Bogon07
April 2nd, 2013, 06:06 PM
An article way back in March with all sorts of info about the most talked about notebook brand around. Makes for some very interesting reading.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/the-moleskine-ipo-everything-you-need-to-know-about-this-wildly-profitable-fancy-notebook-company/274209/
Moleskine's operating margin, its profit as a percentage of revenue, was 41.7% last year. That compares favorably--indeed, very favorably--to the luxury brands the company considers to be peers, like luggage-maker Tumi (19.7%), fashion firm Prada (27.2%), and beauty-product boutique L'Occitane (16.7%). It's not hard to see why. The raw goods of Moleskine's paper products, which represent 93% of the company's revenue, are cheap compared to most luxury wares, so there's more room to mark up the price.
An illuminating chart from the company's IPO prospectus makes the case that Moleskine is actually the opposite of a stationery company
...... But that's the essence of luxury brands: they don't sell physical goods so much as the notions that the goods are supposed to represent.
Finally, Moleskine's sales by region:
53% of sales are in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, its largest market, but that's down from 63% in 2009, reflecting expansion in other markets. Recently, sales have been struggling in Italy and Spain (of course) but doing better in France and the UK.
36% of sales occur in the Americas. That's lower than one would expect for an English-language luxury brand, but the company hopes that having its own retail stores will help Moleskine the way they did Apple. A promising sign is that brand awareness of Moleskine in the United States rose from 7% in 2007, when it was really a European brand, to 56% last year, according to the company's own research.
11% of sales are in the Asia Pacific region, which has seen the greatest growth since 2009. The company attributes that to expansion in Australia and South Korea. Asia is also where Moleskine charges the most for its products, according to UBS, with prices in China and Japan almost double what the company charges for the same products in Italy
Gee I can see straight away how they could dramatically increase sales in Asia !!!! Bastards.
Here is a more stationery related view from the TigerPens Blog:
http://www.tigerpens.co.uk/blog/moleskine-goes-public/
Cooler still would be the chance to go to a shareholders meeting where you could stand up and ask why Moleskines can’t be made to work with fountain pens.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/the-moleskine-ipo-everything-you-need-to-know-about-this-wildly-profitable-fancy-notebook-company/274209/
Moleskine's operating margin, its profit as a percentage of revenue, was 41.7% last year. That compares favorably--indeed, very favorably--to the luxury brands the company considers to be peers, like luggage-maker Tumi (19.7%), fashion firm Prada (27.2%), and beauty-product boutique L'Occitane (16.7%). It's not hard to see why. The raw goods of Moleskine's paper products, which represent 93% of the company's revenue, are cheap compared to most luxury wares, so there's more room to mark up the price.
An illuminating chart from the company's IPO prospectus makes the case that Moleskine is actually the opposite of a stationery company
...... But that's the essence of luxury brands: they don't sell physical goods so much as the notions that the goods are supposed to represent.
Finally, Moleskine's sales by region:
53% of sales are in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, its largest market, but that's down from 63% in 2009, reflecting expansion in other markets. Recently, sales have been struggling in Italy and Spain (of course) but doing better in France and the UK.
36% of sales occur in the Americas. That's lower than one would expect for an English-language luxury brand, but the company hopes that having its own retail stores will help Moleskine the way they did Apple. A promising sign is that brand awareness of Moleskine in the United States rose from 7% in 2007, when it was really a European brand, to 56% last year, according to the company's own research.
11% of sales are in the Asia Pacific region, which has seen the greatest growth since 2009. The company attributes that to expansion in Australia and South Korea. Asia is also where Moleskine charges the most for its products, according to UBS, with prices in China and Japan almost double what the company charges for the same products in Italy
Gee I can see straight away how they could dramatically increase sales in Asia !!!! Bastards.
Here is a more stationery related view from the TigerPens Blog:
http://www.tigerpens.co.uk/blog/moleskine-goes-public/
Cooler still would be the chance to go to a shareholders meeting where you could stand up and ask why Moleskines can’t be made to work with fountain pens.