With Student Demand Slowing, M&G Stationery and Its Peers Turn Their Focus to MINISO and Pop Mart

By Baimian
Edited by Yuanzhang

Twenty years ago, you could find a familiar kind of shop outside almost every primary school in China.

It usually sat within a 50-meter walk from the school gate—prime real estate. And for countless kids, it was nearly impossible to pass by after class without stepping in “just to look.”

The store was small but packed to the brim with the newest stationery from major brands. Back then, shelves seemed to refresh every other week. New pens appeared constantly: some topped with a little Miffy, others ended in a tiny skull, and some came shaped like retractable capsules. People still remember pea-shaped correction tape, scented erasers, and those crystal-blue gel refills that felt like treasures.

For many born in the ’80s, ’90s, and even the early ’00s, this is shared childhood memory. Before exams, we’d buy entire sets of “Temple Blessing” test pens. During breaks, we’d grab a classmate’s pencil case to see if there was anything new and fun inside.

In those corner stationery stores, domestic brands like TrueColor, AHAO, and especially M&G were the unquestioned stars. But there was always a built-in risk: once a cohort of kids finished school and moved on from handwriting, these brands would lose a large portion of their most loyal users.

With China’s “double reduction” policy and the rise of tablets and digital teaching tools, the next generation has inevitably reduced its reliance on traditional stationery.

Return to an elementary school gate today, and that familiar shop is likely gone—or has changed its sign. The most eye-catching shelf space is no longer filled with colorful pens. It might feature Labubu blind boxes or My Little Pony trading cards instead.

As traditional writing tools are purchased less and less, they’re gradually fading from everyday view. So what has happened to brands like M&G, Deli, and TrueColor—once the kings of campus stationery?

M&G Has Entered the Mall—and Started Selling Blind Boxes

If you spend time in large shopping malls, you’ve probably seen the sign “Jiumu Variety Store” more than once.

These stores are often beautifully designed, with warm, cozy lighting and a distinctly Japanese-style “lifestyle goods” layout. Inside, the shelves are neatly categorized—stationery, toys, digital accessories, and even home items all in one place.

What many shoppers don’t realize is that Jiumu is actually an independent brand under M&G, the traditional stationery giant. Unless you deliberately search online, it’s easy to miss that connection in daily life.

In fact, some people only notice when zooming in on the storefront: inside the character “雜,” a small line reads “M&G SHOP”—M&G’s English trademark.

Jiumu was founded in 2016 as M&G’s strategic move into “new retail.” The group didn’t want to be confined to stationery alone. In the words of co-founder Chen Huxiong, M&G needed a “scene different from the school-side stationery shop.”

Those school-side shops, however, were exactly what once powered M&G into a market heavyweight.

As a typical family-controlled company, M&G’s ownership is highly concentrated among three siblings—Chen Huwen, Chen Huxiong, and Chen Xueling. Over six years, they built a dense, web-like distribution network. They cultivated provincial-level distributors as first-tier partners, providing training and operational support to turn them into single-brand distributors. Once established, these first-tier players then developed second-tier distributors, creating a rolling expansion engine.

By the time M&G listed in 2014, it had reached an estimated 80% coverage of school-adjacent retail circles nationwide. For a long time, these retail outlets contributed roughly 90% of M&G’s revenue.

M&G’s boom years were spectacular. From 2012 to 2019, the company’s average year-on-year revenue growth reached 29.15%. Its collaboration with Miffy became so popular that some people half-joked Miffy felt like M&G’s logo. And in 2008, following advice from marketing firm Hua & Hua, M&G secured authorization from the Confucius Temple in Qufu and launched one of its most iconic blockbusters: the “Confucius Temple Blessing Exam Pen.”

Fast forward to today, and the old channel scenario is clearly under structural pressure. M&G’s revenue growth fell below 20% starting in 2022, and in 2024 it dropped to under 4%, its weakest pace in nearly five years. The old logic—“sell more pens to more students”—is no longer enough.

M&G itself acknowledged this shift. In an investor relations event in October 2022, the company noted that changes in population and birth rates mean domestic stationery growth is no longer driven primarily by volume. In its 2021–2025 strategy, M&G emphasized improving channel quality and efficiency, repositioning itself toward becoming a brand retail service provider.

This is where Jiumu becomes central to the transformation story. The brand clearly targets younger consumers and trend-driven retail. According to Jiumu’s head, Zou Hong, its core audience is women aged 15–35, and the team’s average age is just 26.

Zou also stressed that Jiumu doesn’t want to simply sell IP blind boxes or plush toys. The ambition is to turn IP collaborations into “cultural and creative” merchandise. One Piece, the British Museum, The Little Prince, Snoopy—through partnerships with global IPs, M&G hopes to turn stationery into “collectible fandom goods.”

A Multi-Front Pivot—And a Steep Climb

New retail, trendy toys, young consumers—Jiumu is surrounded by hot keywords, making it look like a ready-made second growth engine.

But the reality is tougher than the narrative. M&G’s 2025 Q3 results show revenue grew only 1.25% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to shareholders declined 7.18%.

The drag came, unsurprisingly, from M&G’s traditional core businesses—the “old three”: writing instruments, student stationery, and office stationery. In 2025, all three segments declined: writing instruments down 1.52%, student stationery down 6.51%, and office stationery down 6.84%.

What about Jiumu, the business carrying so much expectation?

Since opening in 2017, Jiumu operated at a loss for a period. Combined with headwinds in offline retail, it only achieved its first profitability by the end of 2023. Even now, it’s still in expansion mode: in the nine months from late 2024 to Q3 2025, Jiumu opened more than 100 new stores.

