With the continuous development of social economy and the progress of science and technology, stationery as a tool closely related to learning and office, its definition and market demand are also constantly evolving and expanding. Modern stationery can be roughly divided into student stationery, office stationery, teaching supplies and other cultural and educational office supplies and other subdivisions. As one of the important branches, student stationery has a wide range of market demand and diversified product types, including writing instruments, correction tools, storage equipment and all kinds of tool stationery. As one of the most populous countries in the world, China's student stationery market shows great potential and broad room for growth.

China's stationery industry started late, mainly in the 1980s during the transition of the market economy. After experiencing stages of budding development, high-speed growth and mature development, the stationery industry is rapidly developing in the direction of high-end, intelligent and green driven by policies and markets. The continuous investment of the state in education and the sound policy environment for the great development of the cultural industry have encouraged and promoted the integrated development of the cultural industry and the upstream and downstream industries, and driven the steady development of the cultural industry. In addition, with the change of consumer lifestyle and consumption habits, stationery sales channels are also diversified, which further promotes the healthy development of the market and the acceleration of product innovation.

In this context, what are the changing trends in the stationery industry? How to grasp industry opportunities and cope with risks and challenges? How to use the original advantages of Yiwu market to expand market share? Yiwu Index Market research group found the following characteristics after investigation.

1. Analysis of the current situation of China's stationery industry

(1) Large consumer groups

China as one of the most populous countries, stationery consumption potential is huge, the main consumer groups of the domestic stationery market consists of about 300 million students and more than 100 million office workers, this huge user base for the development of the industry provides continuous demand for driving force. With the continuous investment of the state in the field of education, the policy support of the cultural industry and the improvement of residents' living standards, the demand for stationery will continue to increase. In 2022, China's student stationery retail market size was 99.69 billion yuan, an increase of 1.77%, and the compound growth rate of the market size from 2018 to 2022 was 2.63%. Among them, high school students have a huge demand for stationery, accounting for 86.72% of the total market share.

(2) The policy continues to benefit the development of the industry

The state has issued a series of policies, in order to promote the development of education, the continuous investment in education has stimulated the increasing demand for student stationery products in our country, and created a student stationery market with great potential. At the same time, the state has issued a series of policies on the collection industry, large and medium-sized collection enterprises are advancing rapidly, all kinds of digital procurement service providers compete to enter the bureau, procurement information transparency and centralized procurement competition mechanism to promote the concentration of office supplies collection industry, and promote the vigorous development of office direct sales industry.

(3) The industry is cyclical

The stationery industry has cyclical characteristics and strong resistance to economic cycle fluctuations. The unit price of stationery products is low, but there is a rigid demand, especially in the "flood season" driven by the student stationery market shows a seasonal sales season, especially before the start of the new semester, after the winter and summer vacation, students and parents will focus on purchasing, forming a sales peak. Stationery manufacturers usually carry out promotional activities during this period to maximize sales. The small commodity characteristics of student stationery determine its sales location is very scattered, the cost of self-built marketing network is high, so the traditional student stationery sales are mainly dealers, and the school business circle is a variety of distribution terminal gathering area; In the office direct sales business, office supplies procurement from full-time staff independent procurement mode gradually to the development of sunshine intensive procurement, although there is no obvious seasonal office stationery, but at the end of the year when the enterprise centralized procurement, demand increased slightly.

2. Analysis of challenges facing stationery industry

(1) Fierce market competition

China's stationery industry is a typical "small products, big market", the industry entry barriers are low, the market competition is fierce. Although leading enterprises such as Chenguang, Snow and Deli have a high reputation, due to low product prices, fewer product brands and other reasons, China's stationery industry concentration is still very low. The market share of leading Chenguang stationery is about 7.3%, while the market share of the top four enterprises (CR4) is less than 17%; In addition, there are about more than 8,000 stationery manufacturing enterprises in China, of which only about 1,400 enterprises are above scale, and there are a large number of small and micro enterprises. Small and micro businesses are basically OEM (original equipment manufacturer) manufacturing, that is, products made by one company, but sold under the brand name of other companies. In this model, the profits of the enterprise mainly come from the value-added of the manufacturing process. Due to the lack of marketing channels and brand influence, the bargaining power of enterprises is not strong, and most of them fight in the low-end product market.

(2) There is a certain gap between the level of fine production and management of the industry and advanced countries

Compared with the major brand stationery manufacturing enterprises in the world, the development history of domestic brand stationery manufacturing enterprises is generally shorter. Although domestic brand stationery enterprises have achieved significant success in product manufacturing technology and large-scale manufacturing capabilities, there are still gaps in the level of refined production and management. Refined production requires not only a higher level of manufacturing equipment, but also years of experience in automated manufacturing and the accumulation of strict production process management concepts. In addition, the high requirements for relevant talent, technology and management control also limit the development of domestic enterprises in this field. In contrast, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and other countries have richer experience and technology accumulation in these aspects, making domestic stationery enterprises face greater challenges in international competition.

(3) The domestic labor cost advantage shows signs of weakening

With the continuous rise of labor costs in coastal economically developed areas and the long-term appreciation trend of RMB, the advantage of domestic labor costs has gradually weakened. The manufacturing industry in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and other places is still underdeveloped, and its low labor costs have formed a certain competitive pressure on low-end Chinese stationery manufacturers. In order to expand to the high-end market, Chinese stationery enterprises need to improve the production technology and management level, enhance the added value of products, and put forward higher requirements for the technology, management and talent of enterprises in this transformation process, increasing the operating costs and risks of enterprises.

