SELLING PLANNERS AND JOURNALS IN THE GLOBAL MARKET: THE KOCHI BROTHERS' INK, PAPER, AND PASSION

Nasaf S and Sachin S, the founders of Kochi-based stationery brand Factor Notes, are capitalizing on the newfound love for journals and personalized planners in India, the UAE, and Africa.

In 2015, when brothers Nasaf S and Sachin S began their business journey with mobile phone accessories, the e-commerce market had just opened up. This belief held them in good stead as their subsequent business endeavor centered around their shared passion for design and stationery. not only flourished in the country but also went on to address the global market. Factor Notes, a Sochi-based stationery brand, was started by the brothers in 2018.

 

The commercial enterprise now rakes in multi-crore sales with a presence throughout 4,500 shops in India, UAE, and Africa and a purchaser base of three million. The logo these days partnered with certainly considered one of India's main stationery retail chains, Crossword, and its merchandise is to be had at its shops as well. It is all about understanding the market and the passion for our venture, Sachin tells Jaleel Rawther[JR].

 

 From Sochi to the world, Sachin and Nasaf decided to enter the stationery business for the love of design. They additionally sensed the space inside the marketplace for quirky stationery with a top-rate appearance and feel. Factor Notes nowadays gives more than 250 SKUs, throughout the types of journals, planners, Organisers, artwork supplies, and stationery gadgets which include sticky notes, decal books, and sports cards.

 

While brands such as Alicia Souza, The Ink Bucket, and Happy Wagon are prominent players in the premium stationery segment today, Sachin says that, when they launched Factor Notes, there was no formal player in the category and there was immense opportunity for them to make a mark. Sachin and Nasaf commenced Factor Notes with Rs 20 lakh. They took a mortgage of Rs 10 lakh below the Pradhan Mantra AUDRA Yojana and the last got here from their savings.

 

Today the logo has a community of 20 vendors for offline retail, whilst its in-line presence spans Amazon, Flipkart, Jio Mart, and Local Nation and its e-commerce site. Factor Notes entered the net area in 2019 through Amazon's marketplace, and that proved to be a turning factor for the logo in scaling its client reach.?In our first stint in business, we obtained a knowledge of online retail, and that became a gaining knowledge of what we carried out in Factor Notes.

 

From inventory control to price range utilization, even the screw-ups tend to provide tremendous learnings, and right here we're now promoting around 2,000 merchandise a day,? says Sachin. Factor Notes? enterprise took off essentially for the duration of the unsure instances of the pandemic while journaling picked up as an interest among people. There has been a significant upswing in journals and personalized planners, especially after the pandemic, says Sachin.

 

Now the binding and printing is done at Factor Notes? own factory in Sochi, while the papers are outsourced. Design is the heart of the brand, and its design team consists of ten people, recruited from leading design institutes in the country. Sachin says price is an important factor in the market, and Factor Notes ensures good quality and easy-on-the-pocket pricing. Last year, Factor Notes entered the global markets of the UAE and Africa via the online mode and an offline distributor network.

 

Market and growth The stationery market in the country is largely unorganized, and diaries as a category are crowded. Sachin says India is a saturated market when it comes to diaries, and that's the reason why Factor Notes doesn't do plain old diaries and focuses on products with premium designs. He also says exports hold great promise for stationery players. According to 6wresearch, the stationery market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8. 2% during 2023-2029. It also plans to enter the children's segment

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