The school supplies market - France

1.2 Global market trends

The global school supplies market is growing slightly, with an annual growth rate of *. *% over the period ****-****, and is expected to reach $***.* billion by ****.

Global school supplies market size World, ****-****, in USD Source: ****

Factors such as growing consumer brand awareness and the availability of a wide variety of personalization options are among the key drivers of this market's growth.

Strong marketing campaigns, including, for example, licensed partnerships with children's TV channels, are also accelerating growth in the school supplies market. In addition, key players in this market are increasingly developinginnovations to stand out and challenge the competition, such as sustainable and environmentally-friendly variants of their traditional products.

Other factors expected to boost the market includerising literacy rates worldwide. By ****, the global literacy rate will have risen to over **%, compared with around **% in ****.

1.3 National market trends

General trend

In France, the school supplies market will be worth nearly *** million euros by ****.

School supplies are mainly sold through the GSA (***), the French association of stationery and office supplies manufacturers, reports on sales of school supplies by supermarkets. [***]

Sales trends for school supplies in supermarkets and hypermarkets France, ****-****, in millions of euros Source: ****

After the Covid period, which saw a decline in sales due to the less frequent use of supermarkets by the French population, we can see an increase of +*.*% between **** and ****.

Product categories

All product categories are growing in terms of sales, buoyed by a general rise in prices. However, inflation in the school supplies market is approaching *% in food superstores, and *% in cultural superstores and on the Internet. This inflation remains below overall inflation in France (***). [***]

In ****, all product categories showed growth in value and volume compared with ****. The writing instruments and accessories categories recorded the highest growth in sales, with +**.*% and +**.*% respectively between **** and ****. Correction products, colored pencils and highlighters show the strongest growth in sales.

GSA sales by school supplies category France, ****, in Source: ****

In terms of value, the top-selling categories are writing, with over ** million euros at the end of July ****, and ...

1.4 International trade

Plastic school supplies

The following graph shows the trade balance for plastic school supplies in France: it can be seen that France has a large deficit in this market, with almost double the value imported compared with the value exported each year. In ****, imports of plastic school supplies amounted to $*** million, while exports represented $** million USD. This may be explained by the fact that other countries have a competitive advantage and lower prices on this production, which would encourage France to import the products.

Trade balance in plastic school supplies World, ****-**** Source: ****

In fact, we can see that France's main suppliers of plastic school supplies are China, Germany, Holland and Tunisia: these countries offer competitive prices on plastics that enable France to be profitable even when adding the price of transporting products from this country to France. In *st place, of course, is China, which dominates the world's plastic production, which amounted to *** million tonnes of plastic in ****.

France's main suppliers of plastic school supplies France, ****, in millions of USD Source: ****

Paper writing notebooks

As regards international trade in paper notebooks, a different trend can be observed: this time, the balance of trade is in surplus. In fact, in ****, France ...

2.1 Seasonal demand

We can look at Google search trends to see the seasonality of demand for school supplies in the pre-school period. The results reflect the proportion of searches for the word "fourniture scolaire" in France from **** to ****, in relation to the region with the highest rate of use of this keyword (***).

Evolution of interest for the search "fourniture scolaire" on Google France, ****-**** Source: ****

From this graph, the seasonality of demand is clear, since interest in the "school supplies" search increases very significantly over the July-August-September period each year. Demand peaks in August of each year. Some parents take advantage of the June-July sales to go shopping, while others wait until the last moment at the end of August-September to buy their school supplies. Some marginal shoppers buy throughout the year during sales and promotions, as on venteprivée.com, from the previous year's list of supplies, and top up with the few missing items needed for the new year.

2.2 Student population in France

Demand for school supplies is determined by the number of pupils and students in France. For the ****-**** school year, there are **,***,*** pupils and apprentices in France .

The *st degree covers pre-elementary and elementary education, provided in nursery, elementary and elementary school: there are *.* million for the ****-**** school year, and represent more than half of all French pupils and apprentices.

The *nd level of education follows on from the *st and is provided in collèges, then in general, technological or vocational lycées. [***]

Distribution of *st and *nd level apprentice students France, ****-****, in number of students Source: ****

There will also be *,***,*** post-bac students in ****. This includes students in universities, CPGEs, paramedical and social schools, and higher technician sections.

2.3 Household spending on education

For many parents, the purchase of school supplies is a difficult and expensive task. The average cost of starting a course of study varies between €*** and €***, depending on the level of study, and additional costs can be incurred in vocational and technological courses due to the need for work clothes and equipment specific to the course.

Average cost of school supplies by level of education, France, ****

Source: ****

While spending on education remains a very small proportion at *.*% of household spending in France in ****, according to INSEE, these expenses are concentrated over a short period of time, which means that these items are dreaded by parents, who are looking to reduce their spending.

It should also be noted that spending depends on professional categories: for farmers, for example, the percentage of expenditure allocated to education is *.*%, compared with *.*% for executives.

