What stationery was a decade before, isn’t now. Not only are we talking about highly segmented product verticals, there is also the augmented reality on the fingertips of today’s students and working professionals. It’s an exciting space, and three noteworthy brands discuss the advancements – right from the entry-level writing instruments to specialized products for artists. 

Scaling Ground-up 

Skoodle Play, the flagship brand of Stone Sapphire India, is five-years-old and manufactures stationery and toys for children. It is planning to close their valuation for the current fiscal year around Rs 150 crores. While their core market is India, they have also expanded to Dubai, and are working to launch an IPO in Singapore by September this year. The trick behind such an impressive ascent is competitive manufacturing. 

“We have a solid manufacturing capacity in India and are going toe-to-toe against the existing advantage of cost and supply of Chinese stationery brands. They have been developing this sector for the past 25 years with infrastructure and capacity,” says Shobhit Singh, Brand Director, Skoodle Play. With about a 100 SKUs in crayons, water colours, pencils, erasers, and more, the brand fared remarkably during the pandemic and made a mark in an industry dominated by legacy brands.

Another interesting ascent is that of DOMS India. Originally RR Industries, the brand started in 1975-76 as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in Umargaon, Gujarat, for 10 stationery brands. They began operations with the black lead graphite pencil and expanded to color lead pencils and crayons. “In 2011-12, we entered into a strategic partnership with Italian stationery manufacturing conglomerate F.I.L.A. The brand wanted to set up a base in India and had appointed an agent to explore market potential. We had participated in a trade fair in Germany, where F.I.L.A. liked our products and approached us. We divested about 18.5% of our business to them in 2012,” said Santosh Raveshia, Managing Director, DOMS. That key collaboration brought in visibility of 50+ countries for DOMS, which has 100,000 retail points now.

Breakthrough Advancements 

Today, the consumer is more knowledgeable, digitally connected, demanding, and precise in their preferences. Thus, every product offering must exceed their expectations. That’s exactly what ITC Classmate has done with their AR notebooks and writing instruments. 

“Through AR integration in notebooks, kids would be able to learn about different topics in an experiential manner. First set of notebooks have been launched with an AR module on the solar system, which will take the kids to an exciting journey of outer space through 3D model animation of the sun and planets. More topics will be coming soon,” said Vikas Gupta, Divisional Chief Executive, Education and Stationery Products Business, ITC Limited. Their innovative Ball Pen called ‘Classmate Hook’ has uniquely designed clips that enable users to hook it to any lanyard, pouch, zip, or loop. ITC Classmate is one of the first brands in the country to launch a pen with this kind of design functionality.

The brand has also extended its portfolio through offerings of pens and geometry boxes. ITC’s premium stationery brand Paperkraft has aesthetically designed products with a positive environmental footprint. The paper is made in the country's greenest paper mills using Ozone treated Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) technology. Realizing the need to introduce new products of significant value addition, ITC Classmate’s D2C website called ‘classmateshop.com’ now offers customization of notebook cover with images and even videos of the user’s choice, along with varied options of pages, binding, and ruling.

DOMS’ growth from a brand worth Rs 4 crore then to Rs 124 crores is backed by pioneering products and a vast range on offer in the last 8 years. It manufactured the first polymer pencil in India, much ahead of its wide acceptance. It has six major categories in stationery – starting with scholastic stationery such as pencils, erasers, sharpeners and mathematical instruments for school; scholastic art such as crayons, oil pastels, liquid crayons, poster colors, water colors, sketch marker pens, and fine art pens for artists. The brand also acquired a majority stake in a paper manufacturing company in 2015 and has a segment on paper stationery now.

Another noteworthy innovation is the sustainable range of products by Skoodle, which the brand aggressively promoted for the first 2-3 years, incurring loss, before getting great reviews. “The utility of our recycled pencil is 3 times more than any wooden pencil. In any wooden pencil, the process of sharpening the construct of wood and lead often results in unnecessary wastage of both materials. With recycled pencils, there is a tough layer of paper that holds the lead,” said Singh.

Engaging the Target Group

A bird’s-eye perspective of the stationery market will pin-point specific needs for academics among students, fine art and premium experience for mature artists and working professionals. Therefore, one should always balance between sensitizing and engaging current target groups. ITC, for instance, has been doing the same with Classmate All Rounder, a school-level competition to facilitate holistic skill development. 

“The skills tested in this competition have been carefully constructed in alignment with the (National Education Policy) NEP 2020 - Academics, IQ, Logical Reasoning, Physical Fitness, Cultural, Creativity, Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Teamwork, and other traits,” says Gupta. The first edition of Classmate All Rounder was conducted between Nov’22-Feb’23 in 13 cities across India, wherein more than 1,000 schools and 3 lakh students participated. A total of 52 winners across India celebrated the finale event in Bengaluru, held in February 2023.

Such developments indicate an increase in discretionary spends in stationery with an increase in disposable income. According to Raveshia, social media platforms and video content platforms such as YouTube are aiding children to learn about the instruments they use and need. “Today, children not only ask for pens or pencils, but also go to the extent of mentioning specific products by particular brands. With such a level of interest, it pays to have the product as the king,” he says.

With physical institutions already open after lockdowns, ITC is capitalizing its brand strength and wide distribution network to increase its reach. In order to reach new consumption points, the brand is ensuring delivery of superior outcomes. On this note, D2C and e-commerce are slated to increase market share for the entire industry, believes Raveshia.

There is high growth momentum in stationery, over and above the pent-up demand after the pandemic, as brands kept investing, increasing capacities, introducing new products, and improving reach. This augurs well not only for the domestic market, but also overseas, for brands such as Skoodle Play, which is eyeing the Middle East, African, Asia-Pacific, and the US in the near future. 

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