The industry of notebooks and other school supplies started on the right foot in 2023, after three years of the pandemic, after students accepted the virtual modality and face-to-face was suppressed, especially in 2020 and 2021. 2022. Back to classrooms, the recovery of sales began, although still with restrictions and biosecurity measures, and in the current period on the Coast, the sector confirms its recovery at the gate Official start of classes this Monday, April 24.

Although classes in some institutions have already started, and in others classes are postponed for a few more days, what is certain is that the presence of parents at places that offer school supplies is massive, in contrast to the pandemic years. And this is reflected in the increase in sales, as stated by the representatives of these establishments, who continue to try to attract lagging customers with various promotions.

Notebooks are available from $1 in stores that sell school supplies in Guayaquil

Nathalie Vargas, head of Polipapelsays they have a 70% increase in sales compared to the previous year, which had “very strong” behavior on the website, however, this year the purchase has turned face-to-face.

This increase also led the chain to carry out more imports, which increased by at least 60%, which they started working on the previous year, in June, for the order for this 2023. “We had a lot of our goods from December and early January,” he confirms .

According to Vargas, it was uncertain last year, because there was talk of a greater preference for face-to-face, but the whole industry did not give theirs, that is, if they wanted a new collection of backpacks “it was a no” or the production of laptops started “very late”, this is to take care of everyone’s economic situation and therefore there has been a “shortage in the market” and for this reason very strong growths are now being seen.

In this sense, he points out that the items with the greatest increase at the moment are backpacks with pencils and lunch boxes, and then the whole problem of felt-tip pens and colored pencils, as well as notebooks, the latter, of a normal university. type of 100 sheets. , priced from $1.75 to $9.99, which are hardcovers and value-added finishes.

In terms of trends, in this case Polipapela, Vargas indicates that they currently have proposals that suit the kawaii style and have decided to offer more variety for boys, since there are usually more for girls. “We brought in gamers, dinosaurs, a space theme, cat lovers. We have pastel collections, bright colors,” he explains.

As part of the promotions in the facility, Vargas states that if they shop in their stores and website, they can access the personalization of products, lunch boxes, backpacks, pencil cases, and they also provide a notebook lining service, as a direct loan.

Guayaquil’s school uniform sale starts as low as $6 per shirt and pants

Papelesa also has a number of licenses and brands that stand out on notebook covers in different presentations. In terms of styles, the company offers a PRO line of Estilo laptops, which introduced its anime collection for men and women. In addition, there is Dynomite, a dinosaur collection that gave a modern and humorous touch, as well as the Basic line, and the offer also includes kawaii with the brand Make a Wish for children, and LOVE, which renewed its collection of notebooks, colored pencils, markers , rubber bands, etc.

José Mackliff, Papelese Marketing Managerlet’s remember that 2022 was a historically sought-after year, considering that in 2020 and 2021, learning in homes in the country was very irregular, and there was almost no return to school desks.

“In 2022, everything grew exponentially, surpassing 2019 (the year before the pandemic) by 30%,” says Mackliff, who reveals that so far this year, last year’s record numbers have been approached.

He assures that the good demand response is due to the quality and innovation of the Estilo laptop line, which he considers a competitive advantage in a market where more and more consumers feel proud of 100% Ecuadorian products.

As for the new laptop licenses the company launched this year, Mackliff admits they’ve taken a deep turn in their collection, “putting aside the old classics to be replaced by the latest trends that discerning consumers like us have been asking for.” .

“In this year 2023, Estilo focused on the most requested through the surveys we conduct and we acquired licenses such as the Harry Potter brand with a line of notebooks and folders. Also Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears. This year Netflix participated with stranger things and serious Merlina, added Sonic and Paw Patrol for the little ones”, specifies marketing director Papelese, who adds to this list, among other things, the license of the video game Free Fire.

Papelesa exports its products to more than 15 countries, and expansion to Central America is planned.

The school textbook market is also more dynamic

On the book market Salomé Urquía, head of the Santillana Compartir academic programindicates that even during this 2023 they hope to continue to believe in the innovative proposal that has about 500 educational institutions that have more than 200,000 students.

“Santillana has focused on and has been working worldwide with educational technology for more than 10 years, developing, updating and improving pedagogical proposals. His activity is focused on the design and creation of educational content and projects in all types of formats (books, platforms, digital content) that promote educational transformation to prepare students for today’s complex world,” says Urquia.

Paper mills, publishers and retailers are reactivating their sales of notebooks and books to match the 2019 billing.

According to the manager, Santillana, Ecuador represents 3% of the global sales of a company that is 60 years old and has been in the local market for 30 years.

It indicates that the consequences of the pandemic in education caused a delay in learning to read and write, which prompted them to promote tools to provide assistance, and one of them is the so-called Loqueleo digital, which is a gamified educational ecosystem where you can enjoy more than 600 works by domestic and foreign authors.

Other proposals are academic programs such as Santillana Compartir, in which children are the protagonists of their learning and to achieve this they use active methodologies such as collaborative work, flipped class, gamification, among others, because, according to the learning pyramid to achieve between 80% and 95% of the depth of what is learned must be said and done.