The pandemic has forced more than 1.5 billion1 students worldwide to stay at home and study online. To ensure continued education, computers, wifi, cell phones, cameras, and other items have become urgently needed for education. As the pandemic eases both in China and abroad, plans for reopening schools and resuming classes are also gradually being put on the agenda. Overseas educational institutions and governments are also making urgent preparations on how to ensure that students can continue learning through online classes, how to restore normal teaching afterward, and how to keep campuses safe:

The governor of California said on April 21 that 1/5 of students currently lack the learning devices they need, and at least 447,451 laptop computers and 340,202 Wi-Fi hotspots are needed to ensure that students can attend online classes normally.

Researchers at University College London in the UK said that schools must consider how to ensure that, after reopening, they can provide students with a suitable learning environment and resources.

On May 25, Japan’s prime minister announced that regions across the country, including the 42 prefectures where the state of emergency had already been lifted, would gradually ease stay-at-home and business closure requests and move forward with reopening schools.

This shows that purchasing school supplies for remote learning and preparing for the resumption of school has become an important current task for educational institutions overseas.

Online shopping can effectively reduce personnel contact while providing a wide range of school supplies resources and high-quality delivery services. Amazon Business, as the preferred online procurement channel for businesses and institutions, has already provided a large amount of learning and educational supplies to students at more than 1,386 schools4 in over 30 cities in the United States. For Chinese cross-border sellers, expanding school supplies through Amazon Business can help capture the huge sales opportunities brought by schools reopening in the second half of the year.
The corresponding corporate buyers on Amazon Business are mostly educational institutions serving all age groups, specifically early childhood education, K–12 basic education, and higher education. Among them, K-12 basic education institutions have greater purchasing demand, accounting for 61% of educational institutions’ total procurement5. School supplies are in demand year-round, with relatively higher demand during the back-to-school season and at the end of the year.

Early childhood education: preschools, daycare classes, and more👉🏻
Amazon Business customer example: Endeavor Schools
A private early childhood education institution in Miami, Florida, operates 42 preschools across 10 U.S. states and serves 9,000 students6. Amazon Business has helped it greatly simplify its procurement process, enabling school leaders everywhere to centralize procurement and share resources.

K-12 basic education: from kindergarten to twelfth grade👉🏻
Amazon Business customer: Shelby County Schools
One of the highest-rated education systems in Alabama, it has long been committed to providing students with high-quality education and teaching resources. With more than 1,000 7 buyers on Amazon Business, it highly values the business purchasing features and procurement system provided by Amazon.

Higher education: colleges, universities, adult education institutions, etc.
Amazon Business customer: Johns Hopkins University
A world-renowned top private university, Amazon Business can not only meet the school’s need for a wide selection of products, but also source from more than 9,000 small businesses, creating significant business opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses around the world.

Against the backdrop of strong market demand, some Chinese sellers have already successfully achieved annual sales of more than $1 million in the school supplies category !If you’re getting ready to enter this category, first listen to the key takeaways for striking gold shared by a seller from Tonglu, Hangzhou:

Since 2017, we have gradually launched Amazon Business in the US, Europe, and Japan. If you want to tap into the school supplies market, before you sell, you should first conduct target market research and data analysis and optimize and adjust your product selection based on the preferences of target consumers; for these products, you need to win with a user-centric mindset, so while focusing on product quality, you should also balance product innovation and packaging; for shipping, you need to understand the size limits for Fulfillment by Amazon and work with third-party logistics to leave enough room for later market expansion.

With such a promising opportunity ahead of you, are you already eager to make your mark overseas?Next, let us walk you through the 2020 bestselling school supplies trends for Amazon Business in the US, Europe, and Japan to help you tap into these opportunities with precision!

Amazon Business customers: K–12 basic education, higher education
Detailed breakdown of bestselling products: Notebooks are used in a wide range of situations. Students often use them to record key points and for writing. Educational institutions have high demand for bulk purchasing, so pay attention to product packaging dimensions when selling.

