2029.  The rise of the stationery market  Research and Markets attributes the rise of this seemingly old-fashioned consumer product category to a few factors, including consumers’ preference for a tactile writing experience, the power of influencer marketing and the growth of e-commerce.  The tactile writing experience The company noted that there is still a strong preference amongst consumers, ranging from students to office workers, for jotting down notes and ideas with a pen and paper, despite the prevalence laptops and smartphones. A report conducted by Research and Markets confirmed that the global market for writing instruments is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6 per cent between 2023 to 2028.   Influencer marketing shaping consumer preferences The rise of TikTok and “core” culture from “Barbiecore” to “cottagecore” in recent years has affected consumer behavior and the retail industry. Just as #booktok has helped revive the indie bookstore sector, several social media trends and hashtags have helped revive the popularity of personal journals and other aesthetically pleasing stationery items amongst millennial and Gen Z consumers. This can be seen in the popularity of the “that girl” archetype on TikTok in 2021, referring to a young woman who devotes her time and energy to mental and physical well-being through activities like yoga, juicing, and scheduling out her daily routine in a journal. Currently, the #stationery hashtag has garnered over 1.2 billion views, and counting, via TikTok alone. Rising accessibility of stationery products With the pandemic, the retail industry, across multiple product categories, saw a notable rise in online or other digitally based shopping routes.  Where stationery used to be the type of product consumers would have to visit a specialty store to purchase, now they can find stationery products, across various consumer aesthetics and price ranges, in big-box retailers like Target, online retail giants like Amazon, or via brands’ own direct-to-consumer (DTC) sites.  British stationery brand Papier has used all of these sales paths to develop a curated omnichannel approach and become one of the leading stationery brands in the UK and, in recent years, the US. According to Grips Intelligence, a leading transaction Intelligence platform, as of February 2024, Papier’s DTC site had experienced 55 per cent growth compared to three months prior, generating roughly US$5.8 million in revenue globally.  How Papier made a name for itself across the pond Papier was originally launched in 2015 by chief executive officer and founder Taymoor Atighetchi.  In 2017, Papier raised approximately US$4 million in a Series A funding round. By 2022, the company had secured US$50 million in funding to drive its US expansion, a market that accounts for about 40 per cent of the brand’s sales.  During a Shoptalk 2024 panel dubbed, “Optimising Between DTC and Wholesale Strategies”, moderated by Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData, Atighetchi confirmed that Papier is distributed across 3,000 stores in the US, via wholesale and indie retailers alike. At the conference, Atighetchi spoke with Saunders about Papier’s focused approach to omnichannel distribution.  Part of the key to Papier’s success, the founder theorised, is the way the company devotes itself to giving customers the most luxuriously accessible shopping experience possible, regardless of whether they are shopping online or in-store.  “We try and make sure it’s a consistently brilliant experience,” explained Atighetchi. One of the ways Papier optimises its omnichannel retail outlets is by considering why consumers seek out different shopping routes.  For example, Atighetchi pointed out, when someone is shopping online, they are more likely to purchase stationery as self-care, while they are more likely to purchase stationery products as gifting opportunities when shopping in-store.  Atighetchi also brought up the importance of product packaging in capturing consumers’ attention both in-store and online. For instance, in a shop, instructions on how to use the item are a useful packaging feature, but they’re not necessary when browsing products on the brand’s website, where customers can easily read product instructions and descriptions.  With a product category that is so closely linked to the consumers’ emotions, as stationery is, Atighetchi emphasised the importance of creating easy and visually appealing shopping encounters. Because the customer isn’t only looking for a product, they are looking for an entire experience.