Trend-driven stationery category

Tünde Sztankovicsné
Kiss
modern trade director
Ico

According to Ico Zrt.’s modern trade director Tünde Sztankovicsné Kiss, stationery and office supplies sales increased thanks to the country’s improving economic situation. From Ico Zrt.’s business lines retail performed the best, which in part has to do with changing consumption habits: shoppers are focusing more on convenience factors, which facilitates making buying decisions.

Tímea Leidenfrost
marketing manager
Stabilo

Tímea Leidenfrost, marketing manager of Stabilo International GmbH’s Hungarian Branch Office told our magazine that their sales increased by double-digit numbers in 2019. From their partners, hypermarkets were the most successful, because they worked very hard to strengthen the school-starting season. In other parts of the year, consumers like to visit stationery stores.

Quality, stability and reliability

Aleksandar Nikolic
commercial director
Ars Una Studio

Aleksandar Nikolic, commercial director of Ars Una Studio Kft. agreed that 2019 was successful in all segments. Ars Una managed to preserve its market leader position in the schoolbag category last year. The commercial director revealed that sales grew the fastest in the online channel, but the company’s own shops also did well.

Zoltán Kovács, managing director of Barát Papír Kft. talked to Trade magazin about how they prefer selling traditional Western European brands. Partners demand the quality level and stability guaranteed by these popular brands, and their reliability in terms of both delivery and marketing support.

Zoltán Pintér
sales manager
Lizzy Card Papír

In 2019 Lizzy Card Papír Kft. increased sales in both the domestic and the international market. Sales manager Zoltán Pintér said: online sales increased further, while in the offline channel sales are shifting from hypermarkets to discounters and traditional retail outlets.

The demand for premium stationery is on the rise, whereby brand loyalty and consciousness of customers tend to grow

Functionality matters more

Ars Una knows how important product quality and design are to customers, but in addition to these functionality is also crucial: their schoolbags are ergonomic and designed to be practical in daily use, plus they are durable too. Barát Papír Kft.’s managing director called attention to the importance of products having the necessary specifications and test results, e.g. testifying that they aren’t toxic, etc. Lizzy Card Papír Kft.’s sales manager revealed that year after year shoppers attach greater significance to the usability and usefulness of products. Demand is on the rise for the products and brands developed by the company. ICO Zrt. offers green solutions for office and home use. They sell products made of biodegradable plastic-based and recycled paper too. The company’s experience is that more shoppers want to buy colourful stationery products and office supplies with a modern design. Stabilo’s marketing manager talked to us about the dominance of pastel colours and revealed that there is no big consumer demand for eco-friendly products yet.

When it comes to school bags, not only esthetics but also functionality matters. No wonder, since the majority of these products are designed for little kids.

The pandemic triggered a market restructuring

Mr Pintér told our magazine that the coronavirus pandemic speeded up the development of e-commerce and strengthened the significance of product reliability and quality. Ms Sztankovicsné Kiss introduced the new innovations ICO launched during the COVID-19 pandemic: the company’s antibacterial product range is the perfect solution where ballpoint pens are used by a large number of people. Ms Leidenfrost expects the further strengthening of the green trend. Mr Kovács thinks that with the conquest of home office work sales of certain product types are likely to drop. Mr Nikolic shed light on the fact that Ars Una has had its own team of graphic designers for years, so they have the freedom of not having to follow the existing trends, they can create their own collections instead.

The growth of the stationery market is moderate, but constant

Growing product selection

The most popular Stabilo product is Point 88 felt tip pen, from which they sell more than 1.7 million per year. This year they came out with the new felt tip pen product Pen 68 brush. They also put a gel pen Palette on the market. From Ico Zrt.’s products the Süni brand is the best-known. Süni products are the market leader in several categories, and in recent years sales of Süni exercise books have been growing the fastest. This year they are waiting for the parents of schoolchildren with tempera paint in sets of 12, 20g plasticine and 18- and 24-piece sets of antibacterial felt tip pen.

Classic cartoon licences started to lose importance, customers tend to value unique ideas and developments instead

Innovative new products

The main products of Ars Una Studio Kft. are school bags, gym bags, pencil cases, water bottles and exercise books. This year they present many new collections to primary and secondary school students alike. Lizzy Card Papír Kft.’s top products are backpacks, premium gym bags and water bottles. Barát Papír Kft.’s customers show the biggest interest in Argus postcards, Blasetti exercise books, Brunnen office supplies, and Jolly and Adél stationery products. //