Stationery Market Analysis & Expansion Strategy

This assignment examines the stationery market, analyzing its current state and potential for expansion. It highlights promising markets like Germany and Belgium while recommending strategies to enhance profitability, such as adjusting product pricing to be more affordable.

Daque Papetiers Gros
Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
Brief overview of wholesale stationary markets in Germany.....................................................1
Task 2 ..............................................................................................................................................2
Analysis of Annual per capita spending on writing/drawing materials of European countries..2
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................3
A. Assessment of total sales........................................................................................................3
B. Mixed Pie Chart .....................................................................................................................4
.........................................................................................................................................................4
C. Scatter diagram showing correlation coefficient....................................................................4
D. Estimating sales trends for the year 2018 and 2019...............................................................5
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................5
a) Complete table of Pros and Cons............................................................................................5
b) International standards that applies on Duque's activities......................................................6
Task 5...............................................................................................................................................6
A) Monthly cost of 30 years loan repayment..............................................................................6
B) Recalculation of monthly cost assuming that the interest is applied every month................6
Task 6 ..............................................................................................................................................7
Analysis of standard deviation from the sample selected...........................................................7
Task 7...............................................................................................................................................8
A) The ways that can help in enhancing customer responsive rate............................................8
B) Analysing data set which is gathered through survey............................................................8
Task 8...............................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
In the present market situation every business depends highly on data analyses and
statistical tools so as to maximise the profit and find the trends that the industry follows. It is
process of evaluating data using analytical decision making (Bachmann, Elstner, and Sims,
2013). There are several data analysis methods including data mining, text analytics, business
intelligence and data visualisation. This report is based on the case of Duque Raptiers gross
which is a small family owned business dealing in stationary industry the business placed in
Northern France. They lays their focus on wholesale trade rather then going into retail market
directly. The products that are offered by this business organisation include printers, general
office supplies, Furniture for commercial purpose, drawing materials etc. This report will help in
building the view about drawing materials per capita income and will also represent the manner
in which the graphical presentation helps in summarising data.
Task 1
Brief overview of wholesale stationary markets in Germany.
The German market enjoys leading position in world in the stationary sector (Bolin,
2014). The leading companies in Germany that are taking stationary market to the new level are
Stabilo International, Leuchtturm Albenverlag, Ecu line etc. (Germany – A Potential Stationery
Market. 2018) it has been analysed that there are three major trends that are continuing to impact
the stationary sales in Germany which are:
 The ageing population with the fewer school children than the past
 Standards products are easily available everywhere such as pens, pads printing materials
etc.
 Digitalisation of classroom which to some extent increase the demand of computer
products but decreases the demand for paper products.
1. These trends are affecting the business in challenging way. These trends are changing the
demand of customer’s in market as well as the products that the customer desire is also
changed. The trend has now been changed to online buying of goods as the customer
wants discount and gets the product home delivered so this is a very challenging task for
Daque Raptiers gross. Below the data graph has been attached which shows that number
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of offices supply and stationary in Germany from 2k2 to 2k16. This shows that the
number of stationary companies are decreasing year by year. The focus of the companies
have now been changed to providing the best quality product rather than providing the
quantity of that product as the customer preference has changed ( Hayes, Andrew 2013).
The growth in the sales revenue due to increase in the demand for their product in
domestic as well as international market has gone up to 3.5%. The products that are
offered by other companies include the brand mark and ISO certificates. Thus with the
help of making their products available online Daque Raptiers will be able to attain
expansion plan and will also be able to maximise the profit with help of increase in
turnover.
Task 2
Analysis of Annual per capita spending on writing/drawing materials of European countries.
By doing some research and analyses it has been concluded that the total spending of the
customer amounts to a average of 35.2 Euros that are linked to the writing and drawing
materials. The conclusion has been brought in by analysing the figures of European countries
2
Table 1 : Statistic data on the number of office supply and stationery company in Germany from
2002 to 2016.

