    Wooden USB Twister

    Bamboo USB Twister

In the future expect USB 3.0 USB flash drives (these are drives that use the new Superspeed protocol) to start to gain a foothold in the market. At the moment the price premium for these versions mean very few are being used by the promotional sector but it’s a fast moving market and by the end of 2011 things could look very different.

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Early USB Flash Drive Trends in 2011

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Fund Raising Using USB Memory Sticks

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Whether you’re on the local Parish Council and raising funds to maintain the local village church or raising funds to support your local school, playgroup or junior football team, one of the many challenges you’ll face is to keep coming up with new ideas to ensure the money continues to roll in.

There are of course plenty of “old favourites” like quiz nights, car boot sales, jumble sales, coffee mornings, sponsored events and scavenger hunts but most well established fund raising groups will have already tried these and will have exhausted the interest in them. The use of a fundraising blog sites or Facebook page dedicated to the cause will help to maintain the interest and keep people appraised of your efforts but fundamentally it’s a continuous supply of new fundraising ideas that are needed together with a committed bunch of people to implement them.

Flash Drive Fundraising

Flash Drive Fundraising

One new idea that is beginning to find favour with some groups is to use a branded USB memory stick to generate revenue. The concept is simple:

  • The USB memory sticks are printed or engraved with details of the fundraising challenge – this could include a logo, a key date, a web site address, a phone number etc.
  • The USB memory sticks could be loaded with information about the fundraising cause including background articles, video clips, details of what the money will be spent on, profiles of the people or teams involved, dynamic links to any internet Blog sites or Facebook pages, in fact anything can be pre-loaded onto the USB sticks.
  • The finished branded USB memory sticks are then sold for a profit by whatever means is possible.

There are lot of suppliers of promotional and branded USB flash drives in the UK and even with a custom print and dataload onto the USB drives you’ll be surprised at how cheap they are to buy. Of course you’ll typically need to order at least 100 to get a good price but if you can you’ll find there is plenty of scope to sell them for a profit.

There are lots of different designs and styles to choose from and typically your supplier will have in-house designers that can help you with the layout and artwork. You’ll need to supply any data you want pre-loading onto the USB sticks and you’ll need to allow around 10 days for delivery so do plan ahead if this is something you want to do.

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Fund Raising Using USB Memory Sticks

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Spring has Definitely Sprung and USB Flash Drives Are Flourishing

Monday, March 28th, 2011

What a difference a few weeks make. It seems only yesterday that we were facing blizzard conditions with airports and roads closed and much of the UK’s infrastructure coming to a standstill. Look out of the window today and what a difference – the sun is up, temperatures are rising and despite all the doom and gloom about the economy, there’s a really positive feel in the air.

Spring is also a time when trade shows and trade fairs kick-off with a vengeance. Look at the schedule of forthcoming shows and you’re see a crammed diary with shows covering all manner of topics an subjects including flower shows, caravan fairs and birdwatching to name but a few. As we drag ourselves out of our “winter hibernation” many of the shows have a real Spring feel to them.

The exhibitors at these show and fairs invest huge sums of money to attract potential customers to their stands with the typical cost of attending a national show running into many thousands of pounds. For the larger companies a show budget running into six figures is not unusual.

Spring USB Flash Drives

Spring USB Flash Drives

The majority of the costs are taken up by fees to the shows organisers (space fees) and the costs of the booth or stand. Small “extras” at the show like power sockets, signage, carpets and build costs also add significantly to the typical spend.

Much of the job of driving customers to the shows tends to be left to the shows organisers but once the attendees are in the show halls its down to the exhibitors to get their stand to draw in the customers. Some companies will rely on the compelling nature of their products or offer to draw the customers in, others will be confident in the sales skills of their staff to lure customers to the stand but for many they’ll combine these with a “giveaway” that can be picked up on the stand.

Typical show giveaways include printed bags, promotional sweets (again, often branded with a logo), soft drinks, caps, pens and stress balls. Another technique is to run a business card draw for a larger gift like an iPad or iPhone – show attendees are simply encouraged to hand over a business card which in turn is included in the prize draw.

Another promotional product that is finding favour with exhibitors is the branded USB flash drive. These are customised versions of a standard flash drive that can be printed with the exhibitors company logo, phone number and web address and more importantly they can be pre-loaded with the exhibitors sales brochures, price lists, product images, video clips and audio files.

The beauty of the branded USB flash drive is that it has a high perceived value, it will, without doubt, be popular and attract customers and its costs can be offset by the saving made by not printing and transporting brochures etc. Unlike other “giveaways” that frequently end up in the bins outside of the exhibition halls USB flash drives will be kept and will, in most cases, be used again and again so any company using them will be assured on on-going brand exposure.

