Panini's sticker success faces uncertain future despite top year

Panini is enjoying a highly profitable year, driven by the immense popularity of its World Cup sticker albums. This enduring 'analog' pastime, which involves collecting, trading, and sticking, has proven to be a significant revenue generator, even as digital platforms like TikTok and Instagram dominate children's attention. The company is currently celebrating its 15th World Cup album, which is also its largest ever due to an expanded tournament field, requiring collectors to gather 980 stickers.

The increased number of stickers has fueled collector hype, but also significantly raised the cost of completing an album. While a full album theoretically costs 210 euros if purchasing 140 packs of seven stickers each at 1.50 euros per pack, statistical analysis suggests that acquiring all unique stickers requires over 1,000 packs. This translates to a minimum cost of 1,500 euros per album, a substantial increase from the approximately 1,000 euros needed for the previous World Cup, assuming collectors don't strategically trade duplicates.

The business model, which began in the 1960s with brothers Benito and Giuseppe Panini, capitalized on the mystery and excitement of collecting 'figurine.' After acquiring a surplus of stickers from another company, they packaged them and sold them in pairs. The initial success was staggering, with 3 million packs sold. This led to the founding of their own publishing house and the launch of the first 'Calciatori' football album in 1961, which sold 15 million packs in its first year, doubling the following year. This nostalgic appeal continues to drive Panini's success, even as competitors have recognized the lucrative nature of sticker collecting.