{"id":2538,"date":"2021-08-03T11:10:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T11:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/?p=2538"},"modified":"2022-09-26T08:58:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T08:58:26","slug":"how-to-start-a-stationery-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/how-to-start-a-stationery-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Start a Stationery Business in 8 Simple Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With revenue potential of $60,000 to $300,000 p.a., the global stationery products market size is expected to be valued at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.factmr.com\/report\/339\/stationery-market\" data-lasso-id=\"754\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$30B<\/a> by 2031 with a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period of 2021-2031.<\/p>\n<p>If planned and executed right, the stationery business can be highly profitable.<\/p>\n<p>But starting a new business isn&#8217;t a piece of cake. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re here with a complete guide on how to start a stationery business.<\/p>\n<p>From a step-by-step process to start your own stationery business to a detailed view of its profit margin, we&#8217;ll cover everything.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Start a Stationery Business<\/h2>\n<p>Here we have listed 8 easy steps to start your own stationery business. These steps will give you help you in understanding the nuances of starting a stationery business.<\/p>\n<h3>1. Assess your business cost<\/h3>\n<p>The ongoing expenses of your stationery business, such as the product cost and shipping charges, will be pretty low.<\/p>\n<p>Because first, you&#8217;ll order your products according to the customer&#8217;s demand. And second, shipping costs will be absorbed through customer orders.<\/p>\n<p>The main cost will be involved in starting your business, and it may range from $2,000 to $15,000. It will mainly depend upon which type of business you want to start.<\/p>\n<p>To get a clear understanding of your business expenses, you can calculate the following costs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shop rent\/maintenance<\/li>\n<li>Business name and corporation setup<\/li>\n<li>Business cards<\/li>\n<li>Website<\/li>\n<li>Computer<\/li>\n<li>Stationery design software<\/li>\n<li>Printer<\/li>\n<li>Letterpress<\/li>\n<li>Design suite subscription<\/li>\n<li>Your team&#8217;s salaries<\/li>\n<li>Marketing budget<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2. Decide the type of your stationery business<\/h3>\n<p>Your next step should decide whether you&#8217;d like to go for a merchandise reseller model or the customized designer model.<\/p>\n<p>Depending upon the calculated business cost, decide which type of business you can start at this moment. Here are the two options for you:<\/p>\n<h4>Merchandise reseller<\/h4>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10430\" style=\"box-shadow: rgba(23,43,99, 0.24) 0 7px 28px;\" src=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-pixabay-207665-1.jpg\" alt=\"stationery\" width=\"680\" height=\"380\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-pixabay-207665-1.jpg 680w, https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-pixabay-207665-1-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In this type of business, you&#8217;ll be reselling items made by other companies. Here&#8217;s how the merchandise reseller business works:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set up your store, be it online\/offline.<\/li>\n<li>Purchase a large stock at a wholesale price.<\/li>\n<li>Resell the products at retail price.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>The customized stationery product seller<\/h4>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10313\" style=\"box-shadow: rgba(23,43,99, 0.24) 0 7px 28px;\" src=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20211108_154708_1-1.jpg\" alt=\"customised pen\" width=\"680\" height=\"380\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20211108_154708_1-1.jpg 680w, https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20211108_154708_1-1-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This type of business allows you to explore your creativity. Here&#8217;s how the custom product business works:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set up your online\/offline store<\/li>\n<li>Purchase raw materials from wholesale vendors<\/li>\n<li>Customize your products<\/li>\n<li>Sell them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, no matter which one you choose per your convenience, here are some tips for you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s advisable to purchase your stocks from large stockists as they price their products reasonably. This will help you get a good profit margin.<\/li>\n<li>You can set up any type of store: online or offline at your convenience. But, having an online store helps you sell your products to a larger audience. In contrast, an offline store binds your business to just a brick-and-mortar thing.<\/li>\n<li>Customized designs and personalized printing on stationery products have bridged the gap between the manufacturers and consumers\u2014 resulting in opening new doors for the market expansion. So, if done right, a customized stationery business can be more profitable than a merchandise reseller.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. Determine your targeted customer<\/h3>\n<p>Have you ever heard this before\u2014 &#8220;<strong>riches are in the niches<\/strong>&#8220;?