New stationery industry report by Marketmedia24 forecasts growth up to 2030.
The German stationery industry has been suffering from declining sales for years. From 2012 to 2022 the market volume fell by almost 22%, according to a result from the current “Branchen REPORT Paper, Office Supplies and Stationery 2023” by Marketmedia24, Cologne.
But the study also shows positive signals; the sales losses, which were specifically caused by the pandemic, not only lessened in the past year, but in some cases turned positive again. And although the framework conditions remain crisis-driven, Volker Jungeblut, Managing Director of the Association of the Stationery Brand Industry, is confident “that 2023 can be a good year for the industry if inflation can be curbed”.
According to this, PBS sales will be able to increase to almost €12.4 billion ($13.14 billion) by 2030. They will then be 15% below the pre-Corona year (2019), but still a good 6% higher than today.
A little more than two thirds of stationery sales are attributable to the paper market, which has developed significantly worse over the years compared to the economy as a whole and even had to accept a severe slump of minus 24.2% during the pandemic.
But there are first signs of recovery. This is reflected in the current market surveys by Marketmedia24 as well as the first sales reports from the stationery brand industry. A trend that is also confirmed in a representative online research conducted exclusively for the study among consumers.
According to this, 50.6% of those surveyed across Germany stated that they bought paper “occasionally” and another 15.4% “frequently”. Office and school supplies are “often” on the shopping list for 19% of consumers and stationery for a quarter.
58.2% of the survey participants consider print brochures to be very important or important, while social media channels are ranked below by a large majority. Advertising brochures are also important sources of information for youngsters (up to the age of 24), but 46.8% of this target group still rate TikTok as a very important or important information tool.
But even more important for them are the experiences and recommendations of friends, family, colleagues and fellow students.
Sustainability is named as the most important purchase criterion for stationery products.
The research results provide further strategic information on the questions about the most well-known brands, the provenance of the products, the selling price and the availability of the goods.
The new “Industry REPORT Paper, Office Supplies and Stationery 2023” provides exclusive results of a representative consumer research in Germany on the topics of purchase frequency, purchase criteria, brand awareness and shopping channel choice as well as a well-founded future research up to the year 2030.
