Fifteen books, fourteen notebooks, a thousand pages, four folders. They are just part of the two lists of school supplies for which Alejando Silva and his wife, Leonela Maldonado, paid $735 last week. These materials will be used by their children, ages 13 and 16, in ninth grade and second grade. high school, starting next May 6.
This expense reappears in their budgets after two years of the pandemic, although in 2020, the first year of virtual classes, that expense was transferred to the purchase of laptops, cameras, desks and other technological implements.
The reunion of parents with the book lists also marks the reactivation of the paper and publishing industry that – after 24 months with plummeted sales of notebooks and physical books – seek to return to the sales numbers of 2019.
In the case of Papersaat the beginning of 2020, its production of notebooks was around 50 million units per year, only for the Ecuadorian market. José Mackliff, Marketing Manager of the company, recognized that during the pandemic the demand for its products decreased significantly.
With investment and new launches, the industry readjusts to supply lunchboxes
However, the announcement of the return to face-to-face classes began to be reflected in a rebound in demand since last January and also in the movement of the factory, located at kilometer 11.5 of the road to Daule, from where in these Trucks loaded with hundreds of boxes of notebooks and other school supplies keep coming out every day.
“All the distribution chains are already prepared and stocking up to meet the demand for school supplies in April and May; It is definitely time to go back to school,” said Mackliff expectantly, who recalled that Papelesa not only supplies Ecuador, but fifteen countries in the American continent, so the closure of schools worldwide affected its entire production chain.
However, Mackliff revealed that the company did not stop innovating and saw in the pandemic an opportunity to position its brands and create more than 80 new products, such as sheets with designs, folders, calendars and more; that kept the firm afloat in 2020 and 2021; and that still make up the company’s portfolio this year.
This return to face-to-face classes is also seen by the television networks. retail as the opportunity to return to their pre-pandemic sales level.
Enrique León, commercial and marketing manager of Juan Marceta chain that has 20 stores nationwide, 15 of them in back-to-school mode because they are located in the Costa region, described the pandemic, especially the start in 2020, as “fateful” for the company, as it recalled that the confinement was decreed two weeks before the start of classes at that time.
“We stayed with the armed party, those first months of confinement were very hard for businesses in general, and the parents did not have in their heads to buy a list of supplies,” said León, who pointed out that his regular billing plummeted in the 2020 almost 100% and in 2021, although it improved, it closed with 20% less than what was invoiced in 2019.
León, who expects sales of school supplies to skyrocket at the end of this month of April, assured that the company projects an increase compared to sales in 2020 and 2021; and seek to reach revenues similar to those of 2019. He highlighted the efforts of providers seeking to innovate with the licenses of the most recent Marvel, DC Comics or Disney movies to hook the demand.
In this segment, for example, Mackliff highlighted that Papelesa added film and television brands to its portfolio by 2022, such as the Oscar-winning Disney animated film, Charm, marvel Premiere, Spiderman: and other brands such as the Eternals and Red, released by Disney Plus.
Meanwhile, León highlighted that 60% of its products are supplied by local suppliers, while 40% are imported. And it is that this reactivation is also reflected in a rebound in the import of notebooks.
According to figures from Central bank of Ecuador, So far in 2022, $813,378 in FOB values of notebooks have already been imported. Meanwhile, in all of 2021, $637,013 was imported and in 2020, the peak year of the pandemic, the figure only barely exceeded $64,000.
Meanwhile, the publishing industry also has great expectations for this 2022.
Santillanawhich in mid-2021 already had more than 400 educational institutions that used its texts and platforms, seeks this year to increase those figures, in addition to re-providing a large offer of physical texts, although without neglecting the platforms.
Virtual platforms and digitization of content, a niche that publishers have been able to exploit
This is reflected in the lists of books that parents buy at the company’s offices in Urdesa, in the north of Guayaquil, as far as Silva came to pick up the books for their children.
“Apart from the eleven books by Santillana, there is access to the Estela platform and a digital key,” mentioned the father of the family, who assured that, until 2019, his children used books from another publisher.
The firm, which arrived in Ecuador in 1993, indicated that in 2020 it lost 80% of sales due to the pandemic.
“Only 20% was sold compared to 2019. Of the sales made, 65% responded to teaching systems and 35% to texts,” specified the company, adding that in 2021 there was a growth of 50%, making them an educational systems company with 70% of its income in that line and only 30% from texts.
The Santillana Compartir and Richmond Solution teaching systems in the area of English include diagnostics, evaluation, STEM methodologies and blended learning, pedagogical and technological advising, test preparation, skills development and tutorials for study at home. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