Iii. Analysis of the status quo of stationery industry in Yiwu market

Yiwu is the country's largest cultural goods trading place, with more than 3,000 market operators, the industry's annual turnover of more than 20 billion yuan. The stationery industry of Yiwu Market is concentrated in the second floor of the third District of the International Trade City, Unit 1-4, and the second floor of the No.2 connection, with more than 1,400 commercial Spaces and more than 1900 business entities, dealing in more than 20,000 kinds of products, a wide variety of products, from traditional writing instruments to modern office equipment, from exquisite gifts to creative stationery. Cover stationery, office supplies, all kinds of gifts and other categories. Yiwu stationery market, with its advantages of low prices and rich categories, attracts a large number of domestic and foreign wholesalers, making it a popular purchasing place in the stationery industry. The export degree of stationery industry in Yiwu is as high as 70%, and the products are mainly sold to many countries and regions such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States, South Korea and Japan.

However, the development of stationery industry in Yiwu market also faces similar problems to the national stationery industry, such as serious product homogeneity and insufficient brand influence. These problems have seriously restricted the future development of stationery industry in Yiwu market.

Iv. Yiwu market development strategy

(1) Brand cultivation and quality assurance

With the improvement of residents' income and the upgrading of consumption concepts, excellent brand products in terms of product quality, design level and terminal image are more likely to be favored. At present, some national stationery brands have won a good reputation for their excellent quality and low price, and consumers' awareness of stationery brands is getting higher and higher. Therefore, stationery enterprises in Yiwu market need to put brand construction in a more important position, strengthen brand cultivation, enhance after-sales service, optimize customer experience, and enhance brand reputation. At the same time, with the diversification of consumer demand and the improvement of product technology content, the stationery industry has also emerged a high-end trend. Although the high-end of stationery to a certain extent is conducive to promoting brand owners and manufacturers to innovate technology, improve quality, and promote the high-end development of the industry, the price of its products will increase the purchase cost of consumers, and even affect their purchasing power. Therefore, enterprises should not blindly pursue high-end, should choose the development strategy that truly suits their own, pay close attention to market trends and consumer demand changes, and timely adjust product and marketing strategies to better adapt to market development and the external environment.

In addition, stationery enterprises in Yiwu market should strictly control the quality, pay attention to environmental protection and sustainable development, launch green stationery products, enhance the brand's social responsibility, and establish a good image among consumers. Many schools suggest that students give priority to the purchase of "safe use", "material environmental protection", "economic and practical" stationery, which suggests that stationery companies actively adapt to the new needs of consumption at the same time, should not ignore product quality, should be launched green stationery products, to ensure the safety and practicality of stationery, enhance the social responsibility of the brand, establish a good product reputation and corporate image.

(2) Innovative design and cultural empowerment

Stationery products gradually from a single learning office attributes to learning office, culture, entertainment and other diversified attributes of development, its additional popular elements and cultural connotation in line with the pursuit of fashion and personality of students and young office workers consumer trends, is a brand stationery to enhance competitiveness. First of all, stationery enterprises in Yiwu market should strengthen product innovation and research and development capabilities, and provide more diversified and high-quality stationery products to meet the personalized needs of consumers. Secondly, enterprises can enhance the added value of products through IP co-branding and cultural derivatives, integrate popular elements into the design, constantly innovate and improve product quality, increase the added value and profit margin of cultural and creative products, and promote the transformation of stationery industry from traditional fields to boutique cultural and creative products.

In recent years, with the rise of "Generation Z" consumer groups, consumption concepts have become more diversified and personalized. Stationery enterprises need to carefully ponder the psychology and needs of "Generation Z", the main consumer force, innovate to meet the spiritual value needs of young people's circle culture derivatives to strengthen product development and concept innovation, and develop "science and technology sense of full", more creative products. In this process, because the stationery industry is mainly for students, businesses should take the initiative to assume the social responsibility of protecting the healthy growth of minors, and not harm the physical and mental health of teenagers due to excessive pursuit of commercial interests.

(3) Channel upgrading and brand going to sea

With the popularity of the Internet, smart phones and online transactions, online sales have gradually seized the offline retail market share. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, online retail sales in 2023 reached 15 trillion yuan, up 11% year-on-year. The marketing means of merchants can be more diversified, using online media platforms, IP topic creation and other ways to attract consumers, keep up with hot spots, and use the relatively complete industrial chain supply chain system of Yiwu market to quickly respond to market demand. While promoting the emerging channel business through multi-store operation online, it increases customer touch points in offline channels to achieve refined management. Improving the operational efficiency of offline channels through information systems is the key to improving overall sales performance. The integration of online and offline can not only expand market coverage, but also better cater to consumers' changing shopping behavior.

Under the background of fierce competition in the domestic market, stationery enterprises in Yiwu market actively expand overseas markets. According to China Customs statistics, from January to December 2023, China's cumulative exports of cultural and educational office supplies were 38.93 billion US dollars, an increase of 5.5%. Despite the rapid growth of exports, the international influence of the brand is still weak. Companies need to deeply understand the consumption habits and cultural differences in different countries and regions, and enhance brand value through international cooperation and design innovation. The success of overseas markets lies not only in selling products, but also in exporting brand culture and enhancing international competitiveness. In addition, we can cooperate with the leading enterprises in the stationery industry to actively participate in promoting the brand's overseas plan, and expand global customers with the help of the export potential energy of the team.