Progressive Greetings February 2022

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C O M E AN D S E E U S AT

6-9 Feb ruary 2 0 2 2 a t N E C B I R M I N G H AM

3 56 Ke nning to n Ro ad, L o ndo n SE11 4LD Tel: 02 0 75 82 8 24 4

www.pa pe r link.co .uk

E: info @pa pe r link.co .uk

p a p er l i n kcard s

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From The Editor

ON THE CARDS We’ve all learned lots of new words over the last couple of years - lockdown, furlough, Omicron, social distancing - for starters. While I love the way language evolves and our lexicon changes to reflect the times, I also hope that some of the aforementioned will disappear from common parlance before too long, to be replaced with more positive descriptors.

One word I was very happy to see right at the top of the list in the hot off the press PG Retail Barometer findings of how independent card retailers would sum the industry over the last year was ‘Resilient’, closely followed by ‘Buoyant’ and ‘Diverse’, albeit with ‘Challenging’ not far behind.

And I was even happier to see the numbers that backed up this resilience, with two thirds of respondents (and we had a stonking engagement with the survey this year) saying that their business has grown over the last year, and many by a decent chunk.

Some factors have of course worked in many indies’ favour, the ‘shop local’ one being the most obvious, but that said, it is the improvements in their product displays, their staff as well as their promotional activities (be it via links with local community groups or charities) that came out as having made a real difference. Some research findings can be off-putting to decipher, but not these ones. Feast your eyes on pages 37-45.

The overarching good news though is that 60% of respondents feel that the public’s appreciation of greeting cards has increased over the last year, and that was on top of a positive view in last year’s barometer.

Certainly, from what I have seen, publishers are most definitely doing their bit for perpetuating the consumer’s appetite for greeting cards.

With Giving & Living (in Exeter) having happened and Spring Fair (in Birmingham), Top Drawer (in London) and Scotland’s Trade Fair (in Glasgow) taking place over the course of the coming weeks, what is so wonderful is that retailers will have ample opportunity to see and hold the new products in

www.max-publishing.co.uk THE HOME OF MARKET LEADING TRADE MAGAZINES

EXHIBITIONS

@Prog_Greetings

Above: A happy gathering at the last Spring Fair (2020) as members of the M&G’s clan joined with Paper Salad’s Karen Wilson (4th left) and agent Rosie Trow (second left) at the end of a show day.

Left: Among those sharing an international perspective in this edition are father and daughter duo, Alan and Vanessa Harnik, snapped at Top Drawer 2020.

Right: Doing its bit to add to the Christmas sales, Poppy, one of PG editor’s pussycats bought her own Louise Mulgrew card from Postmark in Balham.

Below: Agent Carl Stirk putting on the Ritz! (See pages 47-51)

their hands, reinforce their relationships with existing suppliers as well as forging new trade friendships. I for one, am so relishing being in the trade show bubbles.

With Christmas trade having been something of a cracker for many indies (see Viewpoints pages 29-33), this should give added impetus to order with confidence. Go splurge!

Talking of ‘cracker’, thanks to the input we have received from so many of you - retailers, publishers, artists and trade suppliers, not just those of you in the UK, but members of our wider greeting card community all around the world (see pages 61-67) this edition of PG is brimming over with news, views, inspirational stories and new launches.

From how the sustainable drive has removed glitter from Christmas (see pages 59-63) to how the industry is giving something back to the planet through ‘seed’ cards (see pages 69-71); from the industry’s early pioneers (see the article on Beatrix Potter on pages 93 and 95) to the current stars on the road (see agents’ comments on pages 47-51), there are a lot of words in this magazine which reinforces how the greeting card sector really is resilient!

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Max Publishing Ltd, United House, North Road, London N7 9DP Tel: 020 7700 6740 Fax: 020 7607 6411 www.progressivegreetings.co.uk PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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What’s Inside?

CONTENTS 52

71

9-21 News

93

69-73

Designs On Society

Publishers sow the seeds on plantable greeting cards.

The latest happenings and trade developments.

75-77 24-25

Over The Counter

JP Pozzi’s David Robertson muses on decision making

26-27

Industry Issue

The second instalment of artists’ impressions on the industry welcome for creatives.

79-91 Innovations

Cardsharp

Delving into Card Factory’s figures.

Publishers’ new ranges and designs.

29-33

Christmas Trade Viewpoints

93-95

Santa shopped local according to indies.

Artist in Focus

Beatrix Potter’s greeting card fame.

34-35

State of The Nation

A spoonful of cautious optimism on the trade’s health.

37-45

96-97

People Matters

A mother and son’s family tradition around a Christmas card.

Retail Barometer

Findings from PG’s annual retail survey.

99-101 47-51

Lights, camera, action from sales agents.

52-53

102-103 What’s Hot?

Behind the Scenes

The BBC’s festive greetings from Woody’s factory.

55-59

A quad of retailers reveal their best-selling ranges.

Retailer Revelations

Living with a Christmas without sparkle.

61-67

Art Source

Leading artists’ agency predict the design trends for the coming year.

Agents’ Film Reviews

104-105 Sources of Supply

International Perspectives

With this is PROG sue: R CALE ESSIVE NDA 2022 RS

How’s trade in other parts of the card world?

Subscribe to Progressive Greetings from £60 (UK) to £90 (International).

You can organise this quickly and easily online at our secure site: www.max-subscriptions.net For assistance, please email subscriptions@max-publishing.co.uk

Jakki Brown

Warren Lomax

Editor/Joint Owner

jakkib@max-publishing.co.uk Use your smartphone app to scan the QR code to visit our website.

Joint Owner

warren@max-publishing.co.uk

Ian Hyder Joint Owner

ianh@max-publishing.co.uk

Tracey Arnaud Sales Manager

traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

Copyright© 2022. While every effort has been made to ensure the information in this magazine was correct at the time of publication, the publishers cannot accept legal liability for any errors or omissions, nor can they accept responsibility for the standing of advertisers nor any organisation mentioned in the text. Views of contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.

PG is the official magazine for the Greeting Card Association GCA: Amanda Fergusson 020 7619 9266 Email: hello@gca.cards www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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NEWS TOP STORY

The Christmas Spirit Was Strong Indies share their Christmas cracker While Christmas trade was not fabulous for everyone, especially those with stores in the centre of major conurbations where footfall was well down, a great many greeting card independents were more than happy to report a very merry Christmas trade, even compared to the last ‘normal’ year (2019).

“We couldn't keep up with the demand!” exclaimed Mark JansonSmith, co-owner of Postmark, which has five shops in London. “For the eight weeks to Christmas we were up 18% LFL across the whole Christmas category with card sales up 15%, driven by packs and relations captioned single cards.”

Chris and Tracey Bryant, coowners of Expressions, Cats Whiskers and Polkadot (in Swindon, Bishops

Cleeve and Keynsham) summed up their Christmas trade verdict in one word “Stupendous!” reflecting a 43% increase in their card and gift wrap sales across three shops for the final quarter, compared to 2019. “Customers were definitely shopping earlier, thereby justifying our decision to be out early and go bigger with our displays. Although footfall fell, average spend was well up on 2019/2020 levels,” said Tracey and Chris.

“A good un, that’s for sure!” was how Miles Robinson, co-owner of House of Cards described Christmas trade for his seven shops. “We ended up +40% on

Christmas last year, but then we do have an extra store. We were up 12.3% likefor-like on 2019 (excluding our online trade), so we are not unhappy! Certainly, Christmas boxes, all wrappings (rollwrap, bags and tags), saw massive increases.

We definitely benefitted from the ongoing shop local trend as well as supply chain issues amongst our competition.”

Up in Nantwich and Rugeley, Philip Nield, who co-owns Reflections with his wife Maxine said sales had “far exceeded expectations. We showed strong double-digit growth. I do feel for our retail colleagues with shops in city and large town centres as it does appear that 2021 was definitely a year to shop local and seeking out the specialist card titles that supermarkets just don’t offer.”

“Santa-tastic” was how Roy and Julia Beswick, described Christmas trade in their shop, The Card Collection in East Molesey. “We had a feeling Christmas trade would be good, but it exceeded our expectations. We were flat out for the whole of December, and Christmas Eve ended up being our busiest trading day ever,” they shared.

(See Viewpoints pages 29-33) Above: Festive fun in House of Cards’ Kidlington branch.

Above left: Part of the Christmas card display in Reflections.

A festive multiple choice

“Our Christmas card sales finished nicely ahead of last year which was great to see and the threat of further restrictions did not dampen trade in the final week as people still rushed to make their last minute purchases,” commented John Lewis’ buyer Sarah Moughtin.

“Surprisingly satisfactory,” was John Procter, co-owner of Scribbler’s verdict on Christmas. “We ended up pretty much where we had predicted - we sold around the same amount of stock as we did in 2019,” he said of the 35-store group.

“Encouraging overall,” was how Carlo Marinelli, senior buyer of cards, wrap and gifts at Paperchase summed up its Christmas sales. “Despite the late arrival of Omicron threatening to scupper December sales, we saw some very strong performances, particularly charity card packs and our Christmas card boxes. While single cards sales remained relatively flat, our Above left: Scribbler’s store premium price-point innovation cards sold particularly well.” in London’s Kensington.

Almost pre-Covid sales for Card Factory

Sending out a confident message about the greeting card sector, Card Factory, issued a trading update in mid-January stating that its performance was almost back to preCovid levels.

The announcement revealed that Card Factory is trading ahead of expectations, with sales having shown an upward path of recovering since last April when the shops were allowed to open after the last lockdown.

Card Factory’s trading recovered particularly strongly in December with like for like store sales returning to similar levels of 2019.

