Counselor’s exclusive ranking of the distributors with the most revenue in the promo products market.

Stran & Company

(asi/337725)

Led by 2023 Counselor Person of the Year CEO Andy Shape, Stran increased full-year sales 35.8% in 2022. Powered in part by capital generated from becoming a publicly traded company in late 2021, Stran made three strategic acquisitions last year, buying distributorships Premier Business Services, GAP Promotions (asi/199882) and Trend Brand Solutions (asi/346428). The acquisitive activity continued with this year’s Q2 purchase of T.R. Miller Co. Inc. (asi/272250) – a branded merchandise provider with a 47-year history and in-house decoration and fulfillment capabilities.

Stran started 2023 with a nearly 29% year-over-year revenue rise in Q1, including 17.7% organic growth. Still, the Quincy, MA-based firm sustained a loss in the quarter, as it did for full-year 2022. The losses have resulted from increased costs related to lead generation, acquisition integration expenses, higher purchase prices, money put into implementing an ERP system, and ongoing outlay tied to being a public company, executives say. Even so, Shape says topline growth is expected to continue and believes that the investments being made now will, in time, set Stran up to be “more profitable than we’ve ever been.”