<\/p>\n<p>If not, read on.<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t just set up your store and start selling to everyone; you need to find out who your ideal customer is to plan your business and marketing strategies.<\/p>\n<p>For example, let&#8217;s say you want to sell those beautiful childish stationery products such as unicorn pencils, journal stickers, clays, washi tapes, and so on. Then you&#8217;ll be targeting kids of the age group 7-14 years.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10488\" style=\"box-shadow: rgba(23,43,99, 0.24) 0 7px 28px;\" src=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chuttersnap-35ZRlOKNmUQ-unsplash-1.jpg\" alt=\"cartoon stickers\" width=\"680\" height=\"380\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chuttersnap-35ZRlOKNmUQ-unsplash-1.jpg 680w, https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/chuttersnap-35ZRlOKNmUQ-unsplash-1-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But, if you&#8217;ll be looking to do business with schools and colleges, your approach will be entirely different.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Create your business plan<\/h3>\n<p>No matter what type of business you&#8217;re in, you need to create a business plan to ensure that you are going in the right direction.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what your business plan should include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Business overview:<\/strong> Right down your vision, store type, targeted customers, and business goals.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Product offerings:<\/strong> List down the products you&#8217;d like to sell.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Market analysis:<\/strong> Make sure to double:check on marketing trends and variations in demand.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Competitive analysis:<\/strong> Look closely at your competitor&#8217;s strengths and weaknesses. So that you can leverage them for your benefit.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Financial planning:<\/strong> Calculate your expenses, such as startup cost and profit and loss estimates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Marketing plan:<\/strong> Decide on your marketing strategy to have a clear picture of how you will reach your targeted customer. And what budget you will need for the same.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Management team:<\/strong> Be specific with how many team members you&#8217;ll need, their roles and responsibilities, and how much you&#8217;ll pay them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>5. Apply for licenses\/permits<\/h3>\n<p>You need to have a business license and sales tax permit to start and smoothly run your stationery business.<\/p>\n<p>Starting your stationery business requires federal regulations, permits, and licenses. This include permits from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osha.gov\/\" data-lasso-id=\"755\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Occupational Safety and Health Administration<\/a> (OSHA), copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual properties.<\/p>\n<p>You need to take this step with moral responsibility. So check your licenses and permit requirements according to your country and state.<\/p>\n<h3>6. Get your store<\/h3>\n<p>Whether online or offline, you need a store to run your business.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to open an offline store, look for a location where your targeted customers hang out.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if your potential customers are school kids, you should have your store near schools, coaching institutes, or bookstalls.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you&#8217;re opening an online store, then you need a website, and to your surprise, making an online store website will cost anywhere between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upwork.com\/resources\/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-website\" data-lasso-id=\"757\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$2,000 to $9,000<\/a> (considering you&#8217;re making a small business website)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Expensive?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t worry. We&#8217;ve got a better option for you!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/\" data-lasso-id=\"758\">Dukaan<\/a> is an easy eCommerce platform that helps you build your personalized website with all the necessary features like product listing, payment gateway, and delivery service integrations in less than an hour.<\/p>\n<p>And the main part is that you don&#8217;t even need a laptop or computer to do this. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/ecommerce-website\/\" data-lasso-id=\"759\">build your eCommerce website<\/a> just with the help of your phone. Interesting, isn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<div class=\"cg-box-layout-three   \"  style=\"--cg-theme-color:#146EB4\" ><div class=\"cg-layout-row\"><div class=\"cg-layout-img\"><div class=\"cg-li-photo\"><span class=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/dukaan-logo-1.jpg\" class=\"cg-img-1\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/span><\/div><\/div><div class=\"cg-layout-content\"><div class=\"cg-text\"><p>Launch, scale and manage your online business with just <strong>$14.99<\/strong> on Dukaan. Annual plans start at <strong>$149.99<\/strong> only.