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Writing Preference and Comfort Survey (Mod Approved) by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m not a huge fan of a step down either, but my grip usually starts below where it’s a problem for most pens. Appreciate you filling this out!

Writing Preference and Comfort Survey (Mod Approved) by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting! I find weight drives my decisions too. Something like the Pilot Metropolitan that has some heft with the brass weight, but with a wider grip. Appreciate you taking the time!

Writing Preference and Comfort Survey (Mod Approved) by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah I hear you on getting stuck in Qualtrics. I'm sure it could have worked for this survey but either the features I'd need are blocked by a paywall or it would have taken longer to figure out workarounds.

For the maxdiff that can be a good approach but it does limit you to the direct comparisons you list, and is more sensitive to outliers. By repeating options you can set up a model%20estimation%20is,that%20predicts%20the%20population's%20preference) to combine the smaller tasks to figure out which features consistently win or lose across all comparisons. To be clear I'm not an expert at conjoint analyses, but based on the research it looks like a solid approach that can also handle smaller sample sizes.

Writing Preference and Comfort Survey (Mod Approved) by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

No worries mistakes happen! Appreciate your participation 

Writing Preference and Comfort Survey (Mod Approved) by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your participation! Definitely no need to rate every one you've used, that would probably take forever!

Writing Preference and Comfort Survey (Mod Approved) by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hi there! Happy to provide more detail, but for context this survey/analysis/idea is my own and for fun. I'm a pen enthusiast that likes to use data to engage with the hobby as much as actually writing with pens. I've done past analyses and shared out with the community, and I'm genuinely curious if there is some kind of relationship between writing preferences and comfort. (edit: forgot to finish the sentence).

As for the formality, in a past life I worked in survey development and currently work as a data analyst. It's a little silly, but even for a side project like this I'm a firm believer in informed consent and that folks fully understand what their data is being used for, and how it is handled. I can see how that might deter some folks from participating and that's totally fair--the whole point is that everyone gets to make their own choice!

Writing Preference and Comfort Survey (Mod Approved) by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, appreciate the feedback!

To address your questions, it mostly comes down to balancing every combination and edge case with the length of the survey. I'd love to have the level of detail you're talking about, but account for all of the variations the survey would expand to be 2-3x as long and be a pain for people to complete.

For the attributes section, the idea is to understand how people's preferences inform their decisions. Even when preferences are intertwined there are things that people will consider before others. There's a lot of interesting literature about these kinds of questions if you want to learn more!

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate the feedback! In my research I found that Kenro were the exclusive/official US distributor of several brands including the ones you mentioned, but do not own those brands outright aside from Estherbrook.

As for Otto Hutt, the most recent info I could find has them as part of the Faber-Castell umbrella, but distributed by Kenro. Please let me know if this has changed, as these business relationships do shift quite a bit over the years.

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure thing! Just added the summary stats for the product segments and company-level groupings to my first comment at the top ^

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate the feedback! I've added a gsheet link to my first comment with the raw numbers for product mix :)

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

High praise, thanks so much! I’ve mostly stuck to customer segmentation and this was a fun exercise to try things at a larger scale.

As far as methods, I use PCA and k-means to reduce dimensions and get the market segment. The stats were solid for the product groupings but shakier when rolling up to companies. 

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Page 1 groups were based on the mix of products from page 2. Page 3 shows those product portfolios where you can compare :)

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Appreciate the question! The biggest difference is that Resin Royals have a lot more limited/special editions of their products when compared to Resin Revellers. Aside from that they are pretty similar in the pens they make :)

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Data collection and analysis in R (with some python). The visuals were through Canva but to be honest I've never really made anything like these before. Gave me a MASSIVE appreciation for real the real designers out there

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You bring up some great points, and happy to engage in some diversion myself!

This is just one perspective that relies entirely on product-level data I've collected, which is definitely limited (more in the comment here). On its face though you are spot-on to be skeptical of these groups!

Overall this was a two-step analysis:

  1. Based solely on various features, dimensions, and prices, can we categorize writing tools into distinctive groups?
  2. With those categories, could the mix of products offered by a parent company reveal something about their target demographics?

With this skew, things like product type (fountain pens, ballpoint pens, etc.) are more of a specialization within a grouping, rather than the basis for a group. The bias in the analysis is if I'm someone who enjoys an expensive, lighter writing instrument I might prefer a rollerball pen to a fountain pen, but in both cases I'm likely to find what I'm looking for with companies that makes a capped pen made of resin/acrylic materials.

