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State Of The Nation
The Cheers AndThe Buts Hurrah... last year saw the British public spend more money on greeting cards than ever before - with the GCA UK Market Report topline proclaiming a £1.7 billion worth of reassurance of the industry’s robustness, championed by a strong posse of publishers and widespread retail stockists. But... there are ‘buts’. Members of the GCA Council share their views on some of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry as well as highlighting some key happenings of 2017 that impacted on trade. Left: Emotional Rescue’s recent Christmas card mentioned the ‘B word’!
Spring Seasons apathy, Gen Z/Gen Y GCA president Ceri Stirland, director of marketing of UK Greetings:
Rising to the challenges: “A key concern is an increasing apathy towards the seasons, especially the spring events. Seasons account for 25% of the single card market and so it’s essential that as publishers and retailers, we support the seasons and continue to invest in them by producing great products that ensures everyone delivers profitable sales. Do we really need full shelves of seasonal cards until the very last minute? Is it better to sell out and develop a ‘must buy now before it’s gone’ culture? It’s tough at retail and it will get worse, not helped by the ongoing migration from bricks and mortar to online. How will this play out for our industry? It is more and more important for both the retailer and publisher to work on this together. On a real positive, our industry has been resilient to the pressures of online and digital alternatives and has not felt the impact to the same extent that other categories have experienced. Certain categories eg, vinyl and books, have been impacted by digital alternatives but are now seeing sales growing again. The tangible is winning through.” Opportunity knocks: “Even without Christmas boxes, the UK greeting card market is worth £1.7 billion and is still growing. We send over 870 million single cards plus a further 900 million multi-pack Christmas cards. We are a nation of card lovers and senders. We have to pursue opportunities to ensure this continues. And it is essential that we continue to engage with the younger generations and consider new retail outlets, new ways to display cards and fresh designs to appeal to them. Importantly, with all the negativity in the world, consumers love greeting cards and we need to continue to remind everyone that sending them is a perfect way to brighten someone’s day.” Top: GCA president Ceri Stirland with her UKG colleague Jayne Myers, its commercial director. Above: Prompted by a suggestion from Cardgains, UKG developed a whole suite of PoS for the Spring Seasons that are free to download from the GCA website.
Environment issues, copying
Ged Mace, managing director of The Art File: Rising to the challenges: “As an industry we have come a long way to ensure greeting cards meet the environmental credentials expected by the market. However, some of the finishes used on cards, like flitter, are likely to face further scrutiny about their recyclable qualities. Plastics are already a hot subject and as an industry we need to explore positive alternatives. Copying is another concern. On three separate occasions last year we (at The Art File) had instances where publishers had blatantly copied our design ideas - we litigated in each case. Protecting copyright is something that we all might have to do more of in the future as unscrupulous firms see copying as a cheaper alternative to investing in their own original creative talent.” Above: The clear message on Blue Planet II from David Attenborough was that we need to step up our caring for the environment. Right: The Art File’s Ged Mace with GCA ceo Sharon Little at the association’s recent AGM conference. PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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