Whilst promotional products and giveaways typically account for less than 5% of a show budget it’s important that this spend works and is effective not only during the show but also ideally after the show. Branded USB flash drives deliver on this aspiration hence why more and more of them will be given away at trade show and fairs this year.

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Spring has Definitely Sprung and USB Flash Drives Are Flourishing

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Branded USB Memory Sticks – 5 Reasons to Data Load

Friday, March 11th, 2011

If like thousands of companies and schools this year you are considering giving away (or in some cases selling) USB memory sticks with your logo or brand printed on them then there are some key points to consider. Some of the most basic things are to:

  • Ensure you have good quality artwork for your logo or brand. Don’t just “cut and paste” your logo from your web site and expect this to be suitable. You must have high resolution, print ready images otherwise the final print will appear “blotchy”.
  • Leave enough time – ideally allow at least 10 working days for the delivery of your order. The clock usually starts ticking on the 10 days from the point you sign-off your proof so you might want to factor in a couple of extra days to allow for this.
  • Branded USB memory sticks come in a wide range of styles, colours and materials. Choosing one that shows off your brand is not always easy so if your supplier offers a “free design and mock-up” service then make sure you take advantage of it to help you make the right decision.
  • Don’t pay for memory you are not going to use – a 1GB USB memory stick is the “norm” these days because these allow plenty of space to store data, they’re useful enough to encourage on-going usage but you won’t be paying a premium for storage you don’t need. Prices start to ramp up quite significantly when you get up to 4GB and beyond.
  • Make sure you buy from a reputable supplier. Unfortunately there are many unscrupulous suppliers of branded USB memory sticks around who tempt unwitting customers in with attractive prices only to deliver sticks made using recycled flash memory chips (prone to failure) or “masked” chips (low memory chips dressed up to look like larger chips).
Twister USB Memory Sticks

Twister USB Memory Sticks

When you’ve made your decision on what to buy and who to buy from don’t forget the option to pre-load the USB memory sticks with data before you take delivery of them. Here are 5 really good reasons why this makes senses:

  1. Print costs are expensive (even if you use your own printers) so it makes sense to pre-load onto your USB flash
    USB Data loading

    USB Data loading

    drives any sales brochures, technical documents, product guides, press releases and so on. By doing this not only will you save the cost of getting them printed but also you won’t have to pay transport costs to ship them around the country.

  2. Loaded data can include dynamic applications or links, which can start up as soon as the USB memory stick is inserted into a USB port on a PC or Mac. This is a great way to direct prospective customer to your web site or to get them engaged in an interactive brochure.
  3. Customers and clients prefer to take your brochures away on a USB stick rather than have to carry them around with them all day or evening – just check out the rubbish bins outside trade and retail shows and fairs, its shocking how many brochures are just dumped at the earliest opportunity. Put them on a flash drive that has a high-perceived value and it’s unlikely they suffer the same fate.
  4. Reduce your mailing costs – a number of large companies that historically have posted large catalogues or complex trade brochures are now pre-loading these onto USB sticks and mailing the sticks out. The cost savings on the postage can more than offset the cost of buying the USB memory sticks.
  5. By getting the data pre-loaded when your branded USB memory sticks are produced you save the heartache of having to load them yourself. Don’t underestimate how long this can take. Specialist suppliers use professional data-loading equipment that can load 20-30 sticks at a time and then check the data has loaded correctly and without any viruses.

Our advice is to use the memory space on a USB stick before you distribute them – its criminal not to particularly as most suppliers will load data free of charge these days!

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Branded USB Memory Sticks – 5 Reasons to Data Load

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Flash Drive Prices Fall in February

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

After several months of volatility, the price of USB flash drives finally started to level out and show the first signs of sustained falls towards the latter end of February 2011.

USB Flash drive with stock exchange style numbers and graphicsSeveral factors have come together to drive these price reductions:

1)      Factories Return – The factories that manufacture the USB flash drives in China are now back up to full speed following the prolonged closure that takes place every year around the Chinese New Year holidays. In the build up to the holidays the factories see a huge surge in demand as customers try to get their orders shipped before the 3-week closure. This creates a short term “blip” in pricing as demand outstrips supplies.

Once the factories are back at work and the production lines are again running at full speed there is typical a “post Chinese New Year Holiday void” that needs filling and this leads to a fall in the price.

2)      Sterling gains ground against the Dollar – Typically all of the factories that manufacture USB flash drives ask to be paid in US Dollars so the end price in the UK and Europe is subject to any fluctuations in the currency market. From a high of $1.44 to the £1 in 2010 the dollar has now weakened to $1.63 – a fall of around 13%. This fall maps directly onto the price of the flash drives sold in the UK and Europe. Ironically, rising interest rates (or the expectation of rising interest rates) which are painful for consumers and businesses are driving the current strength of Sterling and driving down imports like USB flash drives.

