Which brands crushed the back-to-school season?

Here’s what happened with the top 5 brands in the ballpoint pen category:

• Bic had the greatest average market share over the last 12 weeks, with a share of 29.0%. This was nearly double that of Zebra.
• The only other brand to have a share of over 10.0% was Paper Mate (13.2%). 
• With a share of just 1.9%, A.T. Cross ranked 8th, 0.2% behind Parker.
• Overall, the top 10 brands accounted for 76.3% of the Ballpoint Pens category.

Let's compare that to the previous year's back-to-school season.

Back to school sales growth 2021 & 2022

• Last year's Back to School period saw an increase in sales of 36.0% for the Ballpoint Pens category. This year, sales growth was nearly 18.1% greater at 54.1%
• In both 2021 and 2022, A.T. Cross had declining sales during the Back to School period. Its performance in 2022 was considerably better than 2021, only declining by 8.0% compared to 75.8%. 
• Also performing better in 2022 were Zebra and Paper Mate, with Paper Mate having sales growth of over 150.0% in both years.

Now, let’s take a look at how the top brands fared in the office organization category.

Top 6 office organization brands 

The top brands in this category are Simple Housewares, Officemate, SAFCO, Bankers Box, and Amazon Basics.

• Over the past 8 weeks, Simple Houseware had the greatest share for all 8 weeks, however, it almost lost this spot to SAFCO on 7 August and Officemate on 28 August.
• Bankers Box started the period in second, however its share has since declined by 2.4%, putting it behind Simple Houseware, Officemate, Amazon Basics, and Safco in the most recent week.
• Officemate has seen its share remain the same between the first and last week which meant it held on to 3rd place despite the recent challenge of Amazon Basics. 

What were the top ASINs?

• Over the past 12 weeks, no one brand had more than one listing in the top 5. Bankers Box had the top performing ASIN with its Standard File Storage boxes gaining a 4.21% share just 0.02% ahead of 2nd placed Pendaflex (4.19%).
• Officemate’s best performing ASIN was its Hanging File Frame 2 pack which was the 19th best performing ASIN with a share of 0.86%. It also had the 20th best performing ASIN.

Key ASIN Performances

• Officemate’s Hanging File Frame 2 pack had a relatively consistent share throughout the last 8 weeks at around 0.80%, however, it did peak on the week commencing 28 August reaching 1.15%
• Pendaflex’s Hanging File Folders also saw a peak this week, highlighting that this could be a peak week for Hanging File Folder and Frames. Pendaflex saw growth from 17 July likely boosted by it being the no1 best seller in Hanging Folders 7 Interior Folders. 
• Banker Box’s fall in share was not due to price changes and was generally consistent with its and other storage box products.

Who won during the back-to-school season?

• Simple Houseware had the greatest average market share over the last 12 weeks in the Office Organization category. Its share of 8.3% was just 1% ahead of 2nd placed Bankers Box (7.3%).
• In 3rd place was Officemate with 6.6%, just 0.7% behind Bankers Box and 0.8% of SAFCO.
• Amazon Basics was the last brand to have a share above 5% at 5.1%, marginally ahead of Pacon (4.9%).
• The top 10 brands accounted for 51.2% of sales in the category over the last 12 weeks.

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