It’s the most wonderful (and busiest) time of the year for the promotional products industry, as end users begin placing their holiday gifting orders to distributors.

E-commerce platforms and online storefronts have transformed how distributors approach the holiday season, especially as it pertains to corporate gifts, according to Doug Mitchell, chief growth officer at PCNA (PPAI 113079, Platinum), PPAI 100’s No. 3 supplier.


“PCNA is absolutely committed to the business of our distributors, and we want to see and help them grow,” Mitchell says. “We’re using our resources to develop tech to make it a lot easier to do business, both for us and for our distributors with their customers. We’re also super open to feedback.”

  • No stranger to the promo industry, Mitchell served as vice president of partner development at VistaPrint – the No. 36 distributor in the PPAI 100 – from 2005 to 2012.
  • Previously, he was the vice president of performance marketing at Chewy, where he enhanced the retailer’s online customer acquisition and retention programs, and the general manager of supplier advertising and retail media at Wayfair.


Mitchell recently sat down with PPAI Media to discuss his return to promo, the industry’s lagging growth rate and how using online storefronts can enhance your holiday gifting strategy.

PPAI Media: What drew you back to the promotional products industry?

Doug Mitchell: If you look at my resume, I’ve been both an intrapreneur – building businesses within companies – and an entrepreneur – building my own company and having a successful exit there. When I look at PCNA, it goes back to my intrapreneurial roots because there’s an awful lot of opportunities to apply technology to this space to help distributors grow their businesses. That’s an exciting challenge.

For both PCNA and our distributors, adopting and maintaining a growth mindset is super important. The market is super large and super fragmented, so we have to continue to think about how PCNA can build solutions for our distributors so they can serve their customers better.

PPAI Media: What advice can you give distributors who have never launched an online storefront?

Mitchell: We’re anxious to help our distributors reach their customers by providing them with easy-to-use tools to help grow their business. We encourage distributors to get started quickly. Set up a self-promo store now for your clients, thanking them for their business and then invite them to set up stores for their customers as well.

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You want to get experience with the tool, which is why I recommend setting up a self-promo store. It’s really about trial and error.

PPAI Media: Based on PPAI Research’s latest bi-monthly snapshot, the industry continues to experience a modest pace of revenue growth. What are your thoughts on the industry’s progress?

Mitchell: Certainly, there have been headwinds. We’re not seeing the industry expand as quickly as we’d like it to. But programs like Givee Select actually help us from the perspective that if customers want to not buy thousands of the same item and instead offer choice to meet end users where they are, we have opportunities to change how people perceive the promo industry through offering customization and personalization.

It’s no doubt been a challenging market, but it will rebound with the economy and the broader overall sentiment in business. We’re excited to be in the right position to experience that growth with our distributors.

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PPAI Media: What do you think is the biggest obstacle impeding the industry’s growth?

Mitchell: We have to keep listening to our distributors and end users. What are their real needs and are we giving them what they want in a credible and reliable way? When we’re out talking to customers, we hear that there’s an awful lot of value in the personalization and choice that we’re providing the end user.

What I want to make sure that we, as an industry, do, is keep listening to those end customers. If we can delight them, not just fulfilling a good purchase order, but also meeting them where they are and improving their experience, we just have to be on top of that.