3)      Seasonal Trends – history shows that price of flash memory and USB flash drives falls steadily between February and June, In June the manufactures of some of the most popular consumer brands electrical products (mobile phones, tablets, MP3 players etc.) all start placing their Christmas orders and this spike in demand drives up prices again.

So, if you are looking to buy USB flash drives and you’re requirement is not time critical then the best time to place your order is typically between late February and May. If you miss this window then try and leave it until September when prices start to fall again.

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Flash Drive Prices Fall in February

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Colour Matched USB Memory Sticks

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

One of the best and simplest ways to really make your branded USB memory sticks stand out from the crowd is to get the body shell of the memory stick colour matched to one of the primary colours from your logo. Most USB memory

USB March Offer

USB2U March Offer

sticks are available in a small range of standard colours (usually primary colours like red, blue and yellow) and whilst they look fine printed there is no denying that a custom, pantone matched body shell that compliments the printed logo looks better and leaves a stronger lasting impression.

Colour matching or Pantone Matching as it is sometimes called involves mixing inks into the plastic case of the memory sticks during the manufacturing process. As such the finished shells tend to be specific to a particular customer and therefore typically carry a price premium – not least because of the additional effort and material involved in producing the USB shells in short production runs.

During March, USB2U are running a special promotion and offering FREE Pantone Matching of USB Memory sticks – all you have to do to qualify is order at least 100 USB sticks and specify the colour you want them produced in when you place the order. If you’re not sure what colour shell to choose then don’t worry because they have an experienced in-house design team that can work up lots of different examples for you to choose from.

To make things really interesting USB2U have also combined the FREE Colour Matching offer with a FREE Data-loading service (up to 100MB) and they’ll even pack your printed, pantone matched and data-loaded USB memory sticks in a cute little gift box for you!

So, if you are looking for some branded or printed USB memory sticks during March then get yourself over to USB2U and get yourself a quote for some colour matched sticks – you won’t regret it.

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Colour Matched USB Memory Sticks

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Printed USB Memory Sticks for Only £1.99 (inc. Print Charges)

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

The demand for promotional USB memory sticks continues unabated with millions expected to be given away in 2011. The year has already gotten off to a flyer albeit the supply issues brought on by Chinese New Year have created a temporary challenge for many UK and European memory sticks resellers.

Now the holiday is over and the factories are back at work production is once again running at full capacity as they try

512MB Flash Drives for £1.99

512MB Flash Drives for £1.99

to deal with the backlogs the holiday inevitably creates.

Post Chinese New year prices tend to ease a little and drift slowly downwards throughout the summer months before ramping up again as demand for Christmas kicks in. This year, the slow drift downwards, is being helped by the weakening of the USD ($) which today stands at around $1.62 against the GBP (£).

The consequence of these events means that we are now able to offer 512MB printed USB flash drives for only £1.99* each. This includes a two-colour print, free data loading (up to 100MB) and a free standard gift box (or the drives can be bulk supplied in “poly bags” if preferred).

The £1.99 applies to our “Classic” range of USB memory sticks including the ever-popular Twister USB flash drive. There are no hidden set-up charges or print charges. The only additional cost is delivery, which is a standard £10 for next day delivery by UPS.

Our lead time is 10 days from confirmation of order but we do hold lots of stock that we can print and deliver within 48hrs if you’re in a hurry – just ask one of the team for details of the available stock because it changes daily.

If you’re an existing customer, a school, a university or a public authority then you can also take advantage of 30-day payment terms on your orders.

With pricing at this level printed USB flash drives have never been cheaper and never been within the reach of companies and schools. Interested – Give us a call on FreeFone 0800 008 7079 or request a quote via our web site.

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Printed USB Memory Sticks for Only £1.99 (inc. Print Charges)

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USB Flash Drives For Schools – Instant Credit and Discounted Prices

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

If you’re looking for a supplier of USB flash drives for your school and you’re not already buying them from USB2U then a detention or 100 lines of “I must buy my USB flash drives from USB2U” might be in order!

At USB2U we’ve been supplying printed and fully customised USB flash drives to schools and universities since 2002

School USB Flash Drives

School USB Flash Drives

and whilst no one likes a “show-off” we are delighted to have been chosen as the supplier of choice to so many of the UK’s leading education establishments.

We believe the reason we’re chosen is because of our commitment to providing a product and service that exceeds expectations at a price that our competitors simply cannot match. We do this without any compromise on the quality of the USB flash drives or the quality of the design and print. We only use brand new Grade A memory chips and we have rigorous quality checks in place throughout the manufacturing process and a final QA check before the flash drives leave our warehouse.

The bottom line is we want you to be happy with the USB flash drives we supply because we’d like you to come back and buy them from us year after year – we go the extra mile to make sure we not only give you the best possible terms but you also get the best product we can supply.

