Main Paper featured in elEconomista, Spain's leading financial media outlet
Recently, <<elEconomista>>, a leading financial media in Spain, featured the well-known Chinese company Main Paper, which started in Spain, and the founder of this company, Mr. Chen Lian.
Let's see how it's reported.
The story of Main Paper (MP) is an example of the development of a small street store into a giant in the office stationery industry, and also provides a template for overseas Chinese businessmen to develop their business.
The Economist reports that MP originally stood for “Multi Precio,” the traditional name given to small, Chinese-run 100-yen stores. The idea for the name originated in 2006, when Chen Lian returned to Spain after studying engineering in Germany. He didn't want to inherit his father's small 100-dollar store in Madrid's Barrio Pilar, but instead bought a truck and rented a warehouse to try his hand at wholesale trading. At first, he tried other businesses, such as phone booths (Locutorio) supplies and electronics, but they didn't work out. Meanwhile, the small warehouse grew, hiring more employees and shipping products from China in containers for distribution.
While selling brooms, clothing and cleaning products, Chen Lian noticed that grocery stores were not paying enough attention to stationery products and saw an opportunity to create his own brand. So he changed the meaning of MP from “Multi Precio” to “Madrid Papel” and implemented his father's philosophy in the design of his products, eschewing the clutter and poor-quality image common in grocery stores and focusing on quality and appearance, even if it meant less profit. The focus was on quality and appearance, even though this meant less profit.
Over time, MP came to dominate the Chinese grocery store channel, accounting for 90% of its business. MP then moved into the large distribution market, working with clients such as Eroski and Carrefour, and in 2011 began an export business that now has a presence in more than 40 countries.
Internationalization has led to MP's name evolving once again into Main Paper, an office stationery empire. Its business is large enough to reach co-branding agreements with global brands such as Coca-Cola, the Spanish national soccer team, and Netflix series such as Stranger Things, House of Paper, and The Squid Game.
Main Paper's catalog includes more than 5,000 items ranging from pencils, markers and paints to notebooks, planners and calendars under four brands. The best known, MP, focuses on stationery, writing instruments, correction supplies, desk supplies and handicrafts; Artix Paints focuses on art products; Sampack specializes in backpacks and stationery boxes; and Cervantes focuses on notebooks, notepads and note pads.
Main Paper's sourcing strategy combines the purchase of products from different countries and final packaging in its own factories, with more than 40% of its products coming from Europe and 20% made in Spain.
Main Paper's sourcing strategy combines the purchase of products from different countries and final packaging in its own factories, with more than 40% of its products coming from Europe and 20% made in Spain.
In order to support the expansion of the business, the company has also progressed in terms of logistics, from a small warehouse to the present 20,000 m2 logistics center located in the town of Seseña, Toledo, which reflects the company's innovative and international spirit. The center employs more than 150 people from China, Spain and more than 20 other countries.
The logistics center also features a 300-square-meter showroom that displays the company's full range of products in an attractive and professional manner, in line with founder Chen Lian's commitment to specializing in the category in grocery stores. In fact, Main Paper has had a post-sales visual merchandising team since five years ago, visiting stores that sell its products to teach shopkeepers how to display them correctly, in the order of reference, and to implement a corner display format similar to that used by certain food and beverage brands in traditional distribution channels.
After achieving sales of 100 million euros in 2023 (80 million euros in the Spanish market), Main Paper's main objective is to maintain a growth rate of 20% in the international market and 10% in the domestic market, with a particular focus on expanding into distribution channels other than polyvalent.
Post time: Aug-15-2024
