Industry Snapshot: Stationery
By Caroline Kennedy -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 11/12/2007 12:57:00 PM
“Stationery,” as a subset of the very diverse gift industry, is itself a very broad category made up of many product groupings, including greeting cards, giftwrap, writing instruments and home office accessories. Stationery also has its own separate industry identity and is one of the few “gift” categories with its own dedicated trade show, The National Stationery Show.
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| Elum |
Technology has been both a boon and a bane to the stationery industry, changing the way we communicate (less by hand and more electronically) and creating a business challenge for greeting card, writing paper and journal manufacturers. But advances in the technologies of digital imaging, laser cutting and printing have also opened new avenues for manufacturers and new opportunities for retailers who offer can affordable custom services with quicker turnaround time.
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| Avanti Press |
When it comes to design and color, stationery parallels current fashion trends. Strong linear, graphic designs (dots and stripes) and bold colors have dominated in recent years, and evolving and combining with other design elements; the baroque or wallpaper-like designs that emerged in 2006 are still strong; and botanicals, nature motifs other more organic shapes returned to the forefront this year.
Greeting cards are a mainstay of the category, with many small- to medium-sized card companies providing the right mix to fill independent retailers’ racks. Hand-embellishments, pop-up engineering, flocking and other enhancements are value-added qualities that help drive greeting card sales, because they make cards more special and “giftable.”
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| Mirage Paper Co. |
A growing area within stationery is gift card holders. These small plastic cards have set greeting card and packaging designers’ creative juices flowing, and the gift-like presentation makes giving and receiving them more exciting. And with gift card sales growing exponentially, this is an area that will be particularly hot in coming years.
Personalization is another key part of the stationery category. Blank, ungreeted counter cards allow the consumer to create their own message to suit the occasion. When it comes to personalized papers — notepads, notecards, giftwrap and more — consumers can pretty much have it their way, whether it’s a monogram, a name or an image. Meanwhile, personalization in the custom invitation and announcement area has taken off, with non-traditional colors, layering of papers, digitized images, elegant calligraphy and more. And a new wave of rubber stampers allow consumers to individualize any paper.
Whether for the home office, family scheduling, party planning or whatever, well designed organizational tools are strong sellers, whether it is a themed journal or agenda, or file folders and binders that coordinate with the home’s decor.
The stationery category is experiencing an undercurrent of, bubbling creative energy. Stationery attracts young, talented designers with creative vision that generates a lot of interest and keeps product moving forward.
