20-21_Retailer Reactions.qxp_RH Page 12/05/2024 21:10 Page 1
RETAILERS’ REACTIONS
Talk off the frown Retailers are well positioned to know what’s hitting the funny bone for today’s consumers. PG asked a selection about what humour ranges are turning that frown upside down.
Winning ways Carl Dunne, co-owner, Cards & Gifts Dronfield “I’ve noticed a huge increase in this area and therefore have increased the space dedicated to it, to 10 feet of racking. “Our highest sales are more on the naughty side with Dean Morris Cards, and we did get some from Brainbox Candy – our customers like The Cheeky Box and so do we! Then a huge part is Words ’N’ Wishes and Emotional Rescue. These sell very fast, and recently we have the revamped collection from UK Greetings, again selling fast. We stock also Second Nature, Cherry Orchard’s new Camilla & Rose collection, and Ling Design’s Rainbow. We have recently added a humour collection from Noel Tatt which is starting to sell well. “Customers, we’ve noticed, are changing. It’s more so with cards for men, instead of buying an open card they’re going for humour.”
Above: Ling’s Rainbow (right) and Cherry Orchard’s Camilla & Rose cards make Carl Dunne smile.
Flapping about heritage Sandra Jervis, owner, Creative Cove, Lampeter “Nothing makes my customers laugh more than the Holy Flaps range by Redback Cards! I have a whole stand of them positioned for people to see as they come in the shop, grabbing everyone's attention. Surprisingly, it's ladies in their 60s+ who let out more laughs than anyone else – I thought I'd get a few frowns! Everyone comments that they're funny because they're accurate!
20 Focus On Humour Cards
Own brand hits the mark
Alan Auld, Comedy Card Company online retailer “Rosie Made A Thing has always been popular with our customers, Woodmansterne also has a superb humorous selection at the moment as do Pigment, Redback, Paperlink, Cath Tate and Kiss Me Kwik to name a few. “We stock approximately 50 different publishers, with different styles and types of humour. From cheeky captions to classic cartoons there’s such a lovely mix of humour available from the UK card publishers. “After years of selling other publishers’ offerings, we have also starting designing some of our own cards. After a shaky start, our own range is now our bestseller, which has been a lovely surprise. “The extra margin from the sales of our own cards has helped keep our business afloat during these turbulent times but it has also been huge fun and given us an extra interest in this wonderful industry.” Above: Alan Auld has expanded its portfolio.
Today’s Titters “Young comedians such as Mo Gil igan and Rosie Jones (pictured left) are on the rise and in the TV world new shows such as Avoidance and Boarders are set to be at the cutting edge of what’s funny. The summer wil be a busy one in the sporting world, with the Paris Olympics and also Euro 2024 taking place in Germany, so expect plenty of football banter with both England and Scotland taking part. Elections at home and abroad are likely to dominate the news. Acknowledging that the news cycle seems to be very gloomy at present is the inspiration behind the following design from our Like & Share range.” Dave Best, UK Greetings
“Brainbox Candy’s new Heritage range is fab, featuring famous blue plaques. These are hilarious, customers like them, especially for the men. The ones on display are the tamer ones, birthdays, getting old and farts. There are other ones which can't be on display and go in their famous Cheeky Box.” Left: Redback and a rude Brainbox Candy card make it for Sandra Jervis.