Our standard offer to schools and universities includes:

FREE Credit Terms – no checks, no forms, no fuss, we offer 30 day terms to all schools including Young Enterprise Groups within schools.

FREE Delivery – if you’re on the UK mainland we will ship out your order of USB flash drives at no extra cost – we use UPS overnight service to give your peace of mind.

School USB Memory Sticks

School USB Memory Sticks

FREE Data Loading – if you want to pre-load the USB flash drives with say a copy of the school prospectus, application forms, OFSTED reports or anything else we’ll happily do this (max free load is 100MB)

FREE Lanyards or Keyrings – order over 100 pieces and we’ll throw in a plain lanyard or a keyring attachment for every flash drive.

FREE Design Support – our in-house designers works with our school and university clients to prepare mock-ups, re-draw artwork, set up the supplied artwork and assist in whatever way they can to ensure the flash drives create a real “wow” when they arrive.

FREE Samples – we supply sample Flash Drives (dummy samples) so that you can check the build quality and dimensions etc. before you order.

Best Prices for USB Flash Drives – we offer significantly discounted terms to all schools and universities irrespective of the quantity ordered.

Convinced? We hope so. If you’d like a quote then just call us on our Freefone number (0800 008 7079) or fill in the quote request form on our web site and one of our team will get back to you in a flash!

USB Flash Drives for Schools

USB Flash Drives for Schools

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USB Flash Drives For Schools – Instant Credit and Discounted Prices

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Branded USB Flash Drives Deliver The News

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

If you’re sighted you take reading the newspaper or your favourite magazines for granted but if you’re blind or partially sighted then it’s much more of a challenge! Being blind or partially sighted is hard enough but to lose your sight and then lose the pleasure of reading can be particularly hard for many people to take.

talking newpaper

Carrot Talking Newspaper

Fortunately, and thanks in the main to volunteer organisations, the blind and partially sighted are able to continue to enjoy their newspapers or magazines by virtue of a “Talking Newspaper”. A Talking Newspaper, as the name implies, is an audio recording of the newspaper(s), magazine or in some cases a summary of local affairs. The recordings are often made by volunteer readers and recorded onto a cassette tape, or CD that is then posted out to the reader. Occasionally the talking newspaper is emailed out as an audio file attachment.

A more recent innovation in the world of Talking Newspapers is the use of USB flash drives. These ubiquitous little devices are ideal for the storage of audio and media files, they are small enough to “pop in the post”, they’re easy to use and they are very easy to re-write the newspapers and magazines to over and over again.

Duplicating and preparing the “talking newspapers” before distribution is fast and easy with a USB flash drive and certainly significantly quicker than copying the recording onto a tape cassette.

Cassette tapes are losing their popularity because fewer people have cassette players these days and the tapes themselves are prone to failure/damage.

Whilst there are only a small number of talking newspapers using USB flash drives at the moment the positive feedback from the newspapers and its “readers” suggest that it’s a format that is popular and as such is likely to see much greater use in the near future.

If you are a volunteer organisation that produces Talking Newspapers and you’re interested in using USB flash drives then give the team at USB2U a call and they’ll take you through the options and prices.

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Buying Branded USB Flash Drives – Beware Chinese New Year Delays

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

The biggest and most important holiday in China is the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) and in 2011 it will be the Year of the Rabbit. The festival to celebrate the New Year begins on the first day of the first lunar month and ends with a Lantern Festival 15 days later.

In 2011, The Year of the Rabbit the New Year festivities will officially start on the 3rd February but for many the holidays will start before this date to allow them time to travel home to be with their families.

The factories that manufacture USB flash drives will close on 26th January and re-open on the 14th February. During this time nothing gets manufactured. It’s not just the USB factories that close, pretty much the whole country closes for business including the freight networks and carriers (UPS, TNT, DHL, etc.) that move the shipments of the flash drives out of the country.

Even when the factories return to work there is usually a delay of around 2-3 days before production gets back to normal but even then there is normally a backlog of orders to deal with. As a consequence the lead-time for branded USB flash drives can increase during the period around Chinese New Year from 10 days to 28 days!

Chinese New Year - Flash Drives

Chinese New Year - Flash Drives

The last day for orders for USB drives that are to be produced and printed at the factories in China is 18th January. Order placed after this date are unlikely to be delivered until late February!

Our advice is to plan ahead and get your order(s) in early to avoid disappointment.

Some UK suppliers of flash drives do hold blank (unprinted) stock of the more popular models and memory sizes in the UK. These can then be printed or finished with a dome sticker and turned around in a few days. But if past years are anything to go by this stock goes quickly and prices are increased to reflect demand and to reflect the higher costs of printing and handling in the UK.

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