For the first time, PPAI has produced a French Sales Volume Study, assessing the state of the branded merchandise industry in France for 2023 and projecting an outlook for the market’s future. The survey was conducted in collaboration with leading promotional products associations and was available in both English and French to ensure accessibility for a wide range of participants.
- The full study, including in-depth insights on product and market categories, is now available to all Professional-tier members via Premium Research. Standard-tier firms can upgrade their PPAI membership here to receive access to the full study.
- The study reflects PPAI’s trusted research methodology, which has been instrumental in identifying and analyzing the unique characteristics of markets across different countries.
- Each country’s market operates differently, and this study underscores the specific dynamics and opportunities within the French promotional products industry, integrating factors in GDP trends and government budgets. When projecting 2024’s sales volume, significant events such as the 2024 Paris Olympics were considered.
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“As long as anyone can remember, there has been a member and staff desire to find new ways to emphasize the ‘I’ in PPAI,” says Josh Ellis, PPAI’s publisher and editor-in-chief. “One of the best ways we can do that is with our expanded research efforts under the leadership of Alok Bhat. This French study follows our release last summer, in which we extended the methodology for the longstanding U.S. Sales Volume Estimate to Canada. The process continues to reveal encouraging, trustworthy results, and we are looking forward to applying it in additional markets.”
The sales volume study estimates the 2023 market size for promotional products in France to be €2.093 billion, which amounts to approximately USD $2.26 billion. An important point of note is that these figures were drawn from distributor surveys, which may differ slightly from similar data that draws exclusively from suppliers.
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- Contextual and relevant political factors mean that the exact process and methodology of conducting sales volume surveys can differ from country to country. PPAI collaborates with local associations such CTCO, European Sourcing, 2FPCO and Premium Sourcing to ensure that the numbers are accurate representations of the promo market. The study was also carried out with the support of the European Association Cooperation (EAC).
“Conducting this research across the United States, Canada and now France has highlighted the unique dynamics that define each regional market,” says Alok Bhat, PPAI’s market economist and research lead. “Each region is shaped by its own cultural nuances, political landscape and economic conditions, which significantly influence promotional products sales and market behavior.
![Alok Bhat headshot](https://www.ppai.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/alok.jpeg)
Alok Bhat
Market Economist & Research Lead, PPAI
“This experience has reinforced the importance of tailoring our analysis to account for these local factors, ensuring that our insights are both relevant and actionable for stakeholders in each market.”
According to Pierre Mirlit, CEO of French-based Infopro Digital, the first sales survey is an important step for the country’s promo market to be able to make more educated decisions based on growth and trends as they develop over time.
“As a board member of 2FPCO, EAC and CTCO general manager, it’s been a pleasure and an honor to collaborate with this PPAI team for this first edition of the French sales survey,” Mirlit says. “The European industry does need more benchmarks and indicators with homogenous practices and methodology.
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Pierre Mirlit
CEO, Infopro Digital
“On top of the obvious value of better knowing our national markets, PPAI’s methodology is the warranty for the European countries of a better understanding of our local specifics, facilitating cooperation and visibility at the European level.”
- Mirlit’s Infopro Digital presents the CTCO trade show in Lyon (February 4-6).
- Ellis, of PPAI Media, will be at the CTCO show presenting on PPAI Research’s data and serving on a panel along with ASI’s Michele Bell and Goldstar’s Heather Smartt.
France Sets Example For Sustainability
It’s been said offhand that Europe tends to be a decade ahead of the U.S. when it comes to sustainability efforts. Indeed, the French promo market is considerably more focused on sustainability at the moment. A vast majority (89.96%) of French promo companies actively engage in sustainability initiatives.
Sustainable products have become a staple of the promo market in France, representing over a third (33.61%) of the country’s total sales volume in 2023. That amounted to €703.41 million spent on sustainable promo products.
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“I remain convinced of the resilience and dynamism of our sector, particularly with regard to our ability to meet the environmental and societal challenges of our clients,” says Derek Rohde, president of Jordenen, one of France’s largest promo companies. “Our industry has made significant progress by investing heavily in concrete and sustainable solutions, integrated not only into our products and services, but also throughout our entire supply chain.“
![](https://www.ppai.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Derek-Rohde.jpg)
Derek Rohde
President, Jordenen
Online Sales Represents Significant Portion of Volume
Of the total 2023 promo sales volume in France, 24.53% can be attributed to online sales through inventory stores and company websites.
- Online sales accounted for €513.38 million in 2023.
- More than half of that amount came from companies that generate over €30 million in annual revenue, suggesting that large companies are leveraging their technology resources toward digital sales.
- Despite the millions of euros generated from online promo sales in France, only 42.75% of companies reported an online presence, signaling miss opportunities for many in the promo market.
Projecting A Decline?
The €2.093 billion in distributor sales in 2023 represented a year-over-year decrease of 1.87% compared to 2022’s total sales volume in France. This came down to €39.09 million less in distributor sales from 2022 to 2023. Unfortunately, as we embark on 2025, projections suggest that the French market is expected to continue that trend of decline with 2024’s totals.
- The sales volume for 2024 is projected to decline by 3.2%, while still expected to surpass €2 billion.
- This modest contraction is due to a number of factors. The 2024 Paris Olympics, for example, while presenting significant opportunities, faced budgetary freezes and political uncertainties that curtailed promotional spending.
- In addition, December 2024, typically representing a peak period for promo spending, underperformed as both corporate and public sector spending remained restrained.
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“These factors, combined with lower-than-anticipated end-user budgets, have amplified the challenges for [French] distributors navigating the current landscape,” Bhat says. “Additional pressures, including modest GDP growth, inflationary trends and selective adoption of sustainability projects, further shaped market behavior.”
Stanislas Confavreux, CEO and founder of SCX Design, says that regulations in the region will continue to create obstacles that require attentiveness for the French promo market. Even so, he says, it’s attention paid to the industry’s strengths that will guide the market forward.
“In terms of challenges, Europe has a particular fondness for regulations in general, and France especially,” Confavreux says. “We often see regulations that are contradictory to one another. Our challenge is to navigate and manage them effectively.
“Back to basics. Our product is an advertisement. If our products aren’t used, they are the most expensive – and the most polluting – in the world. In summary: Do less, but better.”