Duque Papetiers Gros: Expanding into the German Stationery Market

This report analyzes the feasibility of Duque Papetiers Gros, a French stationery company, expanding into the German market. It examines the German stationery market's size, growth potential, and key trends. The report also analyzes Duque's financial performance over the past three years and assesses the costs associated with establishing a new building in Germany. Additionally, it explores the importance of international standards and customer satisfaction in the German market. The report concludes with recommendations for Duque to successfully enter the German stationery market.

GERMAN STATIONERY
MARKET

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................1
Analysis of issues for Duque Papetiers Gros...............................................................................................1
2.1 An Overview of the Wholesale Stationers Market in Germany........................................................1
2.2 Annual Spending on Writing/Drawing Materials per Capita............................................................2
2.3Analysis of Duque’s last three financial years of sales data (2015-2017)..........................................3
2.4 Feasibility of Expanding to Germany & International Standards.....................................................6
2.5 Costs of a New Building....................................................................................................................7
2.6 Mean Value of Orders.......................................................................................................................8
2.7 Customer Satisfaction........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References..................................................................................................................................................10

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Annual spending for stationary products.....................................................................................2
Figure 2: Products and their sales................................................................................................................3
Figure 3: Mixed pie chart............................................................................................................................4
Figure 4: Scatter diagram.............................................................................................................................5
Figure 5: forecasting....................................................................................................................................5
Figure 6: Formula used in Excel..................................................................................................................7