such as Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Cyprus and Denmark. Germany holds the second position in
customer spending followed by France on fourth position. The awareness among the customer is
the key that leads to implementation of promotion techniques in the organisation. This affects the
buyers purchasing decision in a positive way (Cruz and Nordqvist, 2012). The use of E-market
has also made a positive implication in the market. This helped the company to market it
products in most effective way which benefited the overall set up of the company. Online
offering of the product helped customer with high level of convenience. The statics indicates that
18% of the store owners provide their products through online medium. Considering the market
trend it has been analysed that the companies want to expand their market share. User
penetration is expected to increase in the coming year by 2.3%.
Task 3
A. Assessment of total sales.
The sales figure of any company plays an effective role in directing the future trends. On
the basis of this analyses the future plans are developed. The organisation has to understand
several factors that are involved in the creation of overall objective. To make analysis it has been
considered to compare the current year figures with previous year. The sales that the company
made on printer cartridges in the year 2015 and 2016 was quite positive and company made a
profit. But in the year 2017 the company had to book losses (Goss, 2015). It has been evaluated
that the sales on the general office supply is a key that requires understanding as it has made a
profit in first two years and then resulted in loss. It is assessed that the companies revenue has
inclined in year 2016 by 10.30%. On the contrary the companies sales reversed and declined by
2.20% in the year 2017. The sales of the paper-based supplies were also stable as the company
recorded positive outcomes for the past three years. Hence, for maximising the turnover and
profits the organisation has to develop a good framework that will help in boosting the demand
for their products.
REFER APPENDIX 1 for above
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B. Mixed Pie Chart
C. Scatter diagram showing correlation coefficient.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
2015 Sales (€) 2016 Sales (€) 2017 Sales (€)
Product items
Sales value
YEAR TOTAL SALES
4
2200022000
2300023000
1800018000
2700027000 2900029000
2700027000
3200032000
2600026000
2700027000
1800018000
2500025000 2900029000
2700027000
3000030000
Mixed pie chart for the years 2016 and 2017
Printer cartridges
general office supplies
low-cost printers
office furniture
shredders
paper-based supplies
writing/drawing materials

2015 165000
2016 182000
2017 178000
Coefficient of correlation 0.74
Correlation is defined as effectual statistical tool that is used for determinig the
relationship between two variables. This helps in making correlation between the variables such
as Sales amount and Year. If the correlation is between .25 to .75 then it is considered as
moderate.
D. Estimating sales trends for the year 2018 and 2019.
Year Sales
2018 6500 (x) + 162000
= 6500 (4) + 162000
= 188000
2019 6500 (x) + 162000
= 6500 (5) + 162000
= 194500
Task 4
a) Complete table of Pros and Cons.
Facts that will
conclude
expansion of
business to
Belgium &
Germany?
Pros Score/10 Cons Score/10
Talented and skilled
personnel 7 Extravagant employee
turnover 5
Resettlement Possibilities 6 High capital needs 6
Enhancement of customer
base 9 Loss of operational control 6
5