“Christmas card sales performed particularly well,” detailed the update and while acknowledging that some other products were affected by global supply chain issues in late November and early December, this disruption is deemed to have only had a “modest impact” on sales.

Card Factory’s store sales for the 11 months to 31 December of £310 million represented a LFL decline of 5.4% on a twoyear basis while its online sales increased 23.3% to £22.2 million. However, in December alone, sales were only down a smidge, 1.4% like for like.

Sales from Card Factory’s retail partnership (such as its distribution in Aldi) increased 24% in the 11 months over the two-year period, generating an additional £4 million in sales.

Commenting, Darcy Willson-Rymer, CEO of Card Factory said: “We continue to see improved trading performance across all channels, with transaction volumes in our stores outperforming high street footfall recovery, demonstrating the loyalty of our customers and strength of the brand. The customer response to our Christmas ranges was particularly strong, across both card and complementary product ranges.”

He also warned of necessary price increases but is also braced for a bruising of its profit margins. “Whilst we expect to be able to offset inflationary pressures to an extent through price increases across our ranges, we do anticipate some margin pressure during the next financial year, as the forecasted inflationary headwinds continue,” he added.

Above: Card Factory’s Streatham store in the run up to Christmas.

Above right: Card Factory encouraged the public to post a letter to Santa in its stores to be in with a chance of winning £1,000 in high street vouchers.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Indie Resilience Wins Through ‘Shop local’ has been the biggest boon Though there are still challenges, ‘Resilient’ is the word that independent greeting card retailers feel best sums up the greeting card industry, according to the findings of the latest PG Retail Barometer.

Providing invaluable insights into the independent greeting card retail sector, this annual survey, undertaken by Progressive Greetings makes for encouraging reading.

Some 65% of respondents reported that their business has grown over the last year (2021 v 2020), with almost a fifth of these revealing that their sales had increased by 20%-30%.

Indies have started 2022 feeling very positive about their trade in the coming year, with 71% fully expecting to grow their business.

“While the ‘shop local’ initiative retained the top slot for the second year running as having brought the greatest benefit to an indie’s business,

Card publishers reach GOTY shortlist

improvements in their shop displays, social media activity and staff were also right up there,” revealed Jakki Brown, joint md of Max Publishing which undertakes this annual survey. “As for the factors that have had a detrimental effect on their business, it’s no surprise that it was the pandemic that was number one, but the disruption in supplies is a new entry in the biggest banes league,” she added.

As for greeting card genres that got the tills ringing, it was humour cards that hit the hot spot, with relations & occasions cards being in second place.

As for which other retailers, indies see as the major threats to their business, supermarkets were named by 72% as the biggest thorn in their side, due to their improved displays and their convenience for shoppers.

(See pages 37-45 to read more findings) Above: Indies are going into 2022 feeling buoyant about the coming year.

Left: The future of independent card retailers is not doom and gloom!

Store expansion on the cards for Cardzone

Signalling great confidence in the sector, Cardzone directors Paul and James Taylor have set their sights on adding 20 stores to the retail group’s estate during 2022, which would take it to over 200 shops.

Top of their wishlist is to find “independently owned existing good quality card shops. We love buying existing businesses as they have the goodwill from customers and a team that is dedicated to offering that personal customer service,” explains Paul. “The ideal scenario would be if the owners and their staff wanted to stay on for a while to work with us. There are still so many great independent card shops out there and we hope that if any owners are thinking of selling up that they come to us first. We are prepared to offer good money!” Paul added citing its acquisitions last April of the two Romantica shops in Bristol from owner Nik Gornall as well as Carolyn Bieda’s Cards, Gifts & Balloons stores in Shaftsbury and Blandford Forum as perfect examples of this approach.

While Cardzone now has stores pretty much throughout the UK, some areas are higher on the expansion wishlist than others.

“We already have a strong presence in the Midlands, the North and the South West and our acquisition of Gallery Cards in Wales gave us a foothold there on the value front,” Paul told PG. “We are desperately keen to expand in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as our stores there have performed better coming out of the pandemic than those in other areas,” Paul revealed acknowledging that the group could be strengthened in the South and Southeast of England.

Left: Cardzone’s Seaford store, which was formerly a Clintons shop.

A host of greeting card companies, from the large to the small, feature in the extensive shortlist of contenders for the Gift of the Year awards, which are organised and owned by the Giftware Association.

The shortlisted products in this year’s Cards & Wrap category are…3D Kids Pop ups from Alljoy Design, Bauble Christmas Cards from Love Country, Florever - from Origamo, Greens & Greetings from Shroot, Keepsake Art Pop ups from Alljoy Design, Ken the Cat from WITH Creative, Mark my Words! from Poet and Painter, Parade from The Art File, Plantable Seed Cards (Gifts to Grow range) from Love Country, Pot of Gold from Paper Salad, Reversible Crackle Wrap from Wrag Wrap, Rocket68 Wooden Postcard Collection from Rocket68 and Say it with Songs from Say it with Songs.

Greeting card publishers’ products also appear in the shortlist in other categories.

These include Cardology, whose Battersea Pop Up cards are in the shortlist in the Branded Gift and also the Pet Gift category.

Crumble & Core’s Candle & Card range reached the shortlist in the Home Fragrance category which, among others, is up against Lola Design’s Botanical Candles. Lola also features in the Stationery category with its Wildlife Botanicals notebooks.

Meg Hawkins Art, known for her greeting cards, is shortlisted in the Food & Drink category for its Scrumptious range.

Rocket68’s Passion4Plants Collection is in the Home and Garden category while Wendy Bell Designs’ Colour Drops is in the Fashion Accessories category.

The finalists will be arrived at following the next round of judging, which takes place during Spring Fair with the winners being unveiled, for the first time, at a lavish awards event taking place on May 12 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London which will also see the winners of The Greats gift retailing awards being revealed.

Top: Say it with Songs is in the shortlist!

Above right: Lola features a couple of times in the shortlist.

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www.maddicott.com |

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Tel: 01638 569050 |

Email: info@abacuscards.co.uk

HALL 3, STAND M10/N11

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NEWS TOP STORY

Countdown To Spring Fair It’s full steam ahead for the February show Having not taken place last year, the anticipation is double fold for Spring Fair (February 6-9 at Birmingham’s NEC), which will see a whole host of greeting card publishers sharing their fabulous new ranges with retailers, for real.

“What 2021 highlighted is the importance of reliability and retailers being able to see and touch what they are buying; one thing is clear they cannot afford another year of virtual buying. Spring Fair has been a vital cog in the retail supply chain for sourcing products and reinforcing those face-to-face relationships for many years and in 2022 it is vitally important for our industry that Spring Fair opens its doors to allow retailers to restock and buy for the year ahead,” said Julie Driscoll, divisional managing director for retail, engineering and manufacturing at Hyve Group plc, which owns and organises the Spring and Autumn Fair.

This year’s show (which will run for four days, a day shorter than previously) will be housed in Halls 1-8, with Hall 3 being home to the majority of the greeting card publisher exhibitors.

While The Art File, Ling Design, Wrendale, Paper Salad, Rachel Ellen, Louise Tiler and Eurowrap will greet

visitors with their stands right at the front of the hall, many other leading names as well as emerging card companies are all primed to show off their new products. (See Innovations pages 79-89 for just a selection).

Sharing her hopes and dreams for the show, Alison Graham, key account director of Spring Fair, with special responsibility for the greeting card hall said: “I am most looking forward to bringing the retail market together buyers and exhibitors and alike - seeing conversations and trading happening throughout the show through face-toface meetings and products being seen in the flesh. And, of course lots of orders being placed!” Alison added that she can’t wait to hear and feel “the buzz and energy around the halls.”

Ensuring the health and safety of exhibitors and visitors, anyone entering the NEC for Spring Fair (including those during build-up and breakdown) will need to show their valid Covid-19 Pass, or a negative result to a Lateral Flow Test taken within 48 hours. www.springfair.com Above: A scene from the last Spring Fair (2019). At this year’s show, the majority of the greeting card exhibitors will be in Hall 3.

Above: Alison Graham, key account director of Spring Fair.

Above: Having been trialled at Autumn Fair, Spring Fair will see Curated Meetings expanded to cover greeting card companies as well as other product sectors.

Added extras

Among the features in Hall 3 at Spring Fair, as part of Hyve’s support of the GCA and The Retail Trust charity will be a dedicated Thinking of You Week display.

This will showcase supportive greeting cards from many of GCA publisher members which reinforce the power of sending greeting cards. This follows on from last September’s Hyve x GCA Thinking of You activity which was a card sending initiative with some Retail Trust elderly residents, using cards that were donated by publishers.

The display will be in Hall 3 R43, close to the GCA Debut area at the back of the hall.

A new element of the show this year is Curated Meetings, which will involve 250 buyers who are being hosted to meet companies for one-to-one pre-arranged meetings in a designated area.

The show’s Retail Stage content programme is set to deliver a schedule packed full of impressive speakers from John Lewis, Sedex and Mintel, founder of Green & Black’s Jo Fairley, TV personalities Billie Faiers and Paul Moneypenny.

Above right: Among the speakers on Inspiring Retail Stage will be celeb Billie Faiers.

Nature at its best

Bound to stop visitors in their tracks at the Spring Fair will be Museums & Galleries’ inaugural collection of greeting cards based on its new licensing agreement for Wildlife Photographer of the Year from Natural History Museum. From an unlikely image of a Japanese ‘snow monkey’ looking at a mobile phone in a hot spring to a breath-taking action shot as a kingfisher dives to catch a fish, the 31 design strong greeting card collection certainly packs a photographic punch.