Amazon Business customers:early childhood education, K-12 basic education, higher education
Bestselling product details: Whiteboard sets can be used in many different situations. Teachers can handwrite activity calendars, class schedules, memos, assign tasks, and more. We recommend incorporating educational institution use cases into your product images, descriptions, and key selling points.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 education, higher education
Detailed breakdown of bestselling products: Pencils are widely used in many settings, such as learning and school administration. Buyers pay great attention to the environmental characteristics of materials, especially safe, non-toxic materials, and smooth writing. In addition, we recommend selling them in sets of 10–15, and performing box drop tests before sale to improve packaging quality.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 basic education, higher education
Hot-selling details: European consumers like this type of pen (calligraphy pen) for drawing. Color, material, and whether the pens can be reused are all factors buyers consider, and sets of 10–15 pens are more popular.

Amazon Business customers: early childhood education, K–12 basic education
Hot-selling product details: Backpacks, an essential item for students, are in high demand among both business buyers and individual consumers, who look for multifunctional features such as a pull handle, wheels, and multiple compartments; we recommend offering multiple styles and making sure to avoid pattern infringement.

Amazon Business customers: early childhood education, K–12 basic education
Bestselling products details: Learning through play helps build foundational preschool skills, and educational musical instruments such as hand bells help make learning more enjoyable for children in the classroom.

Amazon Business customers: early childhood education, K-12 basic education
Detailed explanation of bestselling products: Drawing and doodling can help develop children’s creativity. These products are often used in preschool institutions, are consumable, and have high repeat purchase demand. We recommend setting more attractive quantity tiered pricing.

Amazon Business customers: Early childhood education, K-12 basic education
Hot-selling details: adopting good safety measures is an important need for early childhood education institutions. Product design must take the use scenario into account, such as stairs, balconies, and TVs, and should clearly indicate how the gate closes in different scenarios.

Amazon Business customers: early childhood education, K–12 basic education
Hot sale details: Indoor trampolines are mainly used to meet children’s indoor exercise needs. It can be used in settings such as home education and K-12 basic education. Safety is an important consideration. For children’s trampolines, be sure to add an outer safety enclosure net to improve product safety.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 basic education, higher education
Bestselling products details: These products are used to make printed models and are used with 3D printers and printing pens. They are used frequently, especially in higher education and research institutions. As consumables, they need to be purchased repeatedly in large quantities.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 basic education, higher education, and adult education
Hot-selling product details:Can be used to heat-press designs onto T-shirts, hats, cups, and other products, and is especially widely used for producing souvenirs and event supplies at universities.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 education, higher education, and adult education
Bestselling products details: widely used in many campus settings, such as printing learning materials, paper notices, and school administration. When purchasing, buyers pay close attention to whether products such as ink cartridges or toner are included, how many documents the original product can print, and whether it is easy to refill ink or replace ink cartridges.

Business buyers: K-12 education, higher education, adult education
Bestselling product details: Used with printers, remind buyers at the time of sale about product specifications such as compatible toner models, print colors, printable page yield, and toner capacity.

Business buyers: K-12 basic education, higher education, adult education
Bestselling products details: Used with toner, buyers usually pay attention to how to install and use the ink cartridge, how easy it is to refill, and whether it supports repeated use and refilling with toner in different colors. We recommend clearly stating these details.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 basic education, higher education, adult education
Hot sale details: A smartphone tripod with an LED light can take photos and videos at the same time, which helps keep instructional videos steady. Furthermore, the LED light is USB powered, making it easy to access various power sources. Using the included remote control, the lighting can be adjusted flexibly according to the shooting location.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 education, higher education, adult education
Bestselling products details: Webcams are commonly used in scenarios such as students taking online classes and video conferences at higher education institutions. During home-based learning, many courses at Japanese secondary education institutions were completed online. As video signal capture devices, webcams are essential for educational institutions, whether they are provided to students, staff, or teachers.