Efficiency of production 8 Consequences on quality of
the product 8
Total Pros 30 Total Cons 25
Average Pros 7.5 Average Cons 6.25
b) International standards that applies on Duque's activities.
There are various international standards with which European companies need to
comply while doing business activities (Hair Jr, 2015). So Donald Duque has to follow certain
international standards which are enumerated below (International Organization for
Standardization, 2018):
 ISO 45001 occupational health and safety: While following this standard Donald Duque
has to make a better environment condition for the workforce that they are employing. It
is their accountability to follow this standard and if not followed will entertain huge
amount of penalty.
 ISO 14000 family-environmental management: Business organisation has the
responsibility to perform its activities in an environment friendly manner.
 ISO 31000 Risk management: The organisation has to practice the strategies which will
help them in managing risk and maintaining risk free environment. If the risk
management standard followed is not up to mark then it will impact organisations
working.
Moreover the organisation should follow the data protection act that helps them in maintaining
Data protection and information needs.
Task 5
A) Monthly cost of 30 years loan repayment.
Facts Numbers
Time 30 years
Loan reimbursement = Total
loan amount 21215.85
Monthly reimbursement 21215.85 / 12 = 1767.98
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b) Recalculation of monthly cost assuming that the interest is applied every month.
Facts Numbers
Time period 30 years * 12 months (annually) = 360
months
Interest rate per month 10% / 12 = 0.00833
Monthly reimbursement 1832.6
Task 6
Analysis of standard deviation from the sample selected.
This method would enable the company in analysing the figures that could provide a
specific estimate for the period. The calculation of mean will certainly explain the sales that the
company does on monthly as well as yearly basis. The use of mean will help them in
understanding the realistic figures that the company is operating with. Therefore the
understanding of market skeptics is essential based on the fact that there is a market which is
already in the position to use the products of the company (Lazer, 2014). The way of carrying
the mean deviation is:
Null hypothesis: As there is no significant difference in the mean value of expected and actual
average order value.
Alternative Hypothesis: As there is significant difference in the mean value of expected and
actual order value
Facts Results
Mean of the entire population 240
Sample Average 230
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Standard deviation 43
Score valuation (Mean of the entire
population – sample average) / Standard
deviation
(240 – 230) / 43
= 10 / 43
= 0.23
Criteria for selection and rejection of Hypothesis are
if the Standard is greater than 0.05 Null Hypothesis accepted or true, if it is greater than 0.05
Alternative hypothesis is accepted or true.
Task 7
A) The ways that can help in enhancing customer responsive rate.
As in the above case mentioned the total of twenty questionnaires returned from the field.
The distributed questionnaires helped the company in knowing the current position in the market.
The understanding of points enables the company to check and correct the situation. It has been
assessed from evaluation that customers are not bothering to return the completed questionnaire
(Wales, Gupta and Mousa, 2013). The issue here is the responsive rate has fall below 5%. hence
by offering incentives to the customers can increase the survey response significantly (25 Ways
to Increase Survey Response Rates, 2018). By sending an e-mail notification and communicating
the motives as well as benefits of such survey the organisation can increase the responsive rate.
The company should focus on developing the questionnaire that will grab the attention of the
respondents.
B) Analysing data set which is gathered through survey.
Particulars
Customer
Service Quality P&S Sales Staff Price value
Mean 3.5 3.15 3.45 1.95
Standard Error 0.17 0.08 0.18 0.11
Median 4 3 4 2
Mode 4 3 4 2
Standard
Deviation 0.76 0.37 0.83 0.51
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From the evaluation of data it has been concluded that average number of respondent said
that the quality of product and service, customer service, sales staff and price value is above
satisfaction level. The value of standard deviation accounts for .51 respectively that is neither too
high nor too low (Storey, 2016)). On the basis of this outcome it is recommended to Donald
Duque that they should lay emphasis on expanding their organisation and controlling the cost of
the products. This will help the customer in buying the products from vast areas and will also
enable them to satisfy price value.
Task 8
Conclusion
The conclusion has been brought through this report that the activities of the company
have led them to create a strong brand name in the market. Beside that it has been concluded that
German stationary suppliers are emphasising on expansion and providing better quality products.
The expansion of the company depends on various factors that requires the company to check.
Further it has been seen that the company can expand their profit by exploring the business
opportunities in countries like Germany and Belgium. It is further seen that the company should
take steps to bring the prices of the products that they offer to more affordable level.
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References
Books and Journals
Bachmann, R., Elstner, S. and Sims, E.R., 2013. Uncertainty and economic activity: Evidence
from business survey data. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. 5(2).
pp.217-49.
Bolin, J.H., 2014. Hayes, Andrew F.(2013). Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and
Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression‐Based Approach. New York, NY: The
Guilford Press. Journal of Educational Measurement. 51(3). pp.335-337.
Cruz, C. and Nordqvist, M., 2012. Entrepreneurial orientation in family firms: A generational
perspective. Small Business Economics. 38(1). pp.33-49.
Goss, D., 2015. Small Business and Society (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Hair Jr, et. al., 2015. Essentials of business research methods. Routledge.
Lazer, D., et. al., 2014. The parable of Google Flu: traps in big data analysis. Science. 343(6176).
pp.1203-1205.
Storey, D.J., 2016. Understanding the small business sector. Routledge.
Wales, W.J., Gupta, V.K. and Mousa, F.T., 2013. Empirical research on entrepreneurial
orientation: An assessment and suggestions for future research. International small
business journal. 31(4). pp.357-383.
Online
International Organization for Standardization. 2018. Available through:
<https://www.iso.org/home.html>.
25 Ways to Increase Survey Response Rates. 2018. Available through:
<https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/25-ways-increase-survey-response-rates/>.
Germany – A Potential Stationery Market. 2018. Available through:
<http://www.malaysia.ahk.de/fileadmin/ahk_malaysia/Perspectives/MGC047-
Mar.Apr16_iPAD.pdf>.
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Appendix 1
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