The range features an array of photographs entered into the prestigious annual competition that all celebrate the wonder of the natural world, spanning air, sea and land - hummingbirds to hawksbill turtles, lions to lizards.

In addition to the award-winning photography featured on each card, the packaging solution - M&G’s own design of plastic-free ecoband that neatly ties card and envelope together also highlights the importance of finding sustainable solutions that are kind to the planet.

“We are delighted to have worked alongside the team at Museums & Galleries to develop such a beautiful collection of greeting cards that showcase some of the incredible photography on offer from the archives of the competition,” commented Maxine Lister, head of licensing at NHM. “Not only do the cards highlight the true diversity of nature on our planet, but they are also kind to the planet as they come with minimal, paper-based packaging and are fully recyclable.”

Ben Dorney, creative director of Museums & Galleries, continued: “For us Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a perfect blend of ‘art’ and ‘emotional content’ - which is just what Museums & Galleries customers appreciate. We were honoured to be asked by Maxine at the Natural History Museum to consider working with them on it, and were then very quick to confirm our interest once we saw the photographs.”

The new collection will be showcased on Museums & Galleries stand (Hall 3 Stand L30-M31).

Top and above: Designs from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year card range from Museums & Galleries.

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H E R E ’ S A S N E A K P E E K AT W H AT ’ S

All bags r e c yc l a b l e once handles r e m ove d .

NEW FOR CHRISTMAS 2022

TRADITIONAL S A N TA

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Rich reds and greens, with

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beautifully updated designs for

elements and images of foliage

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and berries, alongside our

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M O R E F U N , M O R E S U S TA I N A B L E , M O R E INTERACTIVE (AND JUST MORE) CARDS

Paper Chain Inserts

Beautiful designs with a crafted feel are paired with unique, paper chain inserts, creating a fun, nostalgic and sustainable range to delight recipients of all ages.

Photo Props, Stickers, Fun Facts and More Share more merry for Christmas 2022 with fun and interactive kids’ cards. With colouring activities, photo props, stickers, Santa trackers, fun facts and more, they’ll provide hours, and even years, of Christmas magic for families.

The bears are back to bring a sweet and sentimental touch to every Christmas wish and, with their fantastic paper gem attachments, they’re sustainably sparkly too.

Bumper packs are here! Our charity boxed card collection for 2022, in association with Barnardo’s, now features great value bumper packs of 30 cards in 5 different designs.

30 Card Bumper Packs hallmarkuki HallmarkUKandIreland HallmarkUKI Call our customer service team on +44 (0) 800 9020900 to find out more.

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www.hallmark.co.uk www.hallmarkcollections.co.uk

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NEWS TOP STORY

The Great British Card Partnerships Brokerage Rebrand GBCC and Ling Design make the most of their Spring Fair presence Launching officially at Spring Fair, The Great British Card Partnerships, is the new brand name for GBCC’s brokerage division, which will supercede the Waterwells name.

However, “This is far more than just a name change,” assures David Byk, CEO of the Swan Mill group (which includes

GBCC, Ling Design and Penny Kennedy). “It signifies a real step change; a total revitalisation of our brokerage promise to retailers, reflecting the further improvements we have made to our service as well as the selection of designs we now offer, from GBBC and Ling as well as from the 28

Lucy Ledger to head up GBCC creative

The super talented Lucy Ledger is joining GBCC to become its head of creative.

Having run her own greeting card company for several years, two years ago Lucy joined the creative team at Paper Rose.

Of her new role which she starts at the beginning of February, Lucy said: “I’m so excited to be given the opportunity to join the Great British Card Company, I’m looking forward to working with the team to grow the portfolio and develop the brand and product. It’s a company I feel will be a really good fit for me and my creative style, and it has a great legacy to build upon. I’ve always loved greeting cards so I’m just really happy to be taking the next big step of my career in this brilliant industry.”

Commenting on Lucy’s appointment, David Byk, CEO added: “We are delighted to have Lucy on board who will do a wonderful job, I am in no doubt, in creatively driving GBCC’s own identity.”

Above: Lucy Ledger is joining GBCC as head of creative.

other publishers who we are delighted to have on board,” explained David.

Under Waterwells, the company is supplying some 170 retail rooftops via brokerage, but David senses this will grow.

“From the discussions we have had, many retailers are looking for a solution that will take the hassle out of planning, merchandising and delivery, while knowing they can rely on a cohesive look across proven bestselling cards,” David adds.

GBCC, The Great British Card Partnerships, Ling Design and Penny Kennedy will each have separate parts of the group’s two stands at the show, right at the front of Hall 3 on L10/M11 and L20/M21.

As well as unveiling the significant new rebrand of its GBCC brokerage, the show will also mark the launch of 500 relations and occasions cards plus the largest number of Christmas boxes and plastic-free Advents from GBCC. Meanwhile, the Ling Design stand will fanfare its planning service, plus its largest ever Christmas boxed and counter card collection.

Diary Dates

After so much uncertainty, on top of Spring Fair, it is great to have real exhibitions and events to plan for and look forward to. Here are just a few important dates in the industry calendar for 2022… l Top Drawer - Sunday 20 February Tuesday 22 February (Olympia, London) l The Greats gift retailer awards and Gift of the Year awards - Wednesday 12 May (Royal Lancaster Hotel, London) l Progressive Greetings Live Tuesday 7 June and Wednesday 8 June (Business Design Centre, London) l The Retas greeting card retail awards - Thursday 7 July (Grosvenor House Hotel, London) l Harrogate Home & Gift - Sunday 17 July - 20 July (Harrogate) l The Henries greeting card awards Thursday 6 October (Royal Lancaster Hotel, London) Above: PG Live 2022 is all set for June 7-8.

Top: The new brand supercedes the Waterwells name.

Above left: The Great British Card Partnerships’ brokerage division offer retailers a selection of designs from 30 publishers.

Above: Above: David Byk, ceo of Swan Mill.

Joe Davies to distribute Xpressions 4 U to indies

Joe Davies has been appointed distributor of all Xpressions 4 U ranges to independent retailers. Pots of Dreams, Nordic Lights, Feather & Grace as well as Xpressions’ licensed giftware ranges on brands such as Boofle, Only Fools & Horses, Dad’s Army and Minecraft are available to indies from Joe Davies.

Explaining the rationale behind the change, Xpressions’ managing director Kishor Shah said: “We have been working on new strategies to evolve the Xpressions business to meet the changing marketplace and to ensure we keep on track for our long-term plans for growth. As part of this strategy, we are moving to new offices and changing to third party warehousing.”

As Kishor elaborated: “Joe Davies is a well-respected family-owned business, renowned for its award-winning customer service and their ‘little & often’ order system, which is a perfect fit for the Xpressions range and our customers.”

The addition of the Xpressions 4 U collections further bolsters Joe Davies’ already strong product portfolio.

“The brands are a perfect match to our existing ranges and the tie up will really benefit both companies’ customers,” Commented Paul Hooker, commercial director of Joe Davies.

To christen the new set up, Joe Davies and Xpressions are offering a 10% discount on the first Xpressions order placed with Joe Davies until 1 March 2022.

The collection will be on display on the Joe Davies stand at the Spring Fair (Hall 4 C20-D11). Prices remain unchanged for customers.

Above: Xpressions 4 U’s Pots of Dreams collection.

Left: Kishor Shah with a Boofle friend.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Bira’s Neartoo Trading Platform For Indies

Papyrus and Loveone were among the first indies to sign up

This February will see the official consumer launch of Neartoo, a new online trading platform exclusively for independent retailers, including greeting card and gift indies, that has been created

by Bira (the British Independent Retailers’ Association).

“The pandemic has accelerated shopping behaviours, with more use of the internet and people also shopping more locally,” commented CEO Andrew

Goodacre. “This platform, owned by independents, addresses both of those societal changes, and will allow these retailers to open up new ways of selling to customers, and more profitably.”

Among the first retailers to sign up were card and gift indies Loveone in Ipswich and Papyrus in Glasgow.

As Cathy Frost, owner of Loveone in Ipswich told PG: “I believe that anything that encourages and serves a community has to be for the greater good. I am always open to new ideas, as that is how progress happens - so I love the idea of tech helping to nurture the ‘feelgood’ of

a real community, which is the very essence of Neartoo.”

Using Neartoo, shop owners will be able to sync their existing online sales platform or create an ecommerce presence for the first time.

Sharing what attracted her to join Neartoo, Fiona Fabien, owner of Glasgowbased Papyrus said the fact that the platform is “specifically for independents” was the main appeal for her.

“We are building our online presence and since we are Bira members, and the Neartoo platform is compatible with our Shopify website, we felt it was a natural progression.

The transaction fees/commission are transparent and fair, so we feel the platform offers a reasonable return for sales achieved. We are so looking forward to seeing Neartoo going live!” said Fiona Consumers can search via location, by product type as well as end recipient, with greeting cards featuring alongside the likes of ‘gifts for her’, ‘personalised gifts’ within the gifts section on the platform.

Bira is now urging all independent retailers to sign up, regardless of whether they are members of the association, with Neartoo aiming to complement physical stores, helping independent retailers to move forward with a ‘hybrid’ model of retailing.

For Bira members, the use of the platform is free for 12 months, while nonBira members can receive five months free when they sign up. Visit Neartoo.co.uk Top: More indies are signing up to Neartoo by the day.

Above left: Part of Papyrus’ profile page on Neartoo.

