How Many Fountain Pens Are Sold Worldwide?

[mol_lon]

I was wondering how many fountain pens are sold every year. I read that the fountain pen industry sells $1 billion of pens. I can't find how many individual pens are sold. Anyone know the average selling price of fountain pens.

 

I could come up with some estimates of number of units sold. For instance, if I assume $200 asp then I get 5,000,000 fountain pens sold worldwide.

 

I would really appreciate some solid sources that have units sold numbers. It could be any year since 2000.

[BlueJ]

I can believe there may be several million, maybe several tens of millions of fountain pens sold annually worldwide (keeping in mind that FP use is still common in China, India and Pakistan, all very populous countries) but the average selling price is MUCH lower than $200; I'd say median selling price more like $2 and mean $10. The great majority are very inexpensive molded plastic pens made in these three countries, though some probably write decently.

[mol_lon]

I can believe there may be several million, maybe several tens of millions of fountain pens sold annually worldwide (keeping in mind that FP use is still common in China, India and Pakistan, all very populous countries) but the average selling price is MUCH lower than $200; I'd say median selling price more like $2 and mean $10. The great majority are very inexpensive molded plastic pens made in these three countries, though some probably write decently.

 

Mean price of 10 bucks. Really? You probably are right. You make a fair point about the Chinese and Indian fountain pen markets being very large. ASP in those countries are probably very low.

 

What do you think the asp is outside of those countries? I am interested in western countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia, etc. Any guesses? $50?

 

I am trying to figure out how big the market is for fountain pens. I thinking of making and selling something in this industry.

[BlueJ]

In the developed countries there seems to be a very wide range of prices. There are some quite inexpensive (say $10-20) mass-produced pens, for example Pilot (Japan) makes their Metropolitan and Pelikan their Pelikano. On the other hand they and others make some pens in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars, pulling the mean price up, if not the median.

 

I am not a business consultant, but I would say to establish a profitable niche you should aim for the high end of the market and offer something both highly desirable and different, even unique. CONID with their Bulkfillers is a successful example, but they are working from a position of long-term design expertise and top manufacturing technology, not to mention deep knowledge of the hobby and market. Without those assets I fear a newcomer would have a high probability of bankruptcy!

[mol_lon]

In the developed countries there seems to be a very wide range of prices. There are some quite inexpensive (say $10-20) mass-produced pens, for example Pilot (Japan) makes their Metropolitan and Pelikan their Pelikano. On the other hand they and others make some pens in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars, pulling the mean price up, if not the median.

 

I am not a business consultant, but I would say to establish a profitable niche you should aim for the high end of the market and offer something both highly desirable and different, even unique. CONID with their Bulkfillers is a successful example, but they are working from a position of long-term design expertise and top manufacturing technology, not to mention deep knowledge of the hobby and market. Without those assets I fear a newcomer would have a high probability of bankruptcy!

 

I am really interested in figuring out how many unique buyers are in the fountain pen market. That's what I mean by how big the market is for fountain pens. Assume $1 billion in annual sales and $50 asp. Further assume that 60% of sales is from western and other countries I listed. That comes to 12 million fountain pens being sold, annually.

 

Now assume that 40% of pens are being bought by unique buyers. Unique buyers means you don't count the same person twice in a given year. That would mean there are 4.8 million potential buyers in the countries I am interested in. Does 4.8 million buyers seem like a reasonable number?

 

BTW, I am not trying to sell fountain pens. There is no way I could compete selling fountain pens. If Omas and Delta don't have a chance of surviving then I certainly don't either. Think accessories.

 

Not to change the subject but you mentioned Conid. Someone recently recommended that brand of pens to me when I asked for suggestions for brands that sell big pens. After looking at their pens, they do seem well made. Nevertheless, they seem like the way more expensive versions of TWSBI and Lamy. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy the functional and industrial look. Is $1000 justifiable for a Conid Kingsize gold nib? Just asking.

Edited November 11, 2018 by mol_lon

[Parker51]

The data is difficult to calculate as production figures and sales figures are different. And total pen production varies in composition so much as to almost make it impractical to measure as it is divided between a large number of very small producers and a significant number of medium and large producers all of whom do not chose to share their production numbers.

[mol_lon]

The data is difficult to calculate as production figures and sales figures are different. And total pen production varies in composition so much as to almost make it impractical to measure as it is divided between a large number of very small producers and a significant number of medium and large producers all of whom do not chose to share their production numbers.