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"cg-lc-button\"><span class='cta-copy'><a href=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.page.link\/s7UQ\" class=\"cg-one-button cg-btn   cg-aff-link cg-btn-lg\" data-post-id=\"71322\" data-post-type=\"box\" data-aff-link=\"https:\/\/mydukaan.page.link\/s7UQ\" data-style=\"default\" data-post-title=\"\" data-extra=\"arrow\" style=\"--cg-theme-color:#146EB4\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Start free trial<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p><strong>Watch this video for complete information about starting your online store.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-youtube su-u-responsive-media-yes\"><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VgzfFv5v9Ys?\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture\" title=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3>7. Get the right supplier<\/h3>\n<p>You obviously don&#8217;t want a supplier who delays your shipment, so you need to find a reliable one.<\/p>\n<p>First and foremost, be very clear on your requirements. Think about what products you need, what prices you are looking to pay, what kind of supplier you&#8217;d like to work with, etc.<\/p>\n<p>This will help you understand who should be your ideal supplier.<\/p>\n<p>Next, search for the suppliers. You can ask your competitors to refer to someone. Or you can do some work yourself and find them out online.<\/p>\n<h3>8. Add delivery service<\/h3>\n<p>If you&#8217;re opening an offline store, you don&#8217;t need to bother about having a delivery service.<\/p>\n<p>But if you&#8217;re looking to expand your business by starting an online store, then having a reliable delivery system is a must. And to do this, local delivery is a great option.<\/p>\n<p>Local delivery service ensures that your customers get their products delivered straight to their doorstep. This enables you to drive more sales by providing a great customer experience.<\/p>\n<p>Remember <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epsilon.com\/us\/about-us\/pressroom\/new-epsilon-research-indicates-80-of-consumers-are-more-likely-to-make-a-purchase-when-brands-offer-personalized-experiences\" data-lasso-id=\"760\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">80% of customers<\/a> are more likely to purchase if the brand offers excellent personalized experiences.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the list of logistics you need to take care of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where will you deliver your orders from?<\/li>\n<li>How far will you travel to deliver your orders?<\/li>\n<li>How much will you charge for local delivery?<\/li>\n<li>When will you deliver your orders?<\/li>\n<li>How will you deliver your orders?<\/li>\n<li>Who will deliver your orders?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Answering these questions will help you plan your local delivery services easily.<\/p>\n<h2>Things to Consider When Starting&#8230;<\/h2>\n<h3>1. Market your products<\/h3>\n<p>Imagine this\u2014 you&#8217;ve built your beautiful store and have filled it with all the shiny stationery products, but no one knows about it.<\/p>\n<p>Will you be able to sell even a single product of yours? Absolutely not!<\/p>\n<h4>If you have an offline store:<\/h4>\n<p>You can give your store advertisements in the local newspaper or distribute pamphlets in schools, colleges, and coaching institutes.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from that, focus on getting referrals through word of mouth. You can get referrals by providing an excellent customer experience as <a href=\"https:\/\/www-invitereferrals-com.cdn.ampproject.org\/v\/s\/www.invitereferrals.com\/blog\/word-of-mouth-marketing-statistics\/amp\/?amp_js_v=a6&amp;amp_gsa=1&amp;usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16537529732426&amp;referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp;amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&amp;ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.invitereferrals.com%2Fblog%2Fword-of-mouth-marketing-statistics%2F\" data-lasso-id=\"761\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">78% of people<\/a> share their favorite recent experiences with people they know at least once per week.<\/p>\n<h4>If you have an online store:<\/h4>\n<p>When it comes to marketing your business online, you&#8217;ve plenty of options available at your fingertips.<\/p>\n<p>It includes social media marketing, content marketing, AdWords, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Considering you&#8217;re just starting out, social media marketing could be a great option to build awareness about your business while building trust and credibility among your target audience by showing your product&#8217;s quality and customer reviews.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Sell good products<\/h3>\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t matter what products you sell or how well you market your products. You can&#8217;t gain your customer&#8217;s trust by selling bad quality products.<\/p>\n<p>If you sell customized stationery products, make sure to understand your customer&#8217;s requirements. And always try to deliver the best product with a great customer experience.<\/p>\n<h2>Pros &amp; Cons of Stationery Business<\/h2>\n<p>You should be aware of all the pros and cons of the business that you&#8217;re thinking of starting. Here&#8217;s the list of pros and cons of a stationery business to make your job easier:<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-check-circle\" style=\"color:#2e954e\"><\/i> Stationery business requires lower startup costs than other businesses. It usually ranges between $2,000 to $15,000.