March-ing towards Dragons

To avoid a date clash with the Top Drawer trade show (which is now to take place February 20-22), the GCA’s Dragons’ Speed-dating event has been rescheduled to take place on Wednesday 23 March at London’s Business Design Centre. (It was originally set for Tuesday 22 February, which would have coincided with the last day of Top Drawer).

Continuing a very successful formula that has worked incredibly well for both the attending publishers and participating retailers, the afternoon event will see publishers make one-to-one quickfire 10minute pitches about their products and their companies to different retailers, including multiples, small groups and indies.

Buyers from Austin & Co (Malvern), Cardzone, Card Factory, Fortnum & Mason, Funky Pigeon, Mooch (London), Postmark and Red Card (Petworth) are among the confirmed Dragons with other retailers to follow.

Each ‘dating place’ costing £125 + VAT which can be booked via the GCA website (www.gca.cards).

Above: Some happy publishers at the last Dragons event, waiting to go into the Den!

Double whammy

To make for a doubly fruitful day. A meeting for PG Live exhibitors and would-be exhibitors is to take place in the morning on the same day (Wednesday 23 March) at the same venue (the BDC). This meeting (which is free to attend) will cover handy tips and hints for making the most out of exhibiting.

Bookings for this meeting should be via Jim Bullough, operations director of PG Live, on jimb@max-publishing.co.uk

Ciao Origamo UK as it debuts at Spring Fair

Having worked its magic in its home market in Italy, Origamo has now set up a UK company, based in central London, as part of ambitious plans to grow the business.

Headed up by Furio Ceciliato, who also spearheaded the Italian greeting card association (AIBA), this effervescent entrepreneur has high hopes for his new sibling business.

“I do have knowledge of the UK market and have visited PG Live and Spring Fair before, but this year I will be there as a UK-based publisher!” says Furio who is exhibiting at both shows. He has also joined the UK GCA. The main focus of the Origamo stand at the Spring Fair (Hall 3 Stand Q49) with be the company’s new Florever range of pop-up bouquet cards, which Furio says racked up sales of over one million euro in only 45 days when it launched in Italy recently. The range has got off to a great start in the UK, having reached the shortlist in the Gift of the Year awards!

It is Furio’s intention to recruit a team of UK sales agents to carry the ranges in the independent sector while he will deal direct with multiples. While initially orders will be dispatched from Origamo’s Turin base, Furio is in the process of organising a warehousing facility in the UK. “In the interim we have both UK and European VAT registration so will avoid too much customs bureaucracy,” assures Furio.

Above: One of the All of Origamo’s cards are 100% handmade, ethically produced underpinned by the company’s support of charity programs.

Florever designs.

“I know that the UK market will be very tough, but I am very excited about our UK launch!” exclaimed Furio.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Well Versed A Jonny Javelin card inspires 90 year old poet Jonny Javelin is well respected for its ranges of versed cards, but the publisher received a lovely surprise recently when someone who had received one of its Velvet cards was so impressed that she got in touch to say thank you and wrote a special poem in its honour!

Moira Wiggins was delighted to receive lots of cards for her 90th birthday, but was so taken with one Jonny Javelin design and versed insert, that she put pen to paper to pay tribute…

‘When a lovely card is sent With sentiments clearly meant It’s something that is kept with pride Not something that you wish to hide The flowers make a lovely scene On a vista so serene You know that lovely thoughts are there Chosen with much love and care Whether we are young or old It is a story oft retold To give us comfort in our way To brighten even the darkest day’

“While we are pretty well known for our sentimental verses - and I’m proud to admit that I do write most of them - never before have we had a verse/poem written back to us by a member of the public who has received one of our cards. We were all so touched by Moira’s gesture and who knows, I may have found a deputy verse writer!” Jonny Spears, managing director of Jonny Javelin told PG. Above: The 90th birthday card that inspired Moira Wiggins to write a poem to the publisher.

Left: Jonny Spears with the card.

Agent Derren Seal pushes the envelope

Well known sales agent Derren Seal is ‘pushing the envelope’ and no mistake, having developed Envelopd, a concept that he is patenting, which does away with the need for a separate envelope with a greeting card.

Working on a series of folds, the Envelopd becomes an integral part of the card, with no ‘throw away’ element as upon opening, the ‘cover’ is folded behind itself when the card goes on display.

“The idea for Envelopd came to me nearly two years ago when I was driving in between customers on a long straight road in Wales. I had just called upon a customer who repeated the same gripe that most of my independent shops have. A bane of their existence is the constant loss/damage of envelopes. Trying to find replacements is a never ending problem because all greeting card publishers produce such an array of differing sizes of cards,” Derren explains, highlighting how the push for cards to be supplied naked and nested has further exacerbated the issue.

“Cards displayed naked require so much looking after by merchandising teams or else they look horrific with envelopes and cards strewn about the racks. I decided that I wanted to stop this waste and the need for cello wrap completely, creating an eco-friendly and commercially viable alternative that could be applied to all single fold cards. Envelopd is just that,” stressed Derren.

Kingfisher Cards (one of the seven companies which Derren represents as an agent) is the first publisher to adopt Envelopd, introducing it on a range of 24 designs that will launch at Spring Fair (Hall 3 N23). Derren hopes that many more publishers will be interested in his invention in the coming months.

Above and left: The Envelopd will debut on a range from Kingfisher Cards that is being launched at Spring Fair.

The Buddy Tour

The Buddy Fernandez ‘boys’ are well known for doing things their way…and The Buddy Tour is no exception. As PG went to press, The Buddy Tour was underway, with company owners Lee Rowlett and Wes Venn crammed into their tiny red Bedford Rascal van for a 10 day ‘tour’ covering 2,000 miles around Britain to visit retailers!

“We decided that, this year, we’re not asking our customers to come to us,” Buddy Fernandez founder, co-owner and design sheriff Lee told PG, “instead we opted to go on the road for 10 days to see them.”

Co-owner, managing director and naughty rascal Wes added: “It’s The Buddy Tour - working title! - and we’re doing it in the van. It’s nearly a litre’s worth of power and goes nearly 50 miles an hour. It’s a 1989 Bedford Rascal, in racing red, for 2,000 miles across three countries - I’ve had the spark plugs done, and yes, we have comprehensive AA breakdown cover.”

Starting in Leighton Buzzard, the route took them straight off to the bottom of Cornwall via a couple of stockists in Devon on the first day.

From Cornwall, the Above and top: Buddy route takes them up Fernandez’s Lee and to South Wales via Wes hit the road in their red Rascal van.

Somerset, then on through the Midlands to Manchester, then Scotland - through Glasgow and Edinburgh.

“After that it’s down through to Essex and Kent via Newcastle and, on the way to Brighton and the Isle of Wight, we’re stopping off at Gatwick to leave the van and fly to Jersey for the day,” added Wes. With an extremely large can of air freshener ready and smiling through gritted teeth at the thought of cramming his 6ft 2in frame into the miniscule cab for around 50 hours of driving across England, Wales, and Scotland, Lee is aiming to visit almost 50 existing customers while hoping to pop into new shops as they pass by.

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OVER THE

COUNTER

When you read this, the Spring Fair will be almost upon us, with two years of pent-up surprises and delights expected from the show.

As always, we will descend on the halls with a touch of dread (long days, lots of walking, unmemorable food) mixed with enthusiasm to find something different; the next winners on the product front.

A trade fair is of course all about decisions and the first major one is whether to attend, but that’s just the start…

Last year there was no Spring Fair and this year we have seen various trade fairs cancelled or postponed in the UK and across Europe, so as I write this we all have our fingers crossed that this major event goes ahead as planned.

Due to Covid, there has quite rightly been an element of doubt about getting a volume of people from all over the country into one place. And that’s before the handing and touching of product, which admittedly is a bit of a logistical quandary, but a necessary one for us to get back to business. Anyhow, my flight to Birmingham is booked.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.

No Business, Like Show

business Above: There’s no business like show business…all the world’s a stage!

Below left: David was delighted to discover newbie publisher, Popsy & Plum at last July’s PG Live show.

Right: David likens making the most of trade fairs to pre-season football training.

The buying process is of course key.

Our trade has always evolved with certain brands at times coming to the fore.

However, what makes us indies survive is the new and quirky companies that we find which mix in with the established brands and make us different.

My mum and I have had a few long discussions recently about the way we have bought in the last 18 months and in reality the results have been pretty good. The mix of sifting through brochures and catalogues, logging on to Zoom or Teams meetings, catching up with agents as well as some great sharing of ideas and experiences with our peers resulted in decent sales.

Yes, there have been a few blunders. Yes, there were things we wouldn’t have bought if we had seen the actual size or quality of the products, but there are also many ranges we would have bought more of, though with stock issues it became more of a ‘one chance thing’. All this in some ways focused our minds.

As we all know trade fairs are an expense, both in terms of time and money, but almost everyone I know

appreciates the importance of the physical hands-on product experience that exhibitions provide.

The secret of trade fairs is a bit like pre-season training in football. No one particularly likes it, but you need to put in the hard yards, do the graft and usually it will pay dividends in the long run.

The buzz of a trade fair is heightened by the need to make lots of decisions.

Decision making is without doubt one of the

key elements in business. Every day we are faced with all kinds of decisions, from the pricing of a product to handling a staff situation. Being your own boss, whether of a small store with maybe just yourself or a larger organisation with multiple sites hinges on the ability to set a course and continue to make strong decisions along the way.

Never has this been tested as much as it has in these Covid times as we are making decisions based on a situation none of us have experienced.

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OVER THE COUNTER Even before January 2020 we made hundreds of conscious and subconscious decisions every single day and that hasn’t changed. Many of you will make a decision and never think about it, others will agonise over every last detail, worrying about the consequences. So how do we learn decision making?

