The Top Trends from Merchandise World 2026
As brands plan their promotional campaigns for 2026, staying ahead of merchandise trends is essential for creating memorable customer experiences. To bring the latest ideas and innovations back to our clients, our team attended Merchandise World 2026 in Coventry, the UK’s leading trade show for promotional products, branded merchandise, and corporate gifting solutions.
With hundreds of suppliers showcasing new and emerging products, the event provided valuable insight into what will shape the promotional merchandise industry in the year ahead. Below, we highlight the trends we believe will have the biggest impact on brand engagement and customer marketing strategies.
What's Trending in Promotional Merchandise for 2026?
The Untagged Movement
A major trend at Merchandise World is the growing demand for purpose-driven promotional products, items that contribute to wellbeing, positive social impact, or community programs.
The Untagged Movement is a purpose-led range of branded apparel. Each garment features a QR code on the care label, allowing wearers to trace the sustainability story from material sourcing to manufacturing. The code also provides details on water saved, carbon footprint, care instructions, repair guidance, and end-of-life disposal.
Brands increasingly want merchandise that reflects their values. This movement helps organisations create meaningful connections while strengthening their corporate social responsibility strategy.
Interactive Point of Sale: Immersive Branded Experiences
Interactive POS solutions are transforming the way brands engage customers at retail, events, and exhibitions. From tactile displays to digital tools, these innovations create strong visual impact and deeper interaction.
Interactive POS can help your brand achieve:
- Improved customer engagement
- Stronger brand storytelling
- Memorable, immersive experiences
NFC-Enabled Merchandise: Smarter Customer Journeys
NFC-integrated products were a standout feature across the show. These smart items allow users to tap their merchandise with a phone to access digital content, websites, loyalty rewards, onboarding materials, and more.
This trend adds value for users while providing measurable insights for brands, making NFC merchandise ideal for events, training, onboarding, and customer retention programs.
UK Made Promotional Merchandise
We always champion UK-made promotional merchandise and include these options in our proposals whenever possible. Choosing UK manufacturing comes with a host of benefits: it supports local jobs and the UK economy, offers faster lead times, reduces carbon emissions by avoiding overseas shipping, and ensures higher quality control. Popular UK-made products include drinkware, plants and seeds, awards, badges, coasters, phone stands, confectionery, sticky notes, and stationery, giving your brand thoughtful, sustainable, and high-quality options for any campaign. The effort we put into promoting UK Made merchandise was recently recognised with an award win… which we’ll come onto in a minute!
Nostalgia Merchandise and Games: Feel-Good Branding
Retro-inspired products and nostalgic games such as the Rubik’s Cubes are making a strong return. These items are especially effective for:
- Event giveaways
- Welcome packs
- Team-building activities
- Brand activations
By tapping into nostalgia, brands can spark emotional connections and strengthen long-term recall.
Celebrating Industry Excellence: Geiger Wins the BPMA BRIMAN Award
After day one of Merchandise World, the team attended the BPMA Annual Awards. We are proud to share that Geiger Ltd has been awarded the BRIMAN Award at the BPMA Annual Awards 2026. This recognition reflects our commitment to high-quality, UK-made promotional merchandise and responsible sourcing.
For our customers, this means access to:
- Premium British-made merchandise
- Shorter UK manufacturing lead times
- Lower carbon impact
- Trusted supply chain quality
Looking Ahead
Merchandise World 2026 highlighted the exciting direction of the industry: more interactive, more sustainable, more purposeful, and more connected than ever.
Whether you are refreshing your promotional strategy, planning a product launch, or exploring new client engagement ideas, these trends can help your brand stand out and resonate with your audience.
If you would like tailored recommendations or support choosing the right merchandise for your campaign, our team is here to help.
