Promotional Distributor Built His Business on Brands
Most promotional distributors have built their businesses on promotional products and only dabble in retail brands when clients request them. This St.-Louis based distributor says ge has always focused on name brands.Click here for links to RRN Preferred Solution Providers.
Kicking off his career as a National Hockey League centerman for eight seasons, Mike Zuke says he didn’t come into the promotional products business with any pre-conceived notions about retail- versus non-retail brands after he stumbled into the industry in post-hockey retirement. That is perhaps why he’s one of the few distributors who has focused on brands almost from day-one, since launching his firm about 30 years ago.
His explanation for selling brands is simple. “That’s what our customers want.” His company’s focus on brands was a direct result of customer demand, he explains. He got into the business almost serendipitously, he says, when former colleagues and people in his network began asking if he could help them source apparel and related items for promotions, gifting or company stores. “My customers have almost always sought out brand names in preference to non-retail products,” he adds.
He describes Mike Zuke Enterprises as a full-service promotional products company to help clients find and customize the right corporate apparel or specialty items to meet their needs. “We offer our customers a wide selection of brands to choose from, including top-end apparel lines such as Cutter & Buck, Ashworth, Nike, Ping, Byron Nelson, Perry Ellis, Izod, and Callaway. However, we don’t just stop there. We also offer a number of value-priced apparel lines with many select brands in between,” he explains.
Through Zuke’s background in professional sports, he says, he has developed several business relationships which have allowed him to expand and diversify his product lines. Today, his company is “known for its high standards in both corporate and team apparel and specialty items.” He says he has never quite understood why the promotional industry has traditionally downplayed brands and is not surprised that they are gaining traction in the field. “People prefer name brands. They identify with them and are more likely to value and retain brand-name apparel and other products,” he says.
Zuke is a former Canadian professional ice hockey center who played eight seasons in the NHL, between 1978 and 1986. He played 455 career NHL games, scoring 86 goals with 196 assists for 282 points. According to Wikipedia, he also played NCAA hockey for Michigan Tech and reportedly is the all-time scoring leader with 133 goals and 177 assists for a total of 310 points in 163 games played in his four years there. Zuke is credited with helping the Huskies win the national championship in 1975. He leads the all-time list by an impressive 97 points. He also holds the all-time high for goals and assists respectively.
Mike Zuke Enterprises
636-256-4798
mzuke21@aol.com
www.zukeenterprises.com
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