 

You are right. I haven't been able to find any production numbers. Even from large and famous producers. I thought someone like Montblanc might have published these numbers somewhere.

 

Any guesses for total number of unique buyers of fountain pens, annually.

[TSherbs]

Any guesses for total number of unique buyers of fountain pens, annually.

plenty

[Karmachanic]

More than 12

 

To answer your Conid question, rather than change the direction of your thread, I suggest you enter that name in the search bar at the top of the page, to find your answer.

[inkstainedruth]

It might be extremely difficult to assess the number of unique buyers. Because if the OP uses this site as a benchmark, for instance, I'd say that the vast majority of us here have more than three pens. And a lot of people probably have way more than I do (and I have more than 150 pens at this point, although the bulk are older or vintage ones).

I just checked my records. I've bought 16 pens this year; only a quarter of them were new (and one of those 4, I lost last weekend ). That means that all the rest were probably made prior to the 1980s (the Pelikano I got last spring at the Baltimore-Washington Pen Show; I now have a query out to A.T. Cross to find out what the production run dates for the Cross Solo model were).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[mol_lon]

It might be extremely difficult to assess the number of unique buyers. Because if the OP uses this site as a benchmark, for instance, I'd say that the vast majority of us here have more than three pens. And a lot of people probably have way more than I do (and I have more than 150 pens at this point, although the bulk are older or vintage ones).

I just checked my records. I've bought 16 pens this year; only a quarter of them were new (and one of those 4, I lost last weekend ). That means that all the rest were probably made prior to the 1980s (the Pelikano I got last spring at the Baltimore-Washington Pen Show; I now have a query out to A.T. Cross to find out what the production run dates for the Cross Solo model were).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

You make a fair point about asking people on this site would produce biased answers. You are also correct about sales number of vintage pens. But I am ignoring vintage pens.

 

$1 billion in annual sales number that I got is for new pens only. I am assuming that most people that buy vintage pens also buy new pens. Under that assumption, I can be sure that they will be counted as a unique buyer. For instance, you bought new pens and vintage pens. Losing a pen is always heart breaking. Thankfully I haven't lost any pens, yet. Then again I don't have nearly as many pens as you do.

 

I am also going to assume that 20% of the buyers represent 80% of the sales. So my real customer base would be 20% of 4.8 million. That would be 960,000 unique buyers in the countries I listed.

 

I want to know my base. The total number of potential customers. From there I could crunch some more numbers to figure out how many people might buy my product. It's important to figure this out because if I can't sell enough then I wouldn't make enough money to do it full-time. Or, even part-time.

 

It's mainly guess work but it is important to do before going into any business. I am also trying to be conservative with my guesses.

[BlueJ]

Well, there are probably a few hundred million FP users in the large developing countries, and if we assume they replace or add a pen every five years on average, then there could be several tens of millions of unique buyers annually. But the great majority are only buying very inexpensive pens made in their own countries, as I said. For unique buyers of moderately to very expensive pens in a given year, I think your guess of around a million worldwide is the right order of magnitude.

[BaronWulfraed]

It might be extremely difficult to assess the number of unique buyers. Because if the OP uses this site as a benchmark, for instance, I'd say that the vast majority of us here have more than three pens. And a lot of people probably have way more than I do (and I have more than 150 pens at this point, although the bulk are older or vintage ones).

 

That's right -- give me a target to aim for...

 

My database is at 122, and does not include the three Esterbrook Dip-Less sets, nor a mis-matched dual Sheaffer desk set (and none of my technical pen sets -- 3&7 Koh-i-noor Rapidograph, 3 rotRing Isograph, 1 F-C TG -- you do not want to see my art supply cabinet )

 

13 low-end pens added since August (rather than spending $400 on one pen )

[inkstainedruth]

For the past three years I said "This is the year I'm cutting back on pen purchases!" The current count for 2018? Sixteen.... One of which is getting turned into a parts pen because it turned out to be a Frankenpen and will cost more than it's worth in getting replacement parts (and that's in addition to the repair charges). And I'm waffling on hitting the "buy" button on another pen in my shopping cart on Amazon....

In my defense, though, a lot of the pens I bought this year cost more to repair than I paid initially (like the Laidtone Duovac I found at an estate sale last spring, and a Parker Parkette I found hiding in an Esterbrook box in an antiques mall in Warren PA a few months ago. Of course there's the $2 US Forest Green sumgai Parker 51 (another estate sale find) - which just needed to be flushed out....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth