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PG/Cardgains Retail Barometer
A Heroic Or Whispering Year? The year 2016 kicked off to the upbeat strains of ‘We could be heroes’ (in homage to David Bowie who died in early January) and ended with a ‘Careless Whisper’ (marking the passing of George Michael at the end of December). There is no denying it was a momentous year, with the chaos, confusion and concern that Brexit and the US presidential election decision caused, but how did this percolate through to independent card retailers? The findings of PG/Cardgains’ Retail Barometer, the only annual survey into the health and the wealth of this important sector, shed light on the Space Oddity that was 2016. Given the extraordinary happenings of last year and the ensuing unsettled feelings, both in the build-up to and aftermath of the EU Referendum, Trump’s triumph the other side of the Atlantic, as well as the human suffering in Syria and other war torn parts of the globe, you could argue that the shared sentiment of sending and receiving a greeting card was never more needed and that independent card retailers should have had a bumper year. The actuality was that, while 2016 was definitely not the worst for indies, it was not without its challenges – as reflected in ‘challenging’ being far and away considered the best word selected by indies to sum up the year’s trading. The early Easter date in 2016 meant that the Spring Seasons occasions were super condensed, which never puts a spring in the step of independent card retailers (with Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day cited as the card The PG/Cardgains Retail Barometer is an annual survey that involves Cardgains’ members who account for over 1,000 retail rooftops. All surveys were completed by mid December.
Above: George Michael. Left: Great staff were highlighted as a great boon to indies’ businesses in 2016. Below: Detrimental to independents’ trade was sighted as the rise in the Minimum Wage. Below middle: The way the Spring Seasons fell last year meant the occasions were squeezed together – a Wendy Jones-Blackett Valentine’s card.
categories that saw the greatest decline year on year). Looking broader, while staff were highlighted as having been the greatest boon to an indies’ business, the Minimum Wage was deemed having been the most detrimental to trading for indies. Not surprisingly, Business Rates have been jettisoned up the bugbear list into second place, with the full affects of this being felt in 2017. However, indies are great at rising to challenges, and in actual fact two thirds of the Barometer respondents either saw their business grow or remain stable last year compared to the year previous, and even those experiencing a dip in sales were glad to report it was only marginal. Growth came through a combination of upping average spend helped by continued diversification – with home fragranced products joining scarves and jewellery as sales saviours. An increasing confidence in using social media (fuelled by Cardgains’ ongoing seminar programme) brought benefits for many (coming out as the top promotional tool in the survey), as did other marketing initiatives and collaborations with third parties. And with over 80% of respondents going into 2017 full of vigour, expecting to either grow their business or keep it steady, as Leonard Cohen (another 2016 departee) sang in his 1984 hit remake, “Hallelujah” for the independent card retailer! PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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