USB2U and Promotional USB Memory Sticks – A Look Back at 2013

Well 2013 has been another cracking year for promotional USB memory sticks. At the start of the year some sceptics were suggesting that USB sticks had had their day and sales would start to decline but as far as promotional USB sticks are concerned sales have continue to grow. Here’s our look back at some of the highlights over the past 12 months:

• During 2013 sales grew by another 20% making the year the most successful in our 11 year history. Sales of USB sticks in most months were well into 6 figures and this unprecedented growth looks set to continue into 2014.
• We’ve added lots of new faces across the business during 2013 with new staff joining the Print and Design team, the Operations and Admin team and the Sales team. It’s been great to see the business going from strength to strength and the continued support of our customers has allowed us to invest in the team which in turn allows us to continue to provide an excellent level of customer support.
• Our customers seem to like what we’re doing – we have a rating on TrustPilot of “Excellent” and a TrustPilot score of 9.7 out of 10 – this comes from over 1,250 reviews most of which have been posted in the last year. We’re understandably delighted with this albeit we’re not complacent and we’re doing all we can to push our rating closer to the maximum score of 10.
• Throughout 2013 there was a noticeable increase in the number of customers asking for a 24hr or 48hr delivery option. To meet this demand we’ve increased the number and range of USB sticks that we hold in the UK and we’ve increased our investment in our in-house print and engraving capabilities – we can now comfortably print and engrave well in excess of 5,000 USB sticks a day!
• The “standard” memory size that most customers choose for their promotional USB memory sticks has increased over the year from 1GB to 4GB. The primary reason for this is not because people are loading more data on them but price and availability – prices continue to fall. There is now less than 20p – 30p difference between the price of a 1GB stick and a 4GB stick. With reducing demand 1GB sticks are also much harder to get hold of!
• Sales of fully customised USB flash drives (made into a custom shape) have increased a little but not as much as we expected. Although there are no set-up fees for these custom models the increased lead times and the need to plan ahead seems to put people off.
• USB 3.0 has still not really caught on – after all the hype USB 3.0 has not happened in the promotional sector where it accounts for less than 1% of all sales. Customers “get it” but are rarely willing to pay the premium for USB 3.0.
• Demand for Packaging takes off – with more and more professional photographers now buying USB drives instead of CD’s and DVD’s there has been a noticeable increase in demand for attractive packaging options. To accommodate this we have now increased the range of gift boxes and packaging options we hold in the UK and we’ve launched a dedicated micro site to showcase these to photographers – the response has been phenomenal.

In summary 2013 has been another excellent year and we enter 2014 better placed than ever to support our customers. We expect prices to keep falling and demand to keep growing albeit there is likely to be the usual “blip” with prices around the Chinese New Year period.