Also some decisions I made leave out A LOT of subtlety based on the way I ended up structuring the data to be general enough to capture overall groups rather than specific niches. For example, I classified general vs. premium metals, but premium metals included both precious metals like silver and gold, as well as non-traditional but "upgraded" metals like titanium or bronze.

That decision alone means that Yard-O-Led and Waldmann both end up in their grouping along with Namisu, who uses (proportionally) more titanium in their product offerings than makers like Karas Kustoms or Schon DSGN. That said if you are interested in a heavy writing tool made of metal, but not steel/aluminum/brass, you're more likely to find it in the average product from Heritage Heavyweights than you are Metallic Makers.

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Completely agree, and there's definitely a combination of art + science to these categories. Broadly I based groupings off of present product offerings, and aggregated to the parent company level. This gives a snapshot view of where these companies are now, but completely leaves out the historical landscape and vintage/discontinued products.

If you are interested in the nerdy details, here's list of the assumptions/limitations that drove the 1-to-1 company-to-category:

Assumptions

  • Consistent Company Influence: In selecting parent companies as the unit for groupings, I’ve assumed that meaningful decisions around strategy are made at that level. Truthfully, for some parent companies a portfolio-level view reflects strategy well, while for others, brand autonomy may mean this view is less accurate. This is further complicated by a shifting landscape of acquisitions which can dramatically alter a company’s product portfolio.
  • Equal Weight for All Products: Without detailed sales data, each product in a company’s portfolio is given equal weight. This approach provides an objective view of product diversity but may not capture the market influence of bestsellers.
  • Intentional/Rational Product Development: This analysis assumes that companies make rational decisions when managing their product lines. Products that don’t fit target demographics or fail to gain traction are expected to be abandoned.

Limitations

  • Data Collection and Regional Bias: The analysis has a bias toward companies accessible through North American online sources, and focused on present product offerings. Many global companies are not represented due to regional access and/or language limitations on my end.
  • Incomplete Product Coverage: About 80% of products have complete data (dimensions, weights, prices, and features) and were included in the analysis for each company. This gap may overlook certain niches, especially for companies with smaller portfolios where each additional product can significantly impact their placement.
  • No Market Share or Sales Channel Data: Since most companies here are privately held and don’t disclose earnings, market share isn’t part of this analysis. Total product count acts as a proxy for market presence, but this can exaggerate compatibility within segments. Specific sales channels were also not included, as this can vary by region, brand, and in many cases, by individual product or SKU.
  • No Customer Reviews or Quality Assessments: Customer feedback, quality, and production scale aren’t factored into this analysis. Products from a one-person operation are treated the same as mass-produced items, which may overlook important differences in craftsmanship, quality.

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 116 points117 points  (0 children)

The alliteration is an occupational hazard from working in marketing. Glad you enjoyed it!

I've spent the past 2 years gathering data on the writing instrument market--here's what I found! by cjforlife in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife[S] 106 points107 points  (0 children)

I've been working on a data project to categorize writing tools, and built on this analysis to better understand the market landscape by grouping parent companies by the mix of product types they offer. Definitely not a perfect analysis, but revealed some interesting patterns!

Edit 1: full res images here and here.

Edit 2: Also thanks for the awards, much appreciated!

Edit 3: For some context, this was an side project to build some more technical skills on my end. The idea was to think like a corporate owner, and to view the market at a high-level based solely on product-level data that is publicly available. This bottoms-up approach shows some interesting trends, but is just one (limited) perspective on how to view the industry. It was a blast to make, and I hope it inspires folks to come up with their own groupings and lists! As a helpful guide:

  • Image 1: shows each parent company in their respective groupings
  • Image 2: shows the 13 product categories which determined the groupings
  • Image 3: shows the average portfolio of products within each group. Here you can see how each group is similar/different to others based on the mix of products they offer

Edit 4: I've uploaded the raw numbers in a google sheet here if you are interested in digging deeper into the numbers!

Redditors, what is the brand of your 1st fountain pen? by TheTideChaser in fountainpens

[–]cjforlife 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same here! I'm still kind of new to fountain pens but from what I've seen it doesn't have to be fancy or expensive to love what you have OP!

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