• Incentive program planners say merchandise incentives and travel incentives are more compelling than cash
  • Sixty-eight percent of respondents say bonus payments can have a negative impact if they are not paid or are not large enough
  • Three of five respondents say merchandise or travel is preferred because they are more like a gift
  • Three of five respondents say that a cash payment is perceived to be part of an employee's total remuneration package
• Use of merchandise and travel items for motivation/incentive applications is higher today than in 1999: consumer promotions (up from sixty-six percent to seventy-seven percent); sales incentives (up from seventy-eight percent to eighty-two percent); dealer incentives (up from forty-eight percent to fifty-seven percent); and non-sales recognition/motivation (up from sixty-one percent to sixty-seven percent).
• When setting incentive goals, respondents set a slightly higher increase in volume as a goal for consumer promotions (+24%), in comparison to volume increases they set for sales incentives (+19%) and dealer incentives (+18%).
• The most popular merchandise items that planners might use for future programs are apparel, clocks and watches, desk accessories, food & beverage, gift certificates, plaques and trophies, tools and writing instruments.
• Individual domestic travel continues to be popular for consumer promotions and sales incentives whereas group domestic travel is popular for sales incentives and dealer incentives.
• Fifteen-percent of respondents have used the internet to run an incentive program, up from only four percent in 1999.
• Almost half of all respondents who have not run an online incentive program say the reason is because they are not sure how online incentive programs work; one-third say participants have limited access to the internet.
• The survey suggests that suppliers of incentive programs, including agencies, should educate users about the benefits of online incentive programs including ease of administration and lower costs.
• When buying merchandise incentives, incentive program planners most often access merchandise from the following suppliers: promotional products/ad specialty distributors, direct from the manufacturer and incentive companies.
• When buying travel incentives, direct purchase and corporate travel agencies are a key source.

Conducted in spring 2003, the study was prepared by the Center for Concept Development, Ltd. Executives in manufacturing, services, finance, insurance, transportation, communications, and utilities, among other industries, were queried about their own experience using merchandise and travel related items in consumer promotions, sales incentives, dealer incentives, and non-sales related recognition programs. Six thousand questionnaires were mailed out; almost 600 were completed and returned.

The following members of The Incentive Federation sponsored the study: Association of Retail Marketing Services, Incentive Marketing Association, The Motivation Show by Hall-Erickson, Inc., Promotion Marketing Association, Promotional Products Association International, and the SITE Foundation.

* For further information about this study, e-mail Incentivefed@aol.com.