Amazon Business customers: K–12 education, higher education, and adult education
Bestselling products explained: Watches and wristbands are commonly seen in sports settings such as outdoor hiking, running, and gym workouts. Because these products need to be used with devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, products that are compatible with most devices and systems are more popular. Buyers also pay attention to how comfortable and convenient these products are to wear when purchasing.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 education, higher education
Detailed explanation of bestselling products: Many students choose to commute around campus by bicycle, so bicycles and related accessories are potentially bestselling product categories in the future. When selecting products, pay attention to the product’s use cases, level of specialization, safety, whether it is lightweight, and more.

Amazon Business customers: K-12 basic education, higher education
Detailed explanation of bestselling products: Almost all overseas educational institutions have gyms, and this type of exercise bike is one of the basic fitness equipment that gyms on campus and some companies need to have. Due to the impact of the pandemic, some consumers with exercise needs also choose to buy products that make it easy to work out at home. Therefore, there is a high demand on both the enterprise side and the consumer side of the market.

Amazon Business customers:K-12 basic education, higher education, and adult education
Detailed explanation of bestselling products: As the impact of the pandemic gradually fades, especially as winter begins, students returning to their normal routines often use these cold-weather gloves for outdoor activities such as skiing and biking, so demand is strong. For these products, buyers care more about practical features such as durability, waterproofing, and warmth.

Product selection compliance strategies alone aren’t enough—Amazon Business operations tips are included, too!How to quickly enter the school supplies category in 2020?12 super-detailed questions, answered one by one for you!

1) Research: do your research and data analysis before you start selling on Amazon to more accurately choose the right products and Marketplace to expand into;
2) Authorization: Do not sell unauthorized products;
3) Compatibility: Compatible products are in high demand;
4) Environmentally friendly: the more environmentally friendly the materials used in the product and outer packaging are, the more popular they are;
5) Size: understand Amazon FBA size restrictions and the popular sizes and models on the market.

❓ Q2 What pitfalls must you avoid when expanding this category?

1) Seasonality: School supplies have a peak sales season, and sending too much inventory to overseas warehouses all at once at the start can lead to product backlogs and other issues. Stock up early before peak season to avoid disrupting your operations rhythm;
2) Safety: If the product itself is used by young children, etc., it is best to conduct safety tests to prevent a series of problems with subsequent products;
3) Compliance: Pay attention to the product’s appearance and patterns to help prevent a range of infringement complaints. For the European Marketplace, you also need to pay attention to VAT compliance;
4) Accuracy: Carefully compare item image colors, item descriptions, instruction manuals, and other details to avoid negative reviews caused by inconsistencies between images and text.

❓ Q3 What are the use cases for overseas business buyers?How often do they buy?

Usage scenarios: everyday school teaching and office work, class activities, teacher-student interaction, holiday decorations, and similar scenarios;
Purchase frequency: Purchases happen year-round, with higher purchase frequency during the September back-to-school season and at the end of the year.

❓ Q4 What are the main needs of international buyers?Do overseas buyers have preferences for brands, functionality, design, materials, etc.?

Choose the right packaging method and use self-checks such as drop tests to minimize shipping damage. For battery products, all required ocean-shipping qualification tests must be met, and packaging quality must be compliant to avoid lithium battery explosion incidents.

❓ Q5 What is the bestseller calendar for this category across marketplaces?Are there any suitable promotions?

Including the traditional peak sales season in Europe and the United States from October to December (Black Friday, Halloween, Christmas, etc.), below are the bestselling periods for school supplies. Back-to-school season campaigns mainly target education-related business buyers, including 1) K-12 educational institutions; 2) school teachers and procurement staff; 3) school product suppliers.

1) Choose factories with strong supply capacity whenever possible, so you can effectively secure product inventory for supply, especially during peak seasons;
2) It is best to have a relevant design department or staff so you can update products promptly after analyzing buyer feedback;
3) Factories need to have ISO certification, factory inspection reports, and other relevant qualifications to help businesses provide supporting documents during procurement;
4) For school supplies, product innovation is very important, especially when it comes to product personalization and customization, so manufacturers that own their own factories have a greater advantage.

