What’s the Future of the Marker Pen Look Like?

At one time there was a belief that society would become paperless, but despite the widespread uses of tablets, laptops and smartphones, paper is still extremely popular. It seems the world is not yet ready to give up on handwriting methods and, in particular, the use of marker pens.

Marker pens are used in many applications ranging from industrial marker pens through to whiteboard marking and applications in the home.

Rise of Tablets and Smartphones

Tablets and smartphones are increasingly being used in industrial applications, especially as bring your own device (BYOD) programs expand. In the office these gadgets extend the reach of office automation software and in sales they’re invaluable for presentations. Despite this, the traditional marker pen continues to be widely used.

The flexibility, dependability, and ease of use of marker pens facilitates impromptu planning discussions and brainstorming sessions in a way that cannot be matched by digital products. While digital pens may find limited use in boardrooms and some classrooms, their additional cost and complexity mean they have not displaced marker pens for traditional flip chart and white board applications.

Industrial Use

Marker pens have many industrial uses. They are popular in construction, where their strong colors and ease of use are preferred. In general industry, marker pens are used wherever an indelible mark is required. They are indispensable in the home environment for marking items, home construction projects and for general writing. In the medical field, they are used as skin markers for various procedures.

Sales Trends

Writing instruments continue to be popular. Pilot, the manufacturer of writing instruments, including marker pens, reported sales growth of over 9 percent in 2014.  Although these figures include all types of writing instruments, sales statistics of marker pen components manufactured in the UK showed 13 percent growth between 2010 and 2014.

Durability

Marker pens can be used on almost any surface and many are refillable. Top-end marker pens are almost exclusively manufactured using metal components and are attractive and long lasting. Marker pen components such as tubes and shells are economical to manufacture using deep drawing processes in stainless steel, brass and other metals and finished in attractive colors or with a highly polished natural finish.

Marker pens are designed for extensive use and are extremely durable. Despite advances that have been made towards a paperless society, marker pens continue to be hugely popular as writing and marking instruments.