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Summary of our market study
The French school supplies market is estimated at 180 million euros.
The global market for school supplies is estimated at over $110 billion.
The French school supplies market caters for a student and school population of 12 to 15 million pupils.
Supplies range from writing instruments to paper, binders and adhesives. Most of these paper school supplies are still produced in France.
The main sales channel remains supermarkets, with a market share of 83%.
Most sales of school supplies take place in weeks 33 to 37, coinciding with the start of the school year.
The average expenditure on school supplies is around 140 to 160 euros per pupil.
Players in the French school supplies market
- E.Leclerc and the hyper and supermarket companies are the leading players in the distribution of school supplies.
- Cultura and Fnac, superstores specializing in cultural and creative products.
- Bureau Vallée is a network of franchised stores specializing in professional and school supplies
- Plein Ciel, with its numerous outlets, caters to consumers looking for a wide range of stationery and office supplies.
- Top Office: Although a smaller chain than the others, Top Office maintains its market position.
- Office Dépôt: a company in serious financial difficulties
- Bic, a major player in production
- Clairefontaine, a famous brand of notebooks
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and presentation
By school supplies, we mean all the instruments, notebooks and pens that the 15 million students and schoolchildren use to complete their education in France every year. There is therefore a real diversity of supplies, which can be categorized as follows: writing, accessories and adhesives, paper, filing. The production of school supplies remains French , as it is difficult to relocate due to the weight of paper for notebooks, for example.
Distribution channels are varied: hypermarkets, cultural superstores and specialized e-commerce platforms. Consumers, whether parents or students, prefer supermarkets (83% market share), where a veritable price war takes place. Little by little, internet shopping is gaining ground.
2022 is a key year for school supplies, with a sharp drop in sales volume, but an increase in value and a 4.25% rise in prices. Sales of school supplies remain highly seasonal, peaking between weeks 33 and 37 just before the start of the new school year.
Every year, school supply brands have to reinvent themselves and innovate to stand out from the crowd, against a backdrop of falling birth rates, declining consumption (lower purchasing power of the French; even if the budget allocated to supplies remains the same: 150€ on average) and must now adapt to the arrival of digital technology in schools.
The presence of toxic chemicals and the use of unsustainable materials are a source of dissatisfaction for some consumer associations. Stricter French and European regulations may be introduced in the years to come.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
2 Demand analysis
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
3 Market structure
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
4 Offer analysis
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
5 Regulations
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 ...
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 Positioning the players
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
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The school supplies market | France
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