Now if you look it up online you will tend to see decisions broken down into… l Operational Management Decisions, which are usually structured. l Tactical Management Decisions, which are semi-structured. l Strategic Management Decisions, which are unstructured.

These fancy terms are actually what we do all day every day and to my mind, breaking it down into these groups will not mean that you will always make the right decision!

The textbooks will also ask you to do the following…

1 Define the problem.

2 Gather and collect information and data.

3 Develop and weigh up the options.

4 Choose the best possible option.

5 Plan and execute.

6 Assess your decision and plan a follow-up.

All of this textbook stuff of course is cold emotionless business talk, which may well apply in a large business setting, but in our ‘small world’, where we know all the faces in our organisation, making decisions involves a number of other factors.

I have recently made one of the toughest decisions of my 34 years in business – to temporarily close our Bijou by the Sea restaurant and shop – something I have delayed by three months at great mental and financial cost to myself. The ruthless businessman in me knew what I had to do, but circumstance and my own conscience couldn’t let me do it, at least not in the way which would have been the absolute best for me alone.

I would suspect that the majority of us are more likely to pursue moral decision making as a path instead of the absolute

right moral compass also helps and I sometimes ask myself ‘what would X do?’

The point of this is what then?

Above: There are invariably a number of ‘right’ options when making decisions.

Below right: David is planning to join those walking the aisles of the NEC at the start of February!

Bottom left: Although David still has big plans for Bijou by the Sea, he has taken the decision to close it temporarily.

cold reality of a purely business one.

The first time I really heard of this was 20 years ago, when a family friend was shutting down a large business. He was ceasing trading and could have just walked away from the staff and responsibilities, but instead he endeavoured to find all of the team jobs and paid redundancies even when this could have been avoided. He chose to do the correct thing.

So how do I make decisions now?

I think that your decision making changes as you grow older, in terms of both physical age and also experience. In my younger days I would make decisions quickly and believe that whatever the outcome I would rebound from it. That all played into that unshakeable self-belief I have that I will make it work somehow, someway.

I have always bounced key decisions in my life off my close family and to some extent close friends, which has proved to be a good balance as the friends often have a slightly different take than those related to you.

I also found that my decision making improved when I started using a therapist.

That forum of discussing everything totally without boundaries or judgement with someone who has no vested interest and no desire to tell you an answer is a great environment for sorting out key elements in your life and business.

I always feel that it is what you go on to do after these sessions that really makes the difference. If the discussion energises you to learn and improve yourself then great, but if you are questioning the work done it’s not a positive thing.

I find surrounding myself with good business people that have the

For me the point of it all is the fact that we all need to make decisions of some kind. If you simply drift or let things float, invariably you end up not in a good place.

There are many, many people out there who simply are in some sort of state of paralysis where they can’t make a decision for the fear of being wrong.

I do accept that a lot of the time there is not a right or wrong answer, but you have to do what you think is right and you have to believe in it and follow it through. Dithering about a new line for the shop? If it doesn’t sell you can you half price it and move it through. Staff issue? Research it; speak to them about it; explain the problem and then do what you need to. Want to sell your business? This is a much bigger decision and one you really need to come to terms with, but you get the idea...

In business often there is no real wrong or right. You just have to make a decision and deal with the consequences, bearing in mind any moral obligations you feel that you have.

As I write this, I see the life coach I have used in the past has posted this mantra…

‘This current chapter of my life is called MY TURN and I am unapologetic as F*(k about it.’

He believed that everything was supposed to be about you, your happiness (your life) and for me that is not reality, as if you live like that you could leave a trail of destruction. To me it was a bit like the cold ruthless decision where you only really care about how you feel. It takes a certain type of person not to consider others’ feelings, whether it is your staff, your parents or your friends.

So, I will make the hard decisions I need to in order to protect myself, my family and my business, but I will do it in my own way. See you at Spring Fair in decisionmaking mode?!!

To contact David email: jppozzi@btconnect.com PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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cardsharp

Factory

Farming

The UK greeting card industry’s largest specialist multiple retailer, Card Factory reported its latest financial figures recently including insights into its all-important Christmas trading. Cardsharp delves deeper into the figures and tries to draw some conclusions.

Following on from Cardsharp’s column last month that focussed primarily on online card retailer Moonpig, its financial prospects and marketing campaigns, Cardsharp was given the opportunity to have a look at Card Factory’s recent performance and prospects.

(Having bought some Card Factory shares when they hit rock bottom at 27 pence back the start of the pandemic back in April 2020,

competitors or independent retailers. Cardsharp suspects, an independent’s antipathy to CF probably depends on their respective physical proximity to a Card Factory outlet.

Cardsharp was interested to read some of the responses to PG’s independent Retail Barometer survey.

None questioned, saw the presence of Card Factory as a bonus, but a massive 68% were neutral about the chain. While over a quarter of respondents (24%) viewed the multiple as a threat, only 8% see it as a ‘major threat’. Perhaps this is an indication that even with Card Factory now trading from around 1,000 branches, Above: Being a PLC, Card Factory has to face the vagaries of share price fluctuations on the stock exchange.

Left: The run up to Christmas saw Card Factory push its online sites on social media.

Belowe: Card Factory now trades from over 1,000 stores.

Cardsharp admits that he does have a tiny vested interest in the value chain holding its value for shareholders.)

Card Factory certainly divides opinions among the UK greeting card community. Some see it as a bellwether of the industry and as the sector’s only PLC it is in many ways our strong PR card with the City and media.

Because of its vertical supply model, whereby most of its cards are produced by Card Factory itself, it is not popular with many publishers, and because of its low prices, it is not popular with multiple

26

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

resilient indies have learned to live and adapt to this retail monolith.

Card Factory recently released its trading figures for the last 11 months.

Cardsharp needs to emphasise that these are not the full year’s figures so are open to interpretation. Its full year figures will be completed by the end of January this year, but they do allow for at least a stab at where the retail group is at present.

For the 11 months until December 31, Card Factory reported sales of £357 million, which the board claimed was “ahead of expectations”. In 2019 (you can forget 2020 as comparisons mean nothing with the Covid pandemic) sales in the corresponding period were £424 million. But you have to take into account that in the first four months of last

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Left: While still very much a value operator, the last year has seen Card Factory push some of its prices up.

Below left: Darcy Willson-Rymer in his Clintons days.

Below right: Dean Hoyle, founder of Card Factory in a jubilant moment when his beloved Huddersfield Town FC (of which he is a 25% owner as well as its interim ceo) performed well…like him on his sell out of CF!

year Card Factory outlets were closed because of lockdown.

This was achieved, according to Card Factory despite general footfall being down by 19% compared with 2019. These figures, if correct, are pretty impressive.

These results, the board claim, will lead to a year end profit figure of around £71-74 million before EBITDA. Wow, that sounds impressive on first reading until you look at what EBITDA is!

EBITDA is widely used when assessing the performance of a company, and often features in press releases, partly to inform, partly to baffle, it seems to Cardsharp. Basically, it stands for ‘earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation’. It is often used to put a very positive gloss on a set of financial results, but as it is so commonly discredited Cardsharp wonders why it is used in the first place! It is generally recognised at best as being unreliable and ‘accounting gamesmanship’ or ‘smoke and mirrors’.

And to Cardsharp’s mind this is no exception. This was the profit that Card Factory says it would have made if it wasn’t for ‘exceptional circumstances’.

On this occasion, Card Factory has piled in a sharp increase in transport and wage bills as the contributary factors. Cardsharp just doesn’t get that! We could all claim our business’s profit would have been such and such higher, if only for x or y? It really defies belief that anyone would think it means anything!

The figure that matters is the real predicted profit for the year end which the CF board reckon will be in the region of £7-10 million.

Cardsharp reckons that given

that Card Factory standalone shops were forced to close for the first four months of last year (meaning they completely missed out on the Spring Seasons), these predicted figures are certainly nothing to be ashamed of, especially as it reported steady trading in the run up to Christmas despite a decrease in footfall.

What was also interesting is that Card Factory managed to reduce its net debt by £27 million, from £87 million to £60 million, which was very encouraging. However, that was not enough to please the City, and the share price went down by 20% subsequent to the announcement.

This means that as PG went to press Card Factory is valued at only £217 million despite its thousand or so stores. Amazingly this is less than a fifth of the market valuation of Moonpig at present.

This seems a ridiculous low valuation to Cardsharp. The highly rated financial website, Simplywall.St, thinks the shares at present are 50% lower than their true value, which would put the share price over a £1 rather than the current price of 50 pence.

One thing Cardsharp thinks does not help the City’s opinion of Card Factory was its poor online performance. Getting Personal, one of CF’s online platforms, which was only launched in 2011, actually saw its sales fall by 8.5%, over the previous year.

Card Factory’s ceo Darcy Willson-Rymer’s (older readers will remember the name from his short tenure in the top job at Clintons just prior to its business failure) explanations sounded a little weak to Cardsharp, saying

it was due primarily to a greater emphasis on higher priced and higher margin products. Make that of that what you will!

Certainly, Darcy and his team have a lot to do if they are to “Focus on the implementation of our strategy and the transformation of the business to a full omni-channel retailer”.

Zoe Mills, the retail analyst at Global Data, certainly feels there is a lot of work to be done here, describing Card Factory’s online business as “over complicated”.

Cardsharp also wonders, apart from its online business development, about where Card Factory goes from here. True, it has added a small amount of turnover by supplying its cards to Aldi and Matalan and The Reject Shop in Australia, but this is hardly going to dramatically enhance the future of the business, especially when the board has forecasted a sales figure of £600million by 2026.

