What Is The Fountain Pen Market Like?

[LDWoodworth]

I'm new to fountain pen, and I was surprised that there wasn't more retractables in the low end price range. The posts in that thread helped me understand that the R&D for it is prohibitive. But it also made me realize that I'm on unfamiliar ground, so I'm going to ask about the lay of the land. There seems to be quite a few pen makers, but what's the market share between them look like?

[WirsPlm]

I know there are threads in the Pen History subforum about this kind of thing, you should check there as a starting point.

[jar]

I doubt that there is any accounting of relative market share for fountain pens. It is a really insignificant niche split up among hundreds of companies currently.

[tryphon]

The French StyPen-Up from the 1990s was an inexpensive, retractable pen.

 

Ooops: posted in the wrong thread. Sorry!

Edited May 15, 2014 by tryphon

[LDWoodworth]

I know there are threads in the Pen History subforum about this kind of thing, you should check there as a starting point.

 

Thanks! Looks like a fair bit of reading in my future. Any books published on the subject that I should check? I've heard of "Fountain Pens by Peter Twydle" and added it to my read list.

 

I doubt that there is any accounting of relative market share for fountain pens. It is a really insignificant niche split up among hundreds of companies currently.

 

Hundreds? Yeah, that sounds pretty terrible, but any market that regularly produces Limited Editions for thousands of dollars can't be that insignificant, especially if it's been as fragmented as you say.

[rochester21]

What market?

Edited May 15, 2014 by rochester21

[jar]

 

Thanks! Looks like a fair bit of reading in my future. Any books published on the subject that I should check? I've heard of "Fountain Pens by Peter Twydle" and added it to my read list.

 

 

Hundreds? Yeah, that sounds pretty terrible, but any market that regularly produces Limited Editions for thousands of dollars can't be that insignificant, especially if it's been as fragmented as you say.

 

Sure it can be insignificant. There are only a few relatively small companies whose primary product are fountain pens. Montblanc is a great example. Wander into any Montblanc boutique and look at shelf space devoted to fountain pens relative to space devoted to stuff that is not a fountain pen. If Montblanc totally dropped fountain pens it would likely make too small a bottom line difference to be noticeable.

[LDWoodworth]

 

Sure it can be insignificant. There are only a few relatively small companies whose primary product are fountain pens. Montblanc is a great example. Wander into any Montblanc boutique and look at shelf space devoted to fountain pens relative to space devoted to stuff that is not a fountain pen. If Montblanc totally dropped fountain pens it would likely make too small a bottom line difference to be noticeable.

 

Yeah, I see your point. They don't have a boutique on my island, but really my question was more to gauge the various popular pen makers.

 

 

I poked ebay for a second and threw this graph together give myself a rough idea of the various popular types available. Not a definiteive list clearly, but I find it some what informative.

 

http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag242/Lee_Woodworth/Fountain%20Pens/Fountain_pen_ebay_category_distribution_20140515_sorted_zps4d9f26e7.png

[Beckwith]

Here's the list of manufacturers from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fountain_pen_and_ink_manufacturers

 

Of course this list leaves out not only some bigger manufactueres (Laban for instance), but also smaller but popular mom-and-pop type operatoins (Noodler's, Edison, etc.).

Edited May 15, 2014 by Beckwith

[jar]

 

Yeah, I see your point. They don't have a boutique on my island, but really my question was more to gauge the various popular pen makers.

 

 

I poked ebay for a second and threw this graph together give myself a rough idea of the various popular types available. Not a definiteive list clearly, but I find it some what informative.

 

http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag242/Lee_Woodworth/Fountain%20Pens/Fountain_pen_ebay_category_distribution_20140515_sorted_zps4d9f26e7.png

That's pretty but I'm not at all sure what that is trying to show. For example, Esterbrook has a zero market share, they have not made a fountain pen in several decades. Wahl/Eversharp has so small a market share that I doubt it could be measured and any new Wahl/Eversharp pens have no connection with the historic Wahl/Eversharp. That is also true for Conklin, Conway Stewart and Onoto.

 

Are you excluding used pens and new old stock pens and non-fountain pens?

 

What is the unit used in the graph?

 

When you say 'types' do you mean makers?

[LDWoodworth]

That's pretty but I'm not at all sure what that is trying to show. For example, Esterbrook has a zero market share, they have not made a fountain pen in several decades. Wahl/Eversharp has so small a market share that I doubt it could be measured and any new Wahl/Eversharp pens have no connection with the historic Wahl/Eversharp. That is also true for Conklin, Conway Stewart and Onoto.

 

Are you excluding used pens and new old stock pens and non-fountain pens?

 

What is the unit used in the graph?

 

When you say 'types' do you mean makers?

Sorry I didn't explain more. It's the listings on eBay's fountain pen category sorted by sub category. I was just doing it to rough gauge secondary market availability.

[kernando]

The fountain pen market is small. A fraction of that is collectors, and some of them are on websites like FPN.

 

As for brands, remember that a lot of them are under parent companies with each other. For what's left the American big three, one is owned by the maker of ballpoints, lighters, and disposable razors. The other two are owned by the maker of food containers and garbage cans.

[recluse]

Several spontaneous attempts to make an overview of the fountain pen market were made here on FPN. See, for example, this thread

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/232928-fountain-pen-market-share/

 

These are, however, mostly guesses and with necessity biased.

 

There are a few publications with market analysis but those are commercial products with substantial price. I didn't search hard enough to get one of them.

 

It would be very interesting to read a detailed analysis. Simply in order to understand how the big machinery works. For individual companies the information can be found in open sources but some digging still required.

[Ecriveur]

We are fortunate in that there are many competitors in the fountain pen market, which means plenty of competition and innovation at a wide range of prices. If there were only one or two major fountain pen manufacturers, we'd just get the same few models of pen year after year at higher prices every year.

 

Fountain pens are a small market but the high end ones are high end luxury goods, much like watches are these days to anyone under 50. Lots of companies want to be in the luxury goods business because it's a way to make money that's an alternative to just making the cheapest possible product in the largest quantity.

[georges zaslavsky]

your graph is false, the biggest fountain pen selelr is mont blanc and this at a worldwide level.Visconti is second in the US, second on the French market and in Asia, it has few market shares

[alarickc]

your graph is false, the biggest fountain pen selelr is mont blanc and this at a worldwide level.Visconti is second in the US, second on the French market and in Asia, it has few market shares

Huh, I would have guessed Pelikan or Pilot for second. I guess the boys in Florence are doing well for themselves.

[jar]

your graph is false, the biggest fountain pen selelr is mont blanc and this at a worldwide level.Visconti is second in the US, second on the French market and in Asia, it has few market shares

Really Georges?

 

Montblanc sells more fountain pens than Parker or Waterman or Sheaffer or Hero or Pilot?