Share of household spending by expenditure item, France, ****

Source: ****

However, if parents are looking to make savings, Sofinco reports that in **** school supplies were increasingly perceived as an incompressible expense item: **% of parents do not wish to reduce their budget on this expense item, and this percentage was **points lower than in ****. [***]

2.4 The trend towards more eco-responsible school supplies

Eco-responsibility

At the same time as the general awareness of environmental damage, school supplies consumers are keen to acquire more environmentally-friendly products. According to the Statista website in France in ****, over **% of those surveyed felt it was very or fairly important for school supplies to be eco-responsible. This trend and willingness to consume in a more eco-responsible way continues to grow, and is affecting an increasingly large share of the population. Since ****, the proportion of people for whom it is important to have eco-responsible supplies has certainly increased.

Share of responses to the importance of buying eco-responsible products for back-to-school France, **** Source: ****

As an example of companies' desire to offer more eco-responsible school supplies, we can cite UHU, the famous glue and adhesive manufacturer, which has planned to switch all its factories to renewable energy by ****. [***]

Brands are also increasingly offering refillable school supplies, or supplies made from recycled materials. Where possible, brands are combining the two, as in the case of pen brand Frixion, which offers refillable rollerball pens made from plastic.

Brands also associate themselves with eco-responsible labels to display their commitment on their packaging and enable them to offer a higher price thanks to a competitive advantage: European ...

2.5 France's favourite pen and notebook brands

The graph below is based on OpinionWay's survey of French consumers' favorite brands in March ****. These are respondents' answers to the question "Do you like this or that brand of pen?"; for each brand, the percentage corresponds to the proportion of respondents who answered "yes".

Bic is France's favorite pen brand: **.*% of respondents said they liked Bic. Parker is the least popular pen brand, with **.*% of respondents saying they liked it.

Bic's popularity can be explained by the brand's positioning: it is aimed at a very broad clientele - young children, students, adults, professionals - and offers a wide range of products: its emblematic ballpoint pen, the *-color pen, pencils, markers, colored pencils, erasers... What's more, it's one of the least expensive pen brands on the market (***).

Parker is a fountain pen brand, but also offers pencils, ballpoint pens and rollerballs. Its positioning is different from that of Bic, as its products are more upscale and aimed at an adult clientele (***). A fountain pen from this brand costs between €** and €***, a ballpoint pen between €** and €**.

France's favorite pen brands France, March ****, in Source: ****

The chart below is based on OpinionWay's survey of French consumers' favorite brands in March ****. These are respondents' ...

3.1 Promotions on school supplies

While school supplies are on the shelves of major chains from June to September, the promotions in the chains' catalogs stop at the end of August: parents who are late to the party therefore benefit little from school supplies promotions, and have a reduced choice of products.

For ****, Casino is offering a €** voucher for purchases of €** on notebooks, pencil cases, school bags and other school supplies. This voucher can be used the following week for purchases of €*** or more. [***] Similarly, Auchan has announced that it will maintain its **** prices on *** supplies in ****.

In terms of promotions, offers are varied and differ from one product to another: for stationery (***) and binders, sellers are looking to sell in large quantities and volumes, and prefer "buy *, get * free" type offers, while for pens, pencils and ink, the trend is towards packs of several pens, which reduce the unit cost per pen. Taking the example of the classic BIC pens sold on the Carrefour website, buying a pack of ** compared with a pack of * means a **% discount on the unit cost of the pen.

Comparison of BIC pen prices by batch size Carrefour, **** Source: ****

More marginal products sold in smaller quantities, such as calculators, have ...

3.2 French stationery manufacturing plants

Stationery manufacturing

France manufactures *% of the world's paper and board by value, ranking *th behind Germany, Sweden, Italy and Finland. Production between **** and **** remains stable, with an increase in sales of +*.*%, resulting from a decline of *.*% in **** followed by an increase of *% in ****. By ****, production will have reached *.* million tonnes, representing sales of *.* billion euros.

The graph above shows the weight of the various stationery products on the market of the same name. Unsurprisingly, consumable stationery products lead the market with a **.*% share. By consumable stationery products we mean all those products that are in essence consumed, such as paper, erasers, ink cartridges, etc. Next in line, with **% of the market, are writing instruments. Adhesives are the stationery category with the smallest market share, at *.*%.

Stationery market share by product type France, November ****-November ****, as % of total sales Source: ****

URSSAF reports on the number of stationery manufacturing companies in France in ****, and their workforce. Stationery manufacturing includes the manufacture of ready-to-use paper, as well as the manufacture of stationery for school and commercial use (***).

Ile-de-France

, with a total of ** companies

Nouvelle Aquitaine and Centre-Val de Loire are two major players in paper manufacturing, with ** and ** companies respectively.

In terms of ...

3.3 Distribution channels

There are * main distribution channels for the sale of school supplies: hypermarkets, specialist stores, superstores and specialist e-commerce platforms.

Despite a slight downturn in recent years, supermarkets still account for the vast majority of school supplies sales (***). Between **** and ****, sales volumes of school supplies rose by *.*% in stores and superstores specialized in culture, while they fell by *.*% in superstores.

