The U.S. office supplies industry is no exception to the shopping trends emerging this holiday season, as there are several products trending for holiday crafting, gift giving, and home décor. Do-it-yourself holiday crafts and activities are prevalent on social media sites like Pinterest and Instagram, which are great sources of inspiration for consumers in the holiday spirit.
Decorating trees with holiday ornaments has evolved into a family crafting opportunity, with ornament decorating and painting becoming more popular with consumers. Paintbrush pens, which are an essential tool for ornament decorating, grew sales by over $1 million during Holiday 2016* from the previous year. The ornament decorating trend has prevailed on holiday blogs this season, and paintbrush pen sales have grown by over 60 percent in the four weeks ending October 28, 2017.**
Wrapping gifts in attractive paper has been popular for centuries; however, with the popularity of home crafts and washi tape, gift wrapping has been taken to a new level. Several trends are emerging with washi tape, such as Christmas tree wall art, homemade holiday greeting cards, and décor. Washi tape sales grew by $2.8 million during the 2016 holiday season, and continue to grow, showing a positive trend for Holiday 2017.
While crafts and décor are necessary during the holidays, the gifts themselves are still at the top of many consumers’ lists. Planners, small notebooks, and journals appear on holiday gift guides across the Internet, and are sure to be a classic gift this season. Small notebooks and journals added $3.7 million in sales to the office supplies industry during Holiday 2016, and have already shown 35 percent growth heading into the holiday season this year. Additionally, appointment books and planners grew by nearly $6 million last year, and are showing double-digit growth heading into this holiday.
Consumers are showing their creativity during the holiday season and engaging with products in fun and whimsical ways. Many of the more recent trends that have moved the needle for the office supplies industry were sparked by social media, making it a strategic platform that retailers and manufacturers should utilize to build brand and product awareness – both during and outside the holiday season.
*Source: The NPD Group/ Retail
Tracking Service, 3 months ending January 2017 vs. prior year
**Source: The NPD Group/ Retail
Tracking Service, 4 weeks ending October 28, 2017 vs. prior year
Related Blog Posts
Spark Joy to Grow Sales
The launch of Marie Kondo’s new Netflix series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” brought the idea of “Choosing Joy” to American households and the response has been mass participation. Sales of organization products including file storage supplies and specialty labels are growing, reaping the benefits of consumers’ latest obsession with tidying.
The E-Commerce Effect
2018 was a year of continued online growth for the U.S. office supplies industry; while brick-and-mortar retail sales were relatively flat, the e-commerce channel grew double digits compared to 2017. E-commerce has transformed the way consumers browse, compare, and purchase products, and this behavior continues to evolve. As a result, we expect the online channel will bring even more opportunities and changes to the office supplies space in 2019.
A Creativity-Inspired Holiday Season
The holiday season presents consumers with a perfect opportunity to get in touch with their creative side – a behavior that bodes well for the office supplies market. Several arts, crafts, and traditional supplies categories tied to ornament decorating, homemade décor, and other trends will be top industry performers this holiday.
An Eco-Friendly Back-to-School
In office supplies, the market for products made from recycled materials is growing. And, as consumers look towards sustainable alternatives to traditional school supplies, reusable notebooks such as the Rocketbook, as well as dry erase boards have become popular options.