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NEWS TOP STORY
Mum’s the word Long lead-up boosted Mother’s Day sales With Mother’s Day falling later this year, the longer lead-up meant improved sales for many retailers, with a greater selection of extended captions also improving till takings. Cardzone reported a 3% growth like-for-like across its chain of 100+ stores. “The longer lead time definitely helped!” stated Paul Taylor, md. Paperchase reported a “decent like-for-like growth”, with performance “exceeding expectations”, buying director Frances Burkle revealed. “Given the later date compared to last year, the sales were more evenly spread, but as ever we still saw that rush in the last few days. What really stood out this for us this year is how much people wanted to celebrate their Grandmas too - we introduced a full row to the offer this year and were rewarded with strong sales on these lines.” Likewise Clintons enjoyed a good Mother’s
Below: The Between the Lines’ poster for Mother’s Day. Below middle: Cards for Grandma/Nana were popular for Paperchase.
Day, supported by a heavyweight PR campaign (see separate story). “We offered over 400 different Mother’s Day designs this year, across 36 different captions,” Tim Fairs, vp of marketing & e-Commerce revealed. In the 13 Between the Lines stores in the South of England, managing director Florian Kleinlercher reported a 4% increase in sales of Mother’s Day cards. “While Spring Seasons are always a little difficult to compare due to them falling on different dates every year, 2017 has shown solid growth for Mother's Day. As a whole, the stores are 7% up on target so far for March. Mother's Day card sales started quite slowly but accelerated strongly towards the end of the season, and the Saturday before Mother's Day showed a 7% increase compared to 2016. Particularly strong card ranges this year were Tracks, Woodmansterne and Hammond Gower Publications.”
Views on the News How did indies fare on the Mother’s Day front? l Mother’s Day coming later in the month was a relief for Lesley Dunne, owner of Feathering Your Nest in Rayleigh, giving her more time to set the shop up after Valentine’s Day. “With such a long run up though, it seemed to me that customers were leaving it later to buy,” says Lesley. “I needn't have worried though, the build-up started the week before and by Saturday the queue was practically out of the door for most of the day. Saturday staff wrapped gifts in pink tissue and cello all day as the tills rang out. Everyone was patient and good humoured and the Haribo sweets helped stave off any hunger pangs! Best sellers for cards included Hearts Designs, Caroline Gardner, Janie Wilson and Laura Darrington.” l Glasgow-based retailer, Fiona Fabien of Papyrus was "delighted". "We had an excellent Mother’s Day - our Mother's Day card sales were up by 12% and we finished 9% up overall on last year. I do believe the increase was due to a late Mother’s Day on 26th March compared with 6th March last year. I think we were particularly fortunate in Glasgow as we had beautiful weather in the week running up to the event. The brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures brought Glaswegians out in droves to the parks, cafes, and attractions, driving footfall up in the West End." l Sales were also strong at the three Calliope Gifts shops in Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire. Director Philip Downer said: “Thanks to our Haywards Heath store maturing nicely, we saw a 9% increase in unit sales on Mother’s Day cards this year. However, the overall feeling in the market I think is more cautious than this time last year. We saw less last minute shopping, with stronger sales of Mother’s Day in the (longer than usual) run-up to the big day.” Left: The Mother’s Day display in Feathering Your Nest.
A spring clean with Clear Creations As a thank you gift to its customers, Clear Creations sent out a limited edition tea towel printed with a Jersey cow from the Elly Jane range with every Mother’s Day card order from its website. “The response was fantastic and we saw an immediate increase in Mother’s Day card sales,” said Tanya Darling of Clear Creations. “Some customers even suggested we should introduce a new line in homewares! Watch this space.” Above: Customers received a tea towel with purchases from Clear Creations.
Happy Mother’s Gay Sainsbury’s made The Sun newspaper on the lead-up to Mother’s Day with one of its Mother’s Day cards for same-sex couples. It follows the success of the supermarket’s same-sex Valentine’s Day cards in February. The card was welcomed by customers with one customer tweeting: “This is great. It is so hard to find LGBT cards in shops.” Above: The story in The Sun about Mother’s Day cards for same-sex couples in Sainsbury’s.
Hallmark is a super brand Hallmark has been awarded Consumer Superbrand status for 2017 from The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA), being feted alongside top names of British Airways, LEGO, Rolex, John Lewis, Apple and Coca-Cola. Each year since 1995 the TCBA releases its list of Superbrands as judged by 2,500 British adults against three criteria: quality, reliability and distinction. Alison Kildunne, head of brand and marketing at Hallmark UK, added: “Being voted a UK Superbrand for the second year running is a massive achievement for us and recognises the work we have been doing to reinvigorate our brand and make it timely and relevant to modern-day card shoppers.” PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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