In many ways, Card Factory is a victim of its own success and its vertically own brand integrated model. If it were privately

owned, it could continue for many years, given a Covid-free environment, making healthy profits every year. But being a public-listed company, it has to keep growing and growing to keep investors happy. And that is the very tricky part.

If it were to acquire a higher priced greeting card rival like Clintons, not only would it cannibalise sales at Card Factory, but it would also reduce its margins which again would not please the City. So, although Cardsharp thinks Card Factory will bounce back in the short term, he does wonder what its future will look like.

Certainly though, concludes Cardsharp, Card Factory has come a long way since founders Dean and Janet Hoyle first founded the company selling wholesale cards out of a van in Wakefield. They sold out in 2010 for £350 million. Cardsharp is not expecting to make anything like that from his shareholding!

5PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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We are really looking forward to seeing all our customers at the Spring Fair 6th-9th February.

NEW cards and candle packages on show.

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VIEWPOINTS

Santa

Shopped

Local

With festive sales representing such as significant chunk of an indie card retailer’s annual trade, much was riding on Father Christmas’ sleigh.

PG checked in with some leading independent retailers as to how it all stacked up for them and their hunch for the coming year.

Miles Robinson and Nigel Williamson co-owners of House of Cards, seven shops in the Home Counties Verdict: “It was a good un, that’s for sure!”

Spill the beans: “We ended up +40% on Christmas last year, but then we do have an extra store. We were up 12.3% like-for-like on 2019 (excluding our online trade), so we are not unhappy! Certainly, Christmas boxes, all wrappings (rollwrap, bags and tags), saw massive increases. We definitely benefitted from the ongoing shop local trend as well as supply chain issues among our competition. There was certainly a feeling that some retailers got cold feet and some left stock in China as it was not viable to ship!”

Your strategy: “We put out our Christmas displays a little earlier where we could but had to do a lot of remerchandising as product came in late/ in dribs and drabs.”

Your hunch and approach for 2022: “Certainly positive going into 2022 and buying will be as usual, but more of it and with an eye on packaging/eco etc.”

Above: Christmas delivered for a great many indies.

Philip Nield co-owner of Reflections, Nantwich and Rugeley Verdict: “Way above our expectations.”

Spill the beans: “Our sales were significantly up strong double digit growth - in both stores. The ‘shop local’ feel worked in our favour, with customers appreciating what they have close to home.”

Your strategy: “We put our displays out earlier than usual, starting at the beginning of September with a fairly large selection and then expanded this later in October.”

Customer buying patterns: “We saw a shift in more customers seeking out higher priced specialist captioned cards. Price was not an issue, with people happily paying £6 or £7 for a husband/wife card. For the first time in years, we actually sold out of wife and husband cards.”

Top performers: “On singles, our top performers were from UKG, IC&G, Paper Rose, Cardigan Cards and Second Nature’s Champagne range. On boxed cards, it was all about the top end - the further we move away from the discounters, the better! The Art File performed incredibly well. We sold out of its £10 boxes. Woodmansterne also sold well as did UKG’s Special Editions and Nigel Quiney. On giftwrap, again The Art File was superb, we sold out!”

Your hunch and approach for 2022: “I am feeling quietly confident and enthusiastic about the coming year.”

Above: Part of the wrappings display in a Reflections store.

Below: Reflections’ strategy to boost its higher priced quality cards served it well.

Above: The Christmas window of House of Cards’ new Woodley store.

Left: In House of Cards’ Wallingford branch in the Christmas run up.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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VIEWPOINTS Deborah Tingay

Mark and Leona Janson-Smith

owner of Southbourne Cards, Southbourne

directors of Postmark, five shops in London Verdict: “Phenomenal!”

Spill the beans: “For the eight weeks to Christmas we were up 18% LFL across the whole Christmas category with card sales up 15%, driven by packs and relations captioned single cards. Christmas card sales were better than we could have ever expected with a couple of stores having just a handful of cards left on Christmas Eve. Our rollwrap sales were up a whopping 50%, admittedly this was helped by supermarkets running out early, but we just couldn't keep it on the shopfloor and were running around right till the last day, getting more stock where we could.”

Your strategy: “The one big change we made was giving a full bay to Christmas relations cards which worked well and is something we will probably continue with in future years.”

Customer buying patterns: “Customers bought a lot more packs with our pack sales up 19% compared to singles which were 6% up in comparison.”

Top performers: “Sell through across the board was very good with greeting cards finishing up with an 88% sell through. We had a lot of regular stand out performers from each category. Pack sales were driven

by Museums & Galleries, Woodmansterne and The Art File, all with exceptional volume and sell through numbers. Caroline Gardner was very strong this year too with its clever eco-friendly ‘net’ bags which our customers seemed to love. Top performers in single cards were The Art File, Portfolio and Rosie Made a Thing, all with very strong sales and sell through.”

Your hunch and approach for 2022: “We are going into 2022 excited with a touch of caution! We will increase order quantities in certain areas as we definitely lost sales due to running out too soon.”

Above: A Christmas welcome from Postmark.

Above right: Rosie Made a Thing continued to shine this last Christmas.

Maggie Wynn

“Our Southbourne Cards Christmas can be summed up in Christmas movies…

The Nightmare Before Christmas The Christmas set up was incredibly challenging, due to stock delays, deliveries outside of the scheduled time slots and availability concerns, coupled with Covid issues. But then there was no stopping us.

Polar Express So, our last quarter sales were up 40% on 2019, 28% TY v LY. Dwell time was up on 2020 while average transactional value and footfall was up too!

Home Alone Thankfully I was not ‘Home Alone’ thanks to my key suppliers! A massive thank you to agent Rosie Trow, Paula from Paper Rose/Nigel Quiney and Roy at GBCC for sending emergency Mummy and Mum Christmas cards to ensure we did not run out!

Love Actually Our customers just kept showering us with positive feedback… “We love this shop!”, “We love your staff!”, “We love your cards!” Our selection was the best ever with ‘new to us’ publishers added to our Christmas offer - notably Words ‘n’ Wishes, Wendy Jones-Blackett, Janie Wilson and The Art File.

While I am very concerned about cost price inflation and margin erosion, we are very confident that our sales will continue to grow in 2022. So, all in all…It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Above: It was full steam ahead on the Southbourne Cards’ ‘Polar Express’ ride to Christmas!

Above right: Southbourne Cards’ Deborah Tingay (left) with agent Rosie Trow.

Right: Part of the instore Christmas display in Just Cards.

owner of Just Cards, Honiton Verdict: “Smooth…very smooth compared to the madness of December the previous year.”

Spill the beans: “Our sales were up about 5% compared to figures from the last normal year so we were very happy after all the uncertainty.”

Your strategy: “We put our Christmas displays out a little earlier than previously, as we had them out for half term to catch the holidaymakers. We also kept the store as spacious as possible by removing everyday spinners to make people feel extra safe.”

Customer buying patterns: “I think a lot of people bought early ‘just in case’, which made the Christmas flow much better with not so much congestion.”

Top performers: “Noel Tatt’s pop ups and globes did very well for us as did the Museums & Galleries boxes.”

Your hunch and approach for 2022: “So here we are ordering Christmas yet again! I would like to say a big thank you to all the suppliers’ agents and reps who receive all the funny phone calls from me with my requests for stock, they never let me down. What would we retailers do without them?!”

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VIEWPOINTS Chris and Tracey Bryant co-owners of Expressions, Cats Whiskers and Polkadot in Swindon, Bishops Cleeve and Keynsham respectively.

Verdict: “Stupendous!”

Spill the beans: “Across the three shops, our final quarter total trading was up by 29% on 2019 figures with card and gift wrap sales across three shops up by 43%. Our Expressions store (in which Christmas card sales are always strong) showed a 25% increase, while The Cats Whiskers was up 50% and Polkadot’s sales were up 55%.”

Your strategy: “We started selling earlier (on September 1) with a larger display than we would normally start the season. We also made a larger selection of cards available online via our website, which proved to be a great success.”

Customer buying patterns: “Customers were definitely shopping earlier, justifying our decision to go out early and bigger with our displays.

Although footfall was down average spend was well up on 2019/2020 levels.

We definitely benefitted from customers ‘shopping local’ especially at Cats Whiskers where the chemist across the road was busy giving Covid jabs, bringing many new people into Bishops Cleeve, many for the first time, many of whom came into our shop.”

Top performers: “Charity packs and boxes did exceptionally well, particularly Woodmansterne and Museums & Galleries in all three shops. In addition, in Expressions we have additional charity FSDUs from Noel Tatt and GBCC. Higher code cards sold well in the popular captions and we had reasonable sales of single captioned boxed cards, which were supplied by IC&G and Carte Blanche. No matter how many more we buy each year we still seem to run low on ‘special friend,’ ‘to both’ and ‘special couple’!”

Your hunch and approach for 2022: “We remain very positive about 2022. The greeting card sector is resilient, and we are always pleased when we see young people buying cards which bodes well for the future of our fantastic industry.

As for our Christmas 2022 ordering in relation to The Cats Whiskers and Polkadot we will increase the offer and buy in more depth as despite our big increases in 2021 we believe we could have sold more. In Expressions, where sales are always strong, we are considering increasing footage to accommodate the ever increasing demand for captioned cards.”

Above right: An elf on a shelf in the Expressions Christmas window.

Above: Chris Bryant (centre) with some of the team from Polkadot shortly after The Retas in November, which saw the retail business win an award.

Carl Dunne owner of cards and Gifts, Sheffield and Dronfield Verdict: “Businesswise: Fab-u-lous.”

Spill the beans: “We fared better than we were expecting.