Introduction
The stability of the German stationery market has attracted several countries for high profitability.
Duque which is a French organization in the stationery products and services is thinking to expand the
business operations in Germany. For the organization, report will discuss the scope and market in the
Germany along with the analysis of the financial years of the organization to understand the capabilities.
Besides to it, the report will discuss the annual per capita for the writing and drawing material. It will
discuss the concept of the mortgage interest to suggest the organization the most suitable way to
establish the business. It will also discuss the mean order values and the regulations for the business in
the German market. The report will analyse the trends and customer satisfaction through the
questionnaire.
Analysis of issues for Duque Papetiers Gros
2.1 An Overview of the Wholesale Stationers Market in Germany
German stationery market has effective contribution in the economic growth. Recent trends and
development in the products and services has increased the customer interest and preferences.
Customers are moving toward the high quality products those are easily available and economic in the
cost. German stationery market has annual revenue of the €14.8 million with individual’s investment
for the product for a year is €182. €35.2 is annual spending on the writing and drawing material those
are leading in the sales (German Stationery Industry, 2018). The industry has received the growth of
3.5% in the sales in comparison of the year 2015. The stationery business has increased to a higher value
in the country and domestic market has increased with 2.5% growth.
However, the competition and market trend has driven the business as well as customers. The
organizations are using ecommerce technology to scale the business operations and reach the customers
whereas the customers are being more oriented to the quality products with high features in their prices.
HBC determined that the growth of the writing and drawing material is high and might be continue in
the next years (Rickert et al, 2015). However, the technological trends have impacted the country to use
the stationery products. The market share of the industry is also increasing to the 17%.
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2.2 Annual Spending on Writing/Drawing Materials per Capita
Annual spending of the person in the German stationery market is €35.2 whereas the France has €28.3.
Therefore, the German market is the rising opportunity for the French stationery market for high
profitability and stability. From the analysis, there is 17% sharing in the market with contribution of
3.5% in the national economy so that the fact can be used by Duque organization to expand the business
in Germany.
For the sales of the writing and drawing material, German market is at second position after Switzerland.
There are high sales of the writing and drawing material with increasing annual per capita spending in
comparison of the other products (Neyeloff et al, 2012). The sales of the pens, office supplies and paper
based products are decreasing and less contribution in the economic growth and high profitability in the
industry.
Switzrlan
d germany Austria France Italy Slovikia
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Annual investment in stationary materials
Annual investment in stationary
materials
Figure 1: Annual spending for stationary products
The increasing annual spending of the individual in the country for the writing and drawing material can
be considered as there is less influence of the technology on the sales of such products. However, the
sales of the other products have impact for lower sales. Therefore, innovations and creativity are at the
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core of the manufacturing to attract the customers and meet the desired quality and features. However,
Italy and France as the nearby countries are not affected with the trends (Davis and Pecar, 2013). For
example, there are high sales of the office furniture and products in Australia whereas Italy and France
has no such leading sales for the writing and drawing material.
2.3Analysis of Duque’s last three financial years of sales data (2015-2017)
The organization has importance of the financial data analysis as it can help to understand the business
potentials and capabilities to achieve the market growth and lead with high profitability. The
organization can use the processed data for the decision making and improve the hit to target market.
Excel sheet
In year 2016, there was an effective increase in sales of some of the products but the annual increased in
the sales are not so effective due to the decreased sales of paper based or electronic products. The fact
shows that the year has only supported to achieve the sustainability. It is also analysed that the sales of
the year 2017 are less than 2016 but it has cleared which products are dominating the market. For
example, there is high increase in the sales of the writing and drawing material whereas office supplies,
shredder and other products are constant in sales (Winston, 2016). There is market for the innovative
and creative writing and drawing material whereas the organizations also focus on the stable product
chain to populate the market with own products.
Figure 2: Products and their sales
Mixed pie chart
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Figure 3: Mixed pie chart
Scatter diagram
The analysis is important to understand that shredder and printer related sales are decreased in 2016 but
the next years are good to achieve the stability. Shredder and office devices are the part of the stable
market conditions whereas the increasing sales of the writing and drawing material create the scope to
achieve the profitability. The organizations can improve the quality and cost on the writing and drawing
material to lead with high customer base. Printer cartridge is stable in the sales till 2017 but paper supply
based products including files and folders are being less preferred due to the impact of the technology
for the data sharing and processing.
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Figure 4: Scatter diagram
Forecast of the sales in next two years
The next years are profitable for the organizations those are focusing on the high quality and features in
the writing and drawing material. These products are expected to achieve high market share and improve
the profitability of the organizations. Duque is recommended to develop the writing and drawing
material with production of the products those are stable in the sales over the years.
Figure 5: forecasting
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2.4 Feasibility of Expanding to Germany & International Standards
Table 1: Pros and cons
Should I expand my business to Belgium & Germany?
Pros Score/10 Cons Score/10
Technology is improving customer
base and quality of services within
the cost.
7 Customers are still more aligned
to shops rather than online
stores.
6
It is easy to reach customers as few
organizations are meeting the
customer expectations.
9 Customers are aligned to known
brands only. It is complex to
make position.
7
Quality is foremost requirements for
most of the customers.
6 Businesses are suffering with
