Small business incentive programs are growing rapidly. According to a recent article from Incentive Magazine, research conducted by the Incentive Federation revealed that a substantial amount of small businesses are now using rewards and recognition programs. The study asked businesses with at least $1 million in annual revenue about their goals, programs, awards they use, and how they measure whether or not their incentives are successful. Most of the smaller firms that responded to the survey spend less than $50K annually on sales incentive programs, whereas firms with revenue of over $10 million spend significantly more annually on their incentive programs. When it comes to the type of reward, electronics came in as the most requested merchandise reward, followed by food and beverage and apparel. Other popular choices were sporting goods, luggage, watches, and home decor.
While the top three rewards are the same for sales programs, the order is different with food and beverage being the most requested followed by electronics and apparel. "As the use of non-cash incentives and rewards continues to grow in the agile economy, understanding and benchmarking how these programs are designed and supported is important both for program owners and their partner suppliers," said Jessica Tadlock, managing director of the Incentive Federation, in a statement. The Federation's goal is to help spread information and raise awareness about the industry while engaging others who can help the incentive market. The small business incentive programs study is just one of several so far this year. The Federation plans to explore issues in a series of upcoming white papers focused on incentive program design, goals and objectives, program spending, program support and reporting. All of the Incentive Federation's latest white papers and studies can be found here.