Being able to spread the stock across the two stores worked in our favour.”

Your strategy: “I actively promoted the card captions we stocked and extended our display of boxed cards and rollwrap outside, repurposing the trollies we use for flowers. I kept rotating the boxes with different designs so those customers who came back had another look.

As we had some overstocks, I did a Black Friday promotion for the first time with a ‘3 for 2’ on boxed cards which we kept going for an extra two weeks which worked really well.”

Customer buying patterns: “We seemed busier first thing in the mornings with the to/from school/work crowd. We sold more boxed cards than normal, either because of the promotion we ran or people just saving their pennies on individual cards and sending out cards from decent boxes instead.”

Top performers: “People were hunting out cards with verses. Cherry Orchard’s Grace designs sold out! UKG had some great verse cards as did IC&G. On the gift front we ended up selling a lot of Nordic Lights tea light holders from Expressions 4 U, which most customers bulk bought!”

Your hunch and approach for 2022: “I am feeling cautiously optimistic about 2022.”

Above right: Part of the Christmas singles display in Cards & Gifts.

Above: Christmas cheers from Carl Dunne..

Sean Austin owner of Austin & Co, Malvern

Below: Sean Austin delivering some ‘Thinking of you at Christmas’ cards, written by his customers to Age UK to distribute to some lonely elderly people.

Verdict: “Stupendous!”

Spill the beans: “Cards performed on a par with the same period in 2019, which is a massive result when compared to 2020 when the Christmas card buying period was squeezed by the second lockdown in November 2020.”: Your strategy: “With hindsight I wish I had gone out a little earlier with my Christmas displays as times are a changing and even among independents it now appears to be a case of ‘who blinks first’.”

Customer buying patterns: “There are always ‘early adopters’ but mid to end of November was particularly strong as Christmas displays became more evident.”

Top performers: “Christmas card packs performed very well. In particular, Artbeat charity packs (by Art Marketing) which were at a Continued on page 33 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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VIEWPOINTS great price point (below £4). They have been a staple for my 11 Christmases and they always sell through. On single cards, ranges by Cinnamon Aitch, Emily Nash, This is Folio, and Bewilderbeest performed very strongly (the '3 French Hens' card by Bewilderbeest was my best selling card); as did unique ranges of local Malvern Christmas cards - people do like local.”

Your hunch and approach for 2022: “We ended 2021 not knowing what the hell was going on. Four weeks previously, when we didn’t even realise Omicron was in the Greek alphabet, I was extremely confident. It just goes to show that it's not a time to go completely crazy and spend, spend, spend. Inflation, wages frozen, tax increases, cost of utilities ...just some of the pressures on our customers that are looming in 2022. I've always been a cautious buyer. If I was less cautious, I would either have a chain of six shops or be a bankrupt. I'm happy with where I'm at after the past two years of turmoil and I'll be happy if I progress at the same rate through the next two years.

As for my buying approach for the coming Christmas buying, I think small and more unique is beautiful and that was borne out by the winners that sold in 2021.”

Below: An ‘out of this world’ upcycled Christmas window in Austin & Co.

Marion and Mark Flaherty co-owners of Best Wishes, Garstang Verdict: “Very positive.”

Spill the beans: “Card sales, in most areas, exceeded expectations and we were up on 2021 figures. Wrap also sold well for us, having increased the variety of price points available. We had great support from regular customers and saw a lot of new faces too.”

Customer buying patterns: “Yet again we noticed a rise in the number of boxes and packs of cards we sold as well as an increase in specific titles, especially ‘someone special’ as well as those for friends. We also noticed that men start their buying of wife/girlfriend, ‘one I love’ cards earlier, rather than the last minute scramble during Christmas week.”

Top performers: “What we have noticed the last two years is a growing amount of people looking for more ‘wordy’ cards, probably a reflection on the circumstances of the world in which we are living.”

Your hunch and approach for 2022: “We are optimistic that as we to learn to live with the world as it is, that sales in 2022 will continue to gradually improve as they have since we were able to reopen last April.

We will be looking for more extended titles in relations and multiple design boxes.”

Above: Marion and Mark Flaherty at PG Live last July.

Above right: A 2022 welcome on Best Wishes’ Facebook page.

Fiona Fabien owner of Papyrus, Glasgow

Right: The Christmas door was open at Papyrus.

Below: A Christmas box of from Belly Button’s Elle range.

Verdict: “Pretty phenomenal.”

Spill the beans: “We enjoyed a much better Christmas trading period than expected! We were 15% up on Christmas cards and 15% up on wrap/gift bags, which was roughly in line with our total takings.

We had a bit of a wobble on 15 December when the Scottish Government announced the reintroduction of social distancing and restrictions for retail. We were worried that the footfall might fall away as it did in the week before Christmas 2020, however to our relief and surprise it didn’t make any difference and trade continued to be around 15% up in the two weeks before Christmas.”

Your strategy: “Originally I had bought cautiously, so I had to re-order Christmas cards and wrap from many of our suppliers in late November and into December. We had no problems with our re-orders and received our orders, more or less complete.”

Customer buying patterns: “Our customers definitely bought early – perhaps in anticipation of another lockdown - or perhaps having had a low key Christmas the previous year pushed the boat out for 2021.

We are situated in the West End of Glasgow and benefited from people working from home and shopping local rather than shopping in the City centre or even in retail parks. Independents certainly seemed to be bucking the trend of on what was happening in city centres.”

Top performers: “Christmas packs and Christmas relations cards showed strong sales, with general Christmas singles not being quite as strong. Belly Button for singles and The Art File for packs were our best selling card companies for Christmas 2021, with both companies having terrific ranges.”

Your hunch and approach for 2021: “On the basis of the last quarter’s trade I have much more confidence in buying for the coming season and Christmas 2022. However, looking forward, it remains to be seen if retail spending is affected by the cost of living increases and the squeeze on household finances that the press is reporting for 2022. So, although I am optimistic that 2022 will be strong, I have my fingers crossed!”

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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State of the Nation

A Spoonful Of Cautious Optimism The future is bright, the future is greeting cards! Or is it?

PG gives the UK greeting card industry an annual health check.

It was 17 December 2021 and Omicron cases in the UK looked to be spiralling out of control.

There was speculation that there would be another lockdown, hospitals being unable to cope, another Christmas without social mixing and perhaps even retail restrictions.

It was on that day that exhibition organiser Clarion announced the postponement of the January Top Drawer until late February. There was even a question mark over the Spring Fair happening. Was 2022 going to be a carbon copy repeat of 2021? It was obviously a difficult decision. At that time Clarion, organisers of Top Drawer, were probably damned if they did cancel and damned if they didn’t!

Over a month later, the whole scenario has completely been transformed. The success of the booster jabs and the apparent milder new variant has led to many thinking that Covid is coming to an end. Covid will still be with us, but will probably be endemic rather than a pandemic with restrictions out the window.

There has been much written that the experience of the last two years has changed 34

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

society for ever, but history tells us that it is human nature to move on and even forget mass illness. The 1918-1920 ‘Spanish’ flu killed tens of millions, but only led to subsequent modest changes. The many cases of fatal influenza in 1957 and 1968 tragically register as just footnotes in most history books. Ill health is always a very uncomfortable thing to dwell on.

So, although some trends have been enhanced during Covid times, like working from home (WFH) and increasing online sales, what settles as the ‘new normal’ is still not apparent, but wherever this may end up (with ramifications on card retailers and publishers) certainly, the sense of gloom that enveloped our industry this time last year has largely evaporated.

While the restrictions differed in Scotland and Wales, It is worth recalling that in England 2021 started with a four-month lockdown with all retail other than supermarkets and newsagents, forced to close. And that came on the back of a 2020 that

Inset: The pulse of the greeting card industry remains strong.

Left: Boris Johnson’s briefings will hopefully not happen again, for many reasons!

Below left: The UK public’s love and appreciation of greeting cards has grown ever stronger, being the ‘hug’ even when people could not physically embrace. This image is from the Cards for the Nation initiative driven by Fedrigoni, Hallmark and Cardzone which saw giant cards installed in several Cardzone shops in which consumers wrote their messages of thanks when the last lockdown started easing.

Bottom: Throughout it all Rosie Made a Thing has been among the many UK publishers to have reflected the feelings and needs of the card buying public.

had seen the Christmas sales period devastated by a month-long November lockdown and regional lockdowns in the week before Christmas. Spring Seasons greeting card sales were devastated for the second year in a row with supermarkets, newsagents, garden centres and online platforms being the only beneficiaries of greeting card sales from the public.

If that was not bad enough for the greeting card industry, publishers were hit by another blow in late January with Paperchase, one of our major retail chains going into administration, only to be miraculously revived, debt free and shorn of poor performing stores, in a pre-pack deal by private equity company Permira, with most greeting card publishers receiving a pittance of what they were owed

by Paperchase.

One particular and sad demise was another multiple retailer, Cards Galore which had enjoyed 30+ years with shops in London’s City, West End and

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State of the Nation

transport hubs. However, with the lockdowns, travel restrictions and working from home, it was on a hiding to nothing. But in contrast with the behaviour of certain other multiple retailers, the family-owned business did everything possible to alleviate the pain felt by suppliers - and at least is still trading, albeit from far fewer stores, from a much smaller estate, with former director Rumit Shah still part of the set up, working for the administrators.

These two business failures aside, 2021 certainly showed the UK greeting card industry to be robust, something borne out by ‘Resilience’ topping the charts in the PG Retail Barometer as the one-word indies felt best summed up our sector in the last year.