internal constraints to achieve
quality including the factors of
the raw material.
7
Per-capita is increasing and the
organization can make use of the
opportunities to acquire profitability.
8 Lack of standardization in the
operations.
8
The businesses have scope to trade
globally and reduce the cost on the
operations.
9 Higher cost to market the
products and attract customers.
7
Stable governmental support and
lower interest rate
8
There is high unemployment so that
operational cost is low.
7
Effective to cover the local and
international market.
8
Total Score 62 Total Cons 35
Average Pros 77.50 Average Cons 70.00
Application of international standards
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ISO 4046: According to the act, the organization has to specify the use and precautions for the products
as it helps to avoid the ethical and legal issues with the use of the product or services. For example, the
papers or other products are required to present their major ingredients and the uses to guide the user
(Passas, 2012).
ISO 85: The standard is prepared to achieve the environmental values on the business practices as it
constraints the business to improve the environmental values through the recycling or reuse of the
products. It also ensures that the organization has less use of the plastic in paper based products to
improve recycling.
ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: The organization can use the standard to provide the internal stability in the
business. For example, the standard is useful to provide the legal framework which can be used to create
clear structure of the operations and reduce the internal conflicts with standardization (Tarí et al, 2012).
2.5 Costs of a New Building
The expected amount of €260,000 is allocated for the new building but the organization can complete
the work in €200,000. The organization has decided to pay the annual interest rate of 10% where the
interest is being paid at the starting of the year. From the calculations for the details for the time period
of 30 years, the organization has to pay €430,184.86 as interest. It can be said that the organization has
to pay the amount of €630,184.86 including the principle amount and the interest paid over the time.
Therefore, the organization has to pay €1700 as interest amount for each year.
The organization also can choose to pay interest rate per month. It means that the interest rate 10% is
divided among 12 months so that it becomes near to 8.3% (Wright, 2012). The organization can use
CUMIPMT function in Microsoft Excel to generate the values. In this manner, the organization has to
pay €1509.57 as monthly interest which is 12 times to the annual interest when summed up for a year.
Therefore, it is beneficial for the organization to pay annually in comparison of the monthly scheme.
Figure 6: Formula used in Excel
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2.6 Mean Value of Orders
The owner of the organization has estimated the mean value on the basis of the random selection of the
orders. It can generate the approximate values but cannot support the business decision making with
high accuracy. Mean value is the ratio of the sum of the orders with their counting. Therefore, mean
value €230 is approximate with standard deviation of €43. STDEV function of Microsoft Excel can be
used to generate the standard deviation for the series of the orders. Standard deviation is the average of
the differences between the two consecutive order values. From the calculations, it can be said that the
standard deviation differs according to the orders taken into count and it can impact the business
decision making. The organization can make use of the Excel to generate the accurate values. Therefore,
the business can use 40 as the standard deviation in comparison of the 43 and the orders are more easily
calculated for the accurate values.
2.7 Customer Satisfaction
The organization has to manage the customer satisfaction through the quality products, effective services
and proper pricing. In order to achieve profitability in Duque, the questionnaire can be improved with
the use of the following recommendations.
 The organization can use on desk questionnaire which is effective to achieve the complete
response from the customers for the products or services. Besides to it, the organization can use
the online survey or questionnaire to reduce the time and complexity to manage and process the
data.
 Web based questionnaires are more effective those are close ended and properly designed with
the requirements and objectives (Hill and Alexander, 2017).
 The organization can add some of the questions with the explanatory options so that more
reliable and effective answers can be achieved. It encourages exploring the customer demands
and expectations for the services.
 Flexibility can be provided to submit the questionnaire so that the customers can feed the details
whenever they are free.
Analysis
The Excel powered questionnaires are recommended so that the feedbacks of the participants can be
analysed in the effective manner. Average function can be used to collect the required data and support
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the decision making for the organization. From the questionnaire, it is recommended that the
organization focus on the quality of the product with balance to the pricing.
Conclusion
The report concluded that there is high scope for the writing and drawing material in the German
stationery market so that Duque can expand the business. Besides to it, the organization can produce the
material for the office suppliers and stationery to achieve the profitability. The report concluded that
organization has to pay annually interest of the mortgage to save the cost whereas Excel functions can
be used to calculate the mean values and the standard deviations. Also, the business can apply several
regulations and standards to support international trading.
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References
Books and Journals
Davis, G. and Pecar, B., 2013. Business statistics using Excel. Oxford University Press.
Hill, N. and Alexander, J., 2017. The handbook of customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement.
Routledge.
Neyeloff, J.L., Fuchs, S.C. and Moreira, L.B., 2012. Meta-analyses and Forest plots using a microsoft
excel spreadsheet: step-by-step guide focusing on descriptive data analysis. BMC research notes, 5(1),
p.52.
Passas, R., 2012. Natural fibres for paper and packaging. In Handbook of natural fibres: processing and
applications (pp. 367-400).
Rickert, D., Schain, J.P. and Stiebale, J., 2017. The Effect of Mergers on Retail Prices: Evidence from
Germany.
Tarí, J.J., Molina-Azorín, J.F. and Heras Saizarbitoria, I., 2012. Benefits of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001
standards: A literature review.
Winston, W., 2016. Microsoft Excel data analysis and business modeling. Microsoft press.
Wright, J.H., 2012. What does monetary policy do to long‐term interest rates at the zero lower
bound?. The Economic Journal, 122(564), pp.F447-F466.
Online references
German Stationery Industry, 2018 [Online] [Accessed Through] <https://www.prnewswire.com/news-
releases/global-stationery-products-industry-300524024.html> [Accessed On: 25th July, 2018].
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