❓ Does the category have special patent requirements for Q7?What should sellers be aware of?

We recommend that sellers pay attention to the patent status of bestselling products already on the market to avoid unknowingly infringing on others’ patents, such as the design patents of major brands. Also make sure the product does not have sharp corners or similar issues that could cause injury to users.

1) FBA is generally a good option. Be sure to control the package size so the product stays within Amazon’s standard-size requirements;
2) School and office products, such as pens and rulers, may qualify for the Small and Light program to help save costs;
3) US Customs sometimes requires an SDS shipment acceptance letter, so you need to prepare it in advance;
4) For children’s toy products, make sure the product label includes the brand trademark, product information, production date, FUSKU barcode, UPC code, and a warning statement with a warning symbol indicating that children under X years old are not allowed to use the product; warning statements vary by product;
5) For listing cadence, you can start by shipping small batches to test the product, then replenish inventory later while improving the product based on buyer feedback;
6) Ship and list according to your actual operating strategy, but avoid shipping too much at once. You can send 2–3 batches in advance for testing.

1) For children’s products, make sure the applicable age range and warning labels are clearly marked;
2) When editing product descriptions, try to highlight the product’s use cases to attract buyers more effectively;
3) Analyze your product buyers. Products such as whiteboards are better suited to business buyers, so you can offer bundle discounts for bulk purchases to help increase sales.
4) When creating Listings for the same type of consumable products, please keep the order consistent. For example, if the first product emphasizes model number, then color, then capacity, we recommend following this order for all similar Listings.

The Product Compliance Policy is a red line that sellers must be aware of when selling on Amazon. Sellers are responsible for complying with relevant local laws and Amazon policies when selling school supplies. For details, please open the corresponding link to check the specific regulations:

Toys intended for children ages 12 and under must meet federal safety standards👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/V9VZ5A7PJZQYRFF
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) choking hazard warnings and material content limits 👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/200292910

Potentially regulated dangerous goods (hazardous substances), such as pencils, toner, and ink cartridges 👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/200525640
Dangerous goods identification guide👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/201003400?ref=ag_201003400_shel_xx

Regulations related to the Japan Toy Association 👇🏻
https://www.toys.or.jp/
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare regulations 👇🏻
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/

At the same time, Amazon may ask you at any time to provide safety documents proving that your products have passed testing and comply with standards or regulations. For details, please copy the corresponding link into your browser to check the specific certification requirements:

Go to the US Seller Central Help page for details about safety documents 👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help-page.html?itemID=XMGGPL6LC4CVXHT
Amazon may require the following documentation to confirm compliance:
Safety documents for children’s learning products 👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/XT3EFQS54LRKYM3
Children's Jewelry Safety Documents 👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/T3XLUHYCWPM3THX
Additionally, products with batteries require a UN38.3 certificate👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/learn/courses?ref_=selleru_athena_c109_m2dd13413-5dad-4115-9852-6410d1240b81&courseId=109&moduleId=2dd13413-5dad-4115-9852-6410d1240b81&modLanguage=English&contentType=VIDEO

Fulfillment by Amazon dangerous goods review process and the information required for products classified as regulated dangerous goods 👇🏻
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/201749580

For some specific products, please check the detailed sales requirements:
Outdoor game accessories 👇🏻
https://sellercentral-japan.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=3M3CV6DMGCLDCGR
Toy sets 👇🏻
https://sellercentral-japan.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=ZH3YZUQDTU9XY4Z
Invisible ink pen 👇🏻
https://sellercentral-japan.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=2D2BL839NUB5QTK
Magnetic building tiles👇🏻
https://sellercentral-japan.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=ZHMAZAQU5H54P9Z

With the back-to-school season now underway, a large number of orders for school and office supplies are coming soon!Do your upfront market research, optimize your selection, and improve your follow-up service, and your products may become the Best Seller trusted by overseas businesses and educational institutions!Quickly catch the back-to-school purchasing wave and join Amazon Business to grow your cross-border business!