Because of its positioning, many new stores are located in large shopping malls. But that expansion brings heavy pressure from rent, renovation, and staffing. Financial reports indicate that although Jiumu generated 7.56 billion yuan in revenue in the first half of 2025, it still recorded a net loss of 23 million yuan.

Research from Pacific Securities suggests most franchise investors need over a year to recover their costs. The “big store in big mall” model—high rent and heavy operations—continues to eat into profits.

And Jiumu isn’t competing in a vacuum. In the “variety retail” track, MINISO is impossible to ignore.

MINISO built its position on extreme value-for-money and supply chain efficiency. Founder Ye Guofu established a system capable of placing large-scale orders across 800+ suppliers, with inventory turnover as fast as 21 days, compared to 3–4 months in traditional department stores. Even with gross margins around 7%–8%, the scale effect can still generate profit.

Compared with MINISO, M&G plays more of a channel-driven role. It has strong authority in stationery manufacturing, but in categories like blind boxes and lifestyle goods, Jiumu has not built a large-scale supply chain advantage.

Blind boxes also highlight the gap. Pop Mart operates across the full value chain—upstream IP, product development, and downstream community building. Jiumu, in many cases, functions more as a retail outlet selling other brands’ IP merchandise. That naturally compresses its profit space.

So what is actually supporting M&G’s growth today?

The answer lies in its B2B business—getting pens into “institutional” systems.

The Real Growth Engine: Selling to Institutions

This business is called M&G Colipu, the company’s direct supply platform targeting government agencies and state-owned enterprises.

In 2025 Q3, Colipu contributed close to 56% of total revenue, reaching 96.9 billion yuan.

Colipu makes M&G’s revenue numbers look impressive. But because it operates under B2B centralized procurement, margins are extremely thin. As its revenue share increases, overall net margin is inevitably pulled down.

One of the faster-growing segments is M&G Technology, the company’s e-commerce channel business. While its revenue share is still small—around 10 billion yuan—it reflects how online channels have become an important incremental supplement.

M&G’s traditional pen-selling business once offered wide distribution and strong gross margins—but it is now facing a structural decline. Meanwhile, B2B procurement and new consumer retail are growing, yet their profitability is thinner and competition is intense.

The result is a familiar trap: revenue grows, but profit doesn’t.

Japan’s Stationery Industry Has Been Here Before

M&G’s anxiety is not unique—it reflects a broader industry shift.

As core categories soften, stationery companies are increasingly chasing China’s booming “collectibles economy.” According to data compiled by Jiaoyanshe, in the first half of this year alone, stationery brands launched around 70 IP collaborations—22 from M&G, 18 from Guangbo, and 13 from Deli.

On November 29, Deli opened a flagship store of over 1,500 square meters in Shanghai’s Jing’an Joy City. During its first week of pop-up activities in Shanghai, foot traffic exceeded 100,000. Earlier this year, Deli hosted anime-themed pop-ups in Beijing and Shanghai called “Sweetheart Party.” Beyond pens and notebooks, it even sold shikishi boards, charms, standees, and holographic tickets—classic “collectibles” items.

This entertainment-driven “trend stationery” approach essentially adds premium value to traditional products. A basic gel pen becomes more expensive once it carries a collaboration label—raising margins accordingly.

And compared with overseas markets, China’s stationery still has room to move up the value curve.

Research cited by Guosheng Securities shows that in 2021, annual per-capita stationery spending was about $11 in the U.S., nearly $8 in Japan, and only $2.6 in China. According to Yiwu Index monitoring, China’s stationery market size is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan in 2025.

In China’s current market, many high value-added brands—especially in the premium segment where products cost tens of yuan or more—are dominated by Japanese companies.

Brands like Pilot, Mitsubishi, and Zebra—well known among Chinese consumers—once faced challenges similar to M&G’s today. After Japan’s bubble economy burst in the 1990s, the country entered its “lost decades.” With an extremely low birth rate, the domestic stationery market shrank rapidly. From 1997 to 2002, the number of stationery retailers in Japan fell from 21,000 to 16,000.

In that harsh environment, Japanese companies doubled down on technical innovation, developing some of the world’s earliest water-based ballpoint pens and click-type gel pens. This meticulous focus on quality created high added value. For example, Pilot developed ultra-fine pen tips with reduced friction area, enabling smoother ball rotation. Its net profit margin rose from 1.37% in 2002 to 12.7% by 2019.

To survive, Japanese stationery brands also committed to going global. In 2019, Pilot earned 62% of its revenue overseas, with operations spanning 180 countries.

China has been a key target market. Analysis from GF Securities based on national data showed that in 2018 China’s K12 student population was massive, while Japan’s K12 population was only about one-sixth of China’s. Zebra’s president, Ishikawa Taro, once said bluntly that even capturing 0.1% of China’s market would be significant.

In July 2022, Kokuyo opened its first physical stationery store in China. Data from Changjiang Securities indicates Pilot’s market share in China rose from 1% in 2011 to 2.6% in 2023.

M&G is not unaware of these lessons. The company has continued investing in technology and has also expanded overseas into Southeast Asia and Africa. But whether it’s developing high-end products or building new markets, both require significant capital and time—and the challenge remains formidable.

From the school gate to the shopping mall and the e-commerce platform, the hero product has changed from a pen to a blind box. M&G’s journey captures the transformation dilemma that many traditional manufacturers are now forced to confront.

For M&G—the giant of China’s campus stationery era—this is a very real “midlife crisis.” And for the three founding siblings, it may prove no easier than the early days of taking pens from Chaoshan to the entire country.