Factors affecting the Price of Promotional Products
David Platt • 16 February 2026
A guide to the price of branded merchandise
This is an explanation of the factors that affect the price of promotional branded merchandise. Whilst every product will have a different price point based on the quality of that product and the materials from which it is constructed, each individual product will have a price which varies because of
1. Quantity ordered
2. The chosen decoration method
3. The logo and the number of colours
4. Shipping costs
You can watch the Video below or on YouTube
1. Quantity
Branded promotional goods are very sensitive to quantity. That's not just because of volume discounts, although there are discounts, it's because by definition, they're branded.
What that means is that whether you are printing, embroidering or laser engraving, there's a setup cost. This is the initial expense of translating the artwork ready for the decoration process
.
Set up costs vary widely. It could be £25, £50 or much more depending on the method of decoration. But if it was £50, for example, and the quantity was 50, then of course you've got to pay at least a pound a unit to cover the setup costs. A quantity of a hundred and that goes down to 50p per unit, etc, etc.. You get the idea. What it means is that branded promotional goods are very sensitive, to the quantity that you order. It makes small quantities particularly expensive.
2. Method of branding
Second is the nature of the branding. I mentioned embroidery and print. Depending upon the nature of the branding that you go for, that setup, cost will vary even for the same logo
Embroidery particularly is quite high on the set up costs. Pad printing being quite low. So, your choice of branding mechanism affects the price. Some items can only be branded by one method, but a T shirt has 4 or 5 possibilities (Screen, Embroidery, Transfer, DTG).
The number of branding positions also adds to the cost – this occurs on clothing when branded to front, sleeve and nape of neck for example
Not only are the set up costs different for each type of decoration costs the ‘run-on’ costs can vary as well.
Of course, each method of decoration has its advantages and disadvantages – not surprisingly the higher the costs the higher the quality of the finished logo.
3. The logo and number of colours
The nature of your logo will affect the costs. Some branding methods with low costs are well suited simple block colours and designs but cannot handle tones. Screen printing for example would work well for this logo:
But not this one with its shading and tones:
You can of course create tones and shading in the branding but that may affect the costs.
The one factor that does affect the cost is the number of colours for say screen or pad printing because it will add to the cost of set-up. So, if it's one colour, it's much cheaper than when you get to three or four colours.
And therefore, not only does the price go up, because of the additional set up, but also the sensitivity to quantity goes up.
4. Shipping
Final point, and this is the one to watch for, is shipping costs. Most promotional goods companies will quote the price but not the delivery charge. Now that's fair because of course they don't where it's going unless you state it in when you make your enquiry. Final destination can make it quite expensive and can be a large part of the total price, whether it's UK, Europe, Singapore… particularly if the item is heavy like a notebook.
So those are the factors to consider - quantity, the nature of your branding, the number of colours in your logo and the shipping costs.
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