As retail and the economy picked up so did greeting card sales, with specialist card shops beginning the revival. Trade shows started up again, including Harrogate Home & Gift and a delayed PG Live in July, although by necessity they were shorn of international buyers. Even real physical awards events returned after a two-year absence with well attended Henries and Retas ‘dos’ while the GCA AGM and Conference in Manchester last October was a triumph.

And the BBC joined in the industry celebrations with its marvellous Christmas Special prime time Inside the Factory programme, being dedicated to the journey of a Christmas card through the camera lens of a Woodmansterne design.

But as the global economy revived, supply problems multiplied impacting on our industry. China, the manufacturer of so many greeting cards, had its own problems with localised lockdowns and labour shortages. The demand for raw materials pushed prices up and delivery times became longer and longer.

Above: Harrogate Home & Gift last July was the first ‘real’ trade show since the start of 2020..

Below: Wendy and (right) Steve Jones-Blackett with Windles Bruce Podmore, sharing one of the many moments of joy at The Henries last October.

Compounding all this was a truly astonishing increase in Far East container shipping costs. The average price of a 40’ container rose from an average £2,500 to a peak of around £20,000. The reasons for this were unclear. ‘Cartel’ and ‘profiteering’ were words bandied about, but whatever the cause, the result was inflationary pressure and depays for many products.

But however damaging this was to publishers’ profit margins and mental health, the uncertainty and rumours of shortages on

shop shelves certainly helped give Christmas greeting card sales a very welcome early boost. In the end, although it was a close-run thing in many cases, most Far Eastern produced products did arrive in time to get on the shop shelves. And even the late Omicron scare did little to dampen sales for many card retailers, apart from those situated in large shopping malls, or city and town centres who were clobbered by the drop in footfall.

So, what of 2022 for the greeting card industry? There are reasons to be optimistic.

For the first time in three years, we are on course for non-interrupted Spring Seasons greeting card industry events.

While ‘working from home’ will not disappear, more workers will start returning to offices leading to busier shopping centres, town, and city centres as well as shops in travel hubs.

Online greeting card sales which have boomed in the last two years are here to stay, but as research company Kantar clocked, greeting card purchases showed one of the strongest returns to ‘bricks and mortar’ than virtually all other consumer products, with people rediscovering the joys of physical shopping and fully appreciating the tactility and aesthetic triumph of greeting cards today.

Greeting card sending events like weddings, children’s birthday parties, family celebrations and dinner parties will all be back with a bang.

Spring Fair returns shortly after a twoyear absence, Top Drawer a few weeks afterwards while, with the easing of travel restrictions, the signs are that PG Live in June will see international buyers and distributors return to the London show.

Despite all these hopefully positive developments, there are concerns. On top of worries of paper shortages, inflation will continue to eat into publishers’ margins while the huge projected increase in energy bills and tax hikes due in April will no doubt affect that vital disposable income upon which the industry depends.

But after all the disruptions the greeting card industry has experienced in the last two years these are the type of challenges we are well equipped to deal with.

The last words go to Jo Parman, strategic insights director of the Worldpanel Plus team at research company, Kantar, who stressed to PG the key role greeting cards play in human behaviour. “There was a sense of emotional impetus driving change as people longed for connection to one another last year - the greeting card sector offered an important way for people to stay in touch and show they care from afar. We’re still facing challenging times and it will be interesting to see how that desire to show the special people in our lives how much they mean will convert into sales for greeting cards.”

The answer to this will determine the state of the greeting card nation in 2022!

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PG Retail Barometer

Back In The Game While not denying the challenges, the last year has seen independent greeting card retailers fight back with a vengeance, making the most of the ongoing ‘shop local’ sentiment from the public, enhanced by the continued ‘working from home’ pattern, with 65% of respondents not only reporting growth over the last year, but by some impressive increases.

With all to play for in the coming year, PG rolled the dice and delved deep into the findings of the PG Retail Barometer, the annual survey into the health and wealth of the independent greeting card retailer.

The PG Retail Barometer is an annual survey of independent greeting card retailers. This latest survey includes both independent retailers who are Cardgains members (accounting for 1,000 rooftops) as well as those who are not a member of the buying group. All surveys were completed by 7 January 2022.

How Was Business 2021 v 2022?

13% Worse 22% Same

65% Better

Inset: For many indies, the last year was pretty good seeing them very much getting back in the game!

Encouragingly those indies who did experience growth in the last year saw their sales expand considerably. Some 38% of those who reported sales growth revealed they were up 10%20%, with 18% saying they were up 20%-30%. Almost a third were up by up to 10% while at the other end of the scale, 14% were up more than 35% compared to the previous year.

For the periods you were able to trade, what happened to the average spend per customer 9% Declined

19% Remained The Same

21% Increased Significantly 51% Increased Slightly

Business boons For the second year in succession, the ‘shop local’ drive has served indies well, with this being cited as having been the biggest boon to their trade in the last 12 months by 69% of respondents.

Greeting cards continued to hold their own as a very relevant and tangible way of communicating with loved ones with some 60% of respondents in no doubt that the consumer’s appreciation of greeting cards grew over the last year.

All the improvements that retailers made to their shops’ displays during the imposed lockdowns also came good, with indies recognising this as having been the second most potent contributor to their shops’ performance, with social media presence and staff also up near the top of the tree.

Going a long way towards offsetting a drop in footfall, some 72% of indies experienced an upturn in the average spend, with customers buying more when they did venture out shopping.

How has your business fared over the last year?

PG looks back at the last eight years of PG’s Retail Barometer data.

2021 v 2020 65% Better 22% Same 13% Worse

2020 v 2019 19% Better 16% Same 65% Worse

2019 v 2018 31% Better 38% Same 31% Worse

2018 v 2017 Better 37% Same 31% Worse 32%

2017 v 2016 Better 38% Same 27% Worse 35%

2016 v 2015 Better 30% Same 38% Worse 32%

2015 v 2014 Better 52% Same 44% Worse 4%

2014 v 2013 Better 48% Same 32% Worse 20%

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PG Retail Barometer

What main factor(s) had a positive effect on your business in the last year? (Previous year’s position in brackets)

Business predictions for 2022

11th = Winning an award/resultant PR (16th)

Indies have started 2022 full of vigour and no mistake, with 71% setting their sights on business growth in the coming year, a big jump up from the 41% who were expecting to grow this time last year.

While 8% are aiming high, gunning for ‘significant growth’ the vast majority (63%) are realistic that their expansion will be marginal.

Much more positive than previous years, only 6% are bracing themselves for a decline in trade, a big improvement on last year’s Barometer when 21% of respondents were expecting to experience a drop in business.

Looking further ahead to the next 10 years, the last 12 months’ experiences have definitely made indies feel more positive about the role of the independent card retailer, with 65% seeing it as having a real future, with only 9% seeing the long term future as weak (two years ago this figure was 30%!).

11th = Local competition closing down (13th)

Expectations for your business for 2022?

1st

The ‘Shop Local’ Support (1st)

2nd

Improvements in shop displays (7th)

3rd

Social media (2nd)

4th

Staff (5th)

5th

Website/online activity (4th)

6th

Broadening card selection (9th)

7th

Broadening gift selection (10th)

8th

New customers (3rd)

9th 10th

Shop improvements/refits (8th) Promotional activity/Click & Collection/Home delivery (6th)

12th

Improvements in service from suppliers (=11th)

13th = Collaborations with local businesses/groups (=11th)

23% Remain About The Same

13th = Increasing prices (=12th) 14th

Participation in online platforms (eg Trouva, Faire) (-)

15th

Opening an additional store/expanding/pop-up (17th)

How do you feel the consumer’s appreciation of greeting cards has shifted over the last year?

18% Increased Significantly 42% Increased Slightly 32% Remained The Same 8% Declined 0% Declined Significantly

5% Slight Decline 1% Major Decline 8% Significant Growth

63% Marginal Growth

Below: The disruption to the supply chain, not helped by shipping delays, has caused problems for indies as well as suppliers.

The big downers No surprise that the effects of the ongoing pandemic, was the top reason indies cited as having had a detrimental effect on their business. However, going straight in at ‘number two’ of business banes has been the disruption caused by the supply chain, with the resultant delays and shortages (admittedly more on the gift front than cards) causing headaches for retailers as well as suppliers. Trade post Brexit has also had a negative knock on to indies with the delays at ports due to the new requirements for importers also adding to the uncertainty.

Supermarkets continue to be a major thorn in the side of indies, their improved displays and convenience being a sizeable niggle. While some old chestnuts, such as parking and discounters still feature in the list of downers, they have dropped down the league in light of bigger issues.

What main factor(s) have had a detrimental effect on your business this year? (Previous year’s position in brackets) 1st

Covid-19 (1st)

2nd

Disruption in supplies (-)

3rd

The UK retail economy (2nd)

4th

Expansion of cards in supermarkets (3rd)

5th

Competition from multiples (4th)

6th

Brexit decision (13th)

7th

Online activity (6th)

8th

Business rates (14th)

9th

Reduction in service from suppliers/reps/ agents (11th)

10th

Parking issues (5th)

11th = Minimum Wage (7th) 11th = Charity shops selling greeting cards (8th) 12th

Consumer lethargy/uncertainty (12th)

13th

Empty shop units in the vicinity (9th)

14th = Expansion of value/discount retailers (9th) 14th = Expansion of the online retail platforms (eg Trouva, Faire) (-)

38

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

15th

Rent review (15th)

16th

Print on demand cards (10th)

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How do you view the future of the independent card shop in the next 10 years?

9% Weak

3% Very Weak

22% Neutral 13% Very Positive

53% Positive

How do you view Moonpig, Thortful, Funky Pigeon and other