<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-check-circle\" style=\"color:#2e954e\"><\/i> You don&#8217;t need to rent a store as you can start it from your home just by building a website. The Dukaan app makes it much easier and more affordable for you.<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-check-circle\" style=\"color:#2e954e\"><\/i> There&#8217;s always a demand for personalized stationery products. Additionally, school and college students will always be there no matter what, so it&#8217;s a scalable business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-times-circle\" style=\"color:#bf000a\"><\/i> As the stationery business has fewer expenses, it has a crowded space. So, it&#8217;s advisable to do your market research properly before investing in it.<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-times-circle\" style=\"color:#bf000a\"><\/i> Finding the right supplier who provides the right product at the right time has always been a challenging thing. So make sure to partner with a reliable supplier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Stationery Business Profit Margin<\/h2>\n<p>Let&#8217;s get it straight to the point. If you&#8217;re doing a wholesale business, the profit margin will be around 5% to 10%.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you have a reseller business, the profit margin will be between 20% to 35%.<\/p>\n<p>Now, here&#8217;s the thing, even if you are making a profit of 5% to 10% in a wholesale business, high volume orders act like a cash injection in your business.<\/p>\n<p>And, if you own a custom stationery products business, you can increase your profit margin by providing excellent quality products and an outstanding, hassle-free customer experience.<\/p>\n<p>Because, remember\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/danielnewman\/2020\/06\/23\/4-actionable-customer-experience-statistics-for-2020\/?sh=4730cf6c1a84\" data-lasso-id=\"762\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">86% of customers<\/a> are willing to pay more if they get an excellent customer experience and convenience.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Due to the high demand and lower expenses requirement\u2014 starting a stationery business can be a profitable option for you.<\/p>\n<p>Follow the steps we&#8217;ve mentioned in this blog and be very responsible with your market and customer research, selling good quality products, marketing your business, and providing an excellent customer experience.<br \/>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#d8d7d6;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#F2F1F0;border-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;\">\n<h2>FAQ&#8217;s<\/h2>\n<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:20px\"><\/div>\n<strong>1. What type of stationery business is most profitable?<\/strong><br \/>\n<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\nThe most profitable type is the custom stationery product business. As in this business, customers get exactly what they need, so they usually agree to pay higher for customized products.<br \/>\n<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<strong>2. What are the ongoing expenses for a stationery business?<\/strong><br \/>\n<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\nThe ongoing expenses for a stationery business usually include costs of raw materials, rent, domain subscription, team salaries, and marketing expenditure.<br \/>\n<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<strong>3. Is owning a stationery business profitable?<\/strong><br \/>\n<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\nThere&#8217;s a lot of demand for stationery products and the expenses are also significantly less than other businesses. So it is a profitable business provided you do the market research properly and sell good quality products.<br \/>\n<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<strong>4. Why do some stationery businesses fail?<\/strong><br \/>\n<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\nIt&#8217;s not only about a stationery business. There are three primary reasons whenever any business fails. First, they didn&#8217;t research their market and target customers properly. Second, they didn&#8217;t market their products to the right audience with the right strategy. And third, they didn&#8217;t sell quality products.<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With revenue potential of $60,000 to $300,000 p.a., the global stationery products market size is expected to be valued at $30B by 2031 with a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period of 2021-2031. If planned and executed right, the stationery business can be highly profitable. But starting a new business isn&#8217;t a piece of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"full-width-content","footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-guides","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/how-to-start-a-stationery-business-600x385.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/how-to-start-a-stationery-business-600x385.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Piyush Shah","author_link":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/author\/piyushshah\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2538"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14323,"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions\/14323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}