In addition to licensed collections, the store also provides blind box collectibles, toys, plushes, fragrances, accessories, makeup tools, snacks and electronics as well as gifts and stationery.

除了特许收藏外，该店还提供盲盒收藏品、玩具、配饰、化妆工具、零食和电子产品以及礼品和文具。

Stationery giant M&G gains in popularity worldwide, enabling expansion via M&AsOver the past 31 years, Shanghai-based Chinese stationery brand M&G has been ubiquitous in offices and homes across the country.

Now, Shanghai M&G Stationery Inc, the owner of the M&G brand, is going global with a well-defined five-year strategy, according to Chen Huxiong, its founder and CEO.

The last 10 years generated double-digit growth, giving M&G the largest share of the Chinese stationery market, according to global consultancy Euromonitor.

What we shall do in the following years is come up with more localized products and business models to build M&G into a world-leading stationery brand, a long-term goal specified in our half-yearly report for 2020," said Chen.

In March 2019, M&G became the controlling shareholder of Axus Stationery (Shanghai) Co Ltd by acquiring the latter's 56 percent stake.

"In terms of the entire manufacturing industry, stationery may only take up a very small part of it.

Some of the most well-known local brands include the city’s first taxi company Qiangsheng, bicycle makers Phoenix and Forever, stationery company Hero Pen and the Wing On Department Store.

Beifa Group, the country's leading manufacturer of stationery based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, issued its select gift series of pens Friday morning, showing the achievements it has made with its newly developed stainless steel pen tip.

Shu said the third phase of the Canton Fair will take place from May 1 to 5 to showcase apparel, footwear, stationery, foods, and medical products.

Eye-catching new items, stores drive up sales, but product prices also on the riseLiu Yang of Beijing said she was shocked when she saw the prices of the products at a stationery store that her daughter wanted to visit.

Liu is not the only parent whose budget is feeling the effects of increasingly expensive stationery and related items.

Social media platforms said "toys or stationery" and "high-priced stationery" have become popular searches.

Recently, Weibo and short-video platform Douyin reported discussions trending on such topics as "gel pen sells for 55 yuan" and "why stationery is getting more and more expensive".

Many stationery stores set aside special back-to-school sections that sell items with promotional labels such as "necessary for students" and "recommended by teachers".

Also, the rising popularity of blind boxes, which are sold without the customer knowing the contents until they buy it, has led to some stationery merchants selling their own blind boxes.

Market experts say stationery merchants are seeking ways to pry money out of parents' pockets as the market has boomed in recent years.

The Chinese market for stationery and related items stood at 163.89 billion yuan in 2020, according to Beijing-based Intelligence Research Group.

Wang Yiran, a stationery store owner in Huilongguan community in Beijing's Changping district, said more and more customers are focused on products instead of prices.

"Many customers think Japanese stationery and related items are well-designed in appearance and function.

Posts on lifestyle site Xiaohongshu related to imported Japanese stationery have surpassed 40,000.

Posts that mention Japanese company Pilot, best known for its writing instruments but which also makes stationery and jewelry, had reached more than 120,000 as of mid-September.

On user-review site Douban, fans created an online club called the "House of Japanese Stationery".

On Douyin, a collection of episodes featuring Japanese stationery and related items had nearly 1 million views as of mid-September.

Jiumu, a high-end product line of domestic brand Shanghai M&G Stationery Inc, recorded revenue of 950 million yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 70 percent despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The goal is to better attract consumers who frequently buy stationery and related products and who are willing to pay more, the company said.

"Further efforts to improve consumers' shopping experience are key to generating new growth points for retail stationery," it said.

Last year, the China Consumers Association warned parents about toy-like items with different shapes and decorations, and brightly colored and scented stationery.

It called for making sensible choices when buying stationery instead of just competing to buy the fanciest items.

Also in August, Beijing's bureau for market regulation issued a letter of reminder and warning on prices at stationery businesses.

