Chinese New Year Will Create the Usual Turmoil in the Promotional USB Flash Drive Market
2013 is the Year of the Snake and anyone buying promotional USB flash drives in the period around Chinese New Year needs to be on their metal because every year we always end up proving an emergency service to companies that fail to understand the consequences of this important national holiday in China.
The Chinese New Year holidays have a direct impact on the availability of promotional USB memory sticks in the UK and Europe because unsurprisingly that’s where 99% of them are manufactured.
The reason for the delay is simply because China takes its New Year celebrations very, very seriously. Factories, offices, schools and many public services close for an extended break to allow their staff to travel what is often many thousands of miles to be with their families for the duration of the holiday. These collective celebrations mean that pretty much everything stops for around 2 weeks.
The “normal” lead times of around 7-10 days that we normally enjoy for the rest of the year can reach up to 6 weeks during the Chinese New Year. Partly this is because the factories anticipate a rush of orders in the run up to the New Year so they stop accepting orders early, then they close for 2 weeks and then when they’re back it takes days to get back up to full production. Even then it can take a week or two to clear the back-logs that have built up during the break!
In 2013 the New Year’s Day is the 10th February with many factories and businesses closing for a week either side of this which in practice means that the end of January is likely to be the last date for new orders for branded USB memory sticks.
So, if you need to order promotional flash drives for delivery in February then you need to get your orders placed the 2nd or 3rd week of January. Order any later than this and you run the risk that they will get caught up in the mayhem that Chinese New Year leaves in its wake!
There are very few companies in the UK or Europe that carry blank stock of USB memory sticks that can be printed or engraved locally and when they do the stock tends to be limited to a couple of basic models in one or two colours.
One notable exception to this is USB2U who carry a wide range of different styles, colours and memory sizes all of which can be printed, engraved and data-loaded and delivered in as little as 24hrs! If do need USB flash drives printed with your logo on from a UK supplier during Chinese New Year (or any other time for that matter) then give the team at USB2U a call.