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cardsharp
A V-Shaped Greeting Card
Recovery As life slowly returns to the ‘New Normal’, whatever that is, Cardsharp looks at who in the greeting card industry has fared better (or should that be ‘the least worst’) from the last five months’ of turmoil and wonders what the future holds in store for us all. It has been a tough few months, but with the push to return to work and the pubs now fully open, things are sort of starting to get going again, thinks Cardsharp optimistically. Whatever your views on the measures that have been or are being taken in the battle to control the coronavirus Cardsharp tried to make sense of the facts. As PG went to press, the fatality rate in the UK from Covid-19 is close to zero for those under 40 years old, less than ½% for those aged 40 to 50 and then rises to about 15% in those over 80 years old. So, Cardsharp reflects, the younger generation have arguably had their lives effectively put on hold and in many cases their future blighted for an illness that has been deemed by many to have few lasting ill effects on them. To Cardsharp’s mind, the measures to counter the risk of spreading Covid-19 - eg complete lockdown, social distancing, restrictions on mass gatherings - admittedly to safeguard lives, have had a severe effect
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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
on, not just the greeting card industry, but the whole UK economy. As we slowly emerge with the easing of the lockdown, clear patterns are starting to become apparent. While online traders (such as Moonpig, Thortful and Funky Pigeon), a few supermarkets and some convenience stores have really benefitted from the whole experience so many more have suffered and will continue to, some more than others. The online operators have had a veritable boom time, and the royalties resulting from the spiralling sales have no doubt been a godsend to many
Above: Cardsharp hopes that there will be a Winstonlike ‘V for Victory’ recovery for the card sector. Below left: Cards Galore’s Rumit Shah and his uncle Rajesh Shah (who founded the retail business 30 years ago on BBC News. Bottom: The pure play online operators, such as Thortful, as well as many retailers who have upped their web presence have fared well.
publishers. It will be certainly be interesting what the online operators market share of the greeting card market will stabilise at after this is all over. Cardsharp suspects it may be a lot higher than the estimated 6% it was before lockdown. What has become clear since the opening up of non-essential retailers, is that ‘shopping local’ has undergone a massive renaissance, boosted by so many people either furloughed or working from home. This, along with the business rate holiday and grants from Rishi Sunak, has given a much-needed boost to many independent retailers. Social distancing remains a problem, but it is encouraging that in many areas people are rediscovering or even discovering their local independent shops. The problem some indies are reporting is a lack of response or communication from many publishers who have furloughed their reps or have had their own production issues resulting from lockdown. This has in turn transmitted down the supply chain, with another previously beleaguered sector, the wholesale one, enjoying something of a revival as affected indies have looked to wholesalers to fill pockets previously taken by direct to retail suppliers, but even then some wholesalers have reported a shortage of stock bought about by the interruption of production during the lockdown. Cardsharp read recently that some town centres, like Chatham in Kent, Southend in Essex, and Burnley in Lancashire are actually experiencing a 20% increase in shopping footfall over the corresponding week last year. Good news indeed for the type of larger provincial