Editing The Pen Addict 487/transcript (section)

== Specialty Stationery Growth ==


'''Brad:''' I think this is where, like, the nerdery level and the geek level turn up a little bit and you really get, like, those passionate consumers. Like, the passionate stationary users that are using stationary products all day, every day. Where the previous category, they might just, hey, want a nice, you know, Pilot G2 every now and then because it helps with their notes. Something like that. This is where the people, like, are digging into the tools that will help them do whatever they want to do better. Whether that's note-taking, journaling, work, anything like that. But this is where, again, like I was alluding to earlier, this is where you have the bullet journal that was a really niche product that grew into almost a mainstream stationary product, right? As far as, like, the path from brand new product to mainstream, the bullet journal crossed that threshold. People know it.

'''Myke:''' People just know it. Like, you know, so many people in my life are aware of it as a thing, as a concept. Even though, as we spoke about on the show in the past, what most people think of as a quote-unquote bullet journal isn't actually a bullet journal and then it became this whole other thing. Right. But the idea of bullet journaling is a whole thing. Like, coloring, you know? Yeah. All those kinds of things, they come about every now and again. But they're still specialty things. Not everybody does them, but they've hit the mainstream. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' And, you know, I threw in things like the Traveler's Notebook, right? It's a real niche product, but it's very popular, especially for those who love it. And that's where you have these customers that, like, spread the word, right? These are, like, the super valuable customers here in this realm that they take these products very personally. I put in Retro 51, you know, Spoke Design, all the Kickstarter pins, Hobonichi. Like, these are the products that make the biggest difference for the people who, like, really, really nerd out about this kind of stuff, right? Like, these are your passionate consumers. And this, I think, out of the three categories I listed is where we see the most innovation in the past decade or two, you know? But, you know, where are we at? Like, Blue Magister's question is, like, are we in the peak of this category? Like, have we really kind of hit, like, the top of the mountain here? And where are we going to go from here? I think there's more to come. I think it's also fair to say there's already a lot that has happened here and a lot currently going on here that makes it look like the top.

'''Brad:''' The consumers that shop in this category have a high level of knowledge. They know what they want. In general, they want the same thing over and over again. Once they discover the thing, they like the thing to stay the way it is, you know?

'''Brad:''' There is room for growth there. But the customer base is smaller, right, than the store brand pins and the smaller version stationery that I was talking about before, right? It just is. Like, that's just a fact that this customer base is not as wide as your office supply stores. But this customer base is rabid for these products, right? Not only are they going to be great customers, they're going to be, you know, evangelize the brands that they, you know, support. So these new and innovative products are always going to be given a chance, right? Whether they break through like the Bullet Journal did, that's a different story. But you have to start with the original innovation first. And the previous category, if we're going to look at have we peaked? So if I break down the store and standard pins, have we peaked there?

'''Brad:''' If we haven't, we're pretty darn close. Specialty stationery, I don't think we've peaked. Even though we have a lot right now. And that may be the rose colored glasses thing. And that may be because, you know, I'm always interested in finding new products and new tools that work. And we've had so many great successes from this category. That maybe we've peaked, but I'd say less so than the previous category. The previous category may have peaked, but there's still innovation. This category I don't think has peaked. And there's a greater realm for innovation. And I hope we continue to see it here.

'''Myke:''' Who do you think is going to do the innovation?

'''Brad:''' We don't know. That's the point, right? Like in the next five years, who's going to be... Does Retro 51 get a competitor in five years? Who's going to come up with something new on Kickstarter that's not the scribble pen?

'''Myke:''' It's probably through the Kickstarter realm, I think. I think more of these companies are going to come up, you know, like small companies that come from an idea and grow into a thing, you know? Right. Because it is, in a way, probably now, both easier and harder to do that than it was before. Yes. Harder in the sense that there are more people that want to do it, but easier in the sense of it is more possible now than it was before. Because to start a company like this doesn't require personal cash injections. The issue is now that there is a flood in the market. This is the same in all of these types of business, you know, all like small business realms like this that can be started by a couple of people.

'''Myke:''' But yeah, I would agree with you that there is more of a desire in the specialty world to innovate than there is in the standard pen world. Right.

'''Brad:''' Right. Right. Because the consumer has taken a step from the first category if they want to get into the second category. They've made a knowledge step. They've made a purchasing step. They've made these different decisions that put them in a different category. And therefore, they're out searching. But like you were saying, like for the past 10 years, you know, we've been able to have high percentages of innovation, innovative products come out. And now, like back to the original question is like, what are you going to show me that's different? And, you know, the customers are out there for that, but I don't know what that is. Right. Like that's what I'm hoping and waiting and what we're all waiting to see. But I still think when you have an individual behind it instead of like, say, a large corporation that could an individual can move faster and and break things, as they say, to see if something really innovative works. And I think this is where we're going to get it.

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