Evolution of school supplies volumes and values by store type France, ****-****, in Source: ****

Hypermarkets

Hypermarkets represent the leading distribution channel for school supplies, with the GSA (***)channel capturing the vast majority of volumes and revenues, accounting for **% of volumes and **% of revenues by the end of July ****. This is because these are brands with which parents are familiar, and the large surfaces available make it possible to offer a wide choice of products and large volumes at low prices.

Hypermarkets are evenly distributed across the country, with a large number of chains in operation: in first place is E.Leclerc, with *** hypermarkets in France.

Number of hypermarkets by brand in France France, **** Source: ****

Specialty stores

Another popular retail channel is the " Grandes Surfaces Spécialisées" (***) for a variety of reasons, including choice and proximity, product quality, price and sales advice. ...

4.1 Consumer price indices

If we look at the stationery and drawing materials market, which includes the majority of school supplies (***), we see that prices have been rising since ****, and there will be a sharp increase between **** and **** of *.*%, slightly higher than general inflation, which is estimated at *.*% between **** and ****. [***]

Annual consumer price index for stationery and drawing materials France, ****-**** Source: ****

If we break down the school supplies market by analyzing the pens, pencils and ink segment, we notice that the consumer price index is higher for this segment than for the general market: this means thatinflation is higher for pens, pencils and ink than for other school and office supplies. In fact, between **** and ****, prices in this segment rose by *.*%, compared with *% for other school and office supplies. So, if we can considerably reduce production costs for pens, pencils and ink, this is certainly a segment where we can achieve attractive margins.

Annual consumer price index for pens, pencils and ink France, ****-**** Source: ****

4.2 Hitlist of market leaders

E.Leclerc

The following graph shows the number of products available in each category. The first category with the highest number of products is satchels and backpacks, with *,***: choosing the right satchel for back-to-school is an important choice, as it forms part of the schoolchild's outfit, and the chain therefore needs to offer a wide range of products. Most of the schoolbags on offer are from the Eastpack brand, widely recognized for their durability.

In terms of school supplies, the Filing category wins out with *** products divided between binders, holders, perforated pockets and dividers. The Pen - Writing section, which includes pens, pencils, ink, erasers and highlighters, also boasts a wide variety of products. Together, these two categories represent a very large market, accounting for *,*** products, or almost half of all school supplies.

Number of products available by category E.Leclerc, **** Source: ****

Bureau Vallée

The table below shows the top-rated products on Bureau Vallée. Product types are varied, with the Writing category dominated by pens and erasers.

Product title Price incl. VAT (***) Tipp EX Corrector *,** Paper *** sheets *,** Tipp Ex Corrector x** **,** Lever arch file *,** Bic * colors *,** **-position dividers *,** Bic crystal x** **,** Pilot Frixion pen *,** Wonday white eraser *,** Bic Cristal ...

4.3 Competitor price comparison

The table below compares the prices of the different types of channel represented by the leading chain for each channel. Superstore Bureau Vallée is very competitive on price, always offering the lowest prices, sometimes well below its competitors, as in the case of perforated pouches. On the other hand, the Welcome Office e-commerce site offers higher prices than its competitors: for plastic pouches, a pack of *** pouches costs €**.**, compared with just €*.** at Bureau Vallée. On the other hand, Welcome Office is able to offer very attractive prices for very large quantities, such as the BIC Evolution pen, sold at a unit price of *.**€ for the purchase of *** pens or more. We also note the lack of items in the E.Leclerc chain, which can be felt during certain periods of the year when school supplies are not the priority in hypermarket catalogs.

Price comparison table for different channels

Source: ****

5.1 Current regulations

In France, as in the rest of Europe, there are nospecific regulations governing the composition, manufacture and use of school supplies. Some, however, are considered to be toys, and as such are forbidden to use carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction (***) substances in their manufacture. These include paint, felt-tip pens and crayons.

5.2 Future regulations

School supplies toxicity scandal

A scandal recently broke over the presence of toxic substances in school supplies. According to a study carried out by UFC-Que-Choisir based on ** of the most common school supplies on the shelves, **% of the products tested contained harmful compounds, from impurities classified as probable carcinogens to highly allergenic preservatives.

Presence of harmful compounds in school supplies France, **** Source: ****

In the years to come, the emphasis will be on compliance with health measures for school supplies, which are widely used by young people whose health is developing. Regulations are certainly on the way to ban toxic substances from all school supplies.

5.3 Back-to-school allowance

The government has set up an aid scheme to help families provide for their children during the back-to-school period, which brings with it many extra costs. TheARS (***).

The amount of the ARS depends on the child's age, and ranges from €*** to €***. These amounts have been raised by *% in August **** compared with ****.

Back-to-school allowance for ****

Source: ****

6.1 Player segmentation

Sales of individual chains

• Bureau Vallée
• Adveo Top Office
• Office Depot France
• Cultura
• Fnac Darty
• Rentrée Discount
• Direct Fournitures
• Welcome Office (Raja)
• Lyreco France
• BIC Groupe
• Schwan-Stabilo
• Pentel
• Exacompta Clairefontaine