From desk accessories to “smart pen” and “smart wallet”- Journey of Nikhil Ranjan , founder of William Penn

William Penn was founded by Nikhil Ranjan, a mechanical engineer by qualification. Within a short period of time, it was able to establish itself as a destination for premium writing instruments and stationery. William Penn has grown to become a nation-wide chain with over 30 stores across 11 major metro cities in India. 

Nikhil Ranjan worked as a software engineer at IBM and soon quit. Nikhil's family had a stationery manufacturing business.Hailing from a business family, he was always fascinated with stationery. His passion for well-made products helped William Penn establish itself as a ‘go-to’ store for the best in stationery and pens. He is intimately involved in product selection and development even today. He believes that Indian companies today are ready to design and create products that can be on par with the best in the world.

William Penn started 16 years ago as a retail store for stationary and was an extension of manufacturing stationary. The first William Penn store started as a stationery store in Bangalore. This stand-alone store in Koramangala catered to the needs of students & offices in the catchment. 

At this point in time, the fine writing instrument market had not evolved and luxury writing instrument as a category did not exist in India. William Penn sensed this void early on and feedback from customers only underlined the need for a writing instrument specialist store. A select range of premium writing instrument was introduced at the flagship store & it was a roaring success.

This was also the time when organized retail in India was taking off. Malls were mushrooming across the country. Encouraged by the initial success William Penn took the next big step by opening an exclusive fine writing instrument store at The Forum Mall, Bangalore. This ‘World Pen Store’ was something pen enthusiasts had been waiting for – a destination with the best brands under one roof. There has been no looking back ever since. 

His journey from idea to getting the first customer was full of learnings that helped him to change his business strategies and capture a larger portion of the market. 

Nikhil Ranjan ensures that his products stand out in the market and he delivers the best. William Penn is a multi-brand store for writing instruments and business lifestyle accessories. William Penn continued its journey by adding a wide range of international brands under its umbrella such as Sheaffer, Cross, Lamy, Mont Blanc, Lapis Bard to name a few. From just being a destination for writing instruments today William Penn store has created an identity for itself as a men’s accessory destination with the introduction of men’s leather products - a one-stop-shop for luxury pens, wallets, belts, cuff-links, leather bags & so on. From two stores in Bangalore, today William Penn has over 30 stores spread across 11 cities. The brand plans to have 5 more stores before the end of this financial year.

At William Penn, they are constantly innovating and adopting strategies to stay relevant to the market. They are adopting a newer form of communication with the customers. They are increasing their presence at online which is helping them to increase their relevance to new age customers. The company has also ventured into the ecom space with www.williampenn.net. There is a conscious effort to increase its portfolio of men’s accessories.

They have completed 16 years in India and are growing steadily. Though, demonetisation and GST impacted their business for 2-3 months. Today, all this is behind them, they are looking forward to concentrating on business without any further impact. They are seeing a positive atmosphere so the growth is continuous for them. 

As spending power of consumers is growing, they have an opportunity to grow in the accessories section. They are into a men-centric brand where there are not many brands in this space. 

At Premium location we tend to have a range which is priced higher than average store. So higher price points products are showcased at premium locations. 

Major challenges faced by them today is increasing rental costs at the malls. There is a lot of traffic going into big online players like Amazon and Flipkart which sometimes causes a reduction in marketing operating price of branded products. 

They aim to set new standards in Omni channel retailing in India by leveraging the advantages it has in brick & mortar and online space. Work on omni channel initiative where customers walk into a store and see a larger range of products not just at the store but online also. 

Nikhil Ranjan at the end added that “In today’s world, there are vast opportunities in the market and information is freely available. People can make connections with experts easily and moreover capital is easily available as compared to earlier times. An entrepreneur needs to be committed and have a right vision to attain success.”