Chen Xianchun, who in charge of Yiwu Jinzun Stationery Co Ltd, predicted that, this year, his company's performance will see at least a 50 percent increase compared with last year, recovering to the level before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Canton Fair this year, running from April 15 to 24 online, displays more than 3 million exhibits, including 950,000 new items, ranging from food, medicine and healthcare products, to sporting, tourism and leisure goods, toys, and office stationery, by Wednesday, according to the event's organizing committee.

Apart from the local street foods, the restaurant's inner design was made to contain views of old-time barber shops, stationery stores, tattoo parlors and bars.

To cope with anticipated heightened pressure in the second half of this year due to increasing commodity prices, skyrocketing shipping costs and a fluctuating foreign exchange rate, Beifa Group, a leading stationery and office supplies manufacturer based in Ningbo, has adopted a strategy used by many other export-oriented companies.

The Frankfurt-based group will organize several trade fairs and events on the Chinese mainland, including the International Exhibition for Musical Instruments and Services in October and the China International Stationery & Office Supplies Exhibition in November in Shanghai.

During the event, Shanghai M&G Stationery Co. , Ltd. , Shanghai Pharma Group Co. , Ltd. and Shanghai Dongchang Enterprise Group Co. , Ltd. signed significant memorandum of cooperation agreements as important purchasers for the CIIE.

Chen Xianchun, a sales manager at Yiwu Jinzun Stationery Co, which produces sports trophies, medals and keychains, said her company's overseas orders, mainly placed by clients in the Netherlands, Germany and the Republic of Korea, surged nearly 50 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.

They cover creative cultural products, bags, shoes, accessories and stationery.

They include mortise-and-tenon architectural joins, bluetooth earphones, stationery featuring traditional Chinese culture and popsicles shaped as major buildings and attractions of the parks.

"The pressure will probably emerge in June," said Qiu Zhiming, chairman of Beifa Group, a leading stationery and office supplies manufacturer based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

According to Shanghai Customs, authorities also carried out risk monitoring on 199 batches of imported consumer goods for children, including children's scooters, clothing, food products, diapers, and stationery, with 95 batches of them failing to meet the require standards, resulting in an overall unqualified rate of 47.7 percent.

Pinduoduo launched a special online pavilion featuring key manufacturers and suppliers in Ningbo, which covered a wide range of products such as electronic appliances, kitchen gadgets, stationery, apparel, foods and baby care goods.

Popular Games-themed products include bags, badges, fashion, sportswear, special-edition beverage cans and containers, stationery, gold bars, seals, and so forth.

He Yizan, CEO of Alfilo Brands, a Shanghai-based consumer products company that holds licensing rights to a number of the world's leading art, cultural, fashion and entertainment properties, including the British Museum, said to begin with, the cultural and creative products of museums were mainly stationery, but now there was a wider variety of products available.

He Yizan, CEO of Alfilo Brands, a consumer company that holds licensing rights to several international arts, cultural, fashion and entertainment properties, said to begin with, cultural products were mainly stationery items, but now they include a wide range of categories.

Typically, an outbound Chinese student's main expenses include travel, tuition fee, food, educational content, stationery and accommodation, all of which entail payments in foreign currency.

The products involved in those 63 tariff categories include textiles and clothing, footwear, jewelry, certain food products, small household appliances, stationery, fitness equipment, wine, beer, telescopes, video game consoles and ski boots.

The BMW Joy Homes, built in left-behind children schools funded by the China Charity Federation-BMW Warm Heart Fund, also provide stationery and sporting materials to the children.

The stakeholders, including dealers and customers, brought books, computers and stationery to schools.

In response, during the week-long National Day holiday in October, Japanese retailers, including Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd, a department store giant, Loft, a stationery and household products chain, and Komehyo Co Ltd, a popular discounter specializing in new and pre-owned luxury brands, stocked certain products with friendly prices to attract Chinese consumers.

For instance, Shenzhen-listed Ningbo Chuangyuan Cultural Development Co Ltd, which develops, makes and exports paper-based and card-based products such as handicraft and stationery, said the latest income tax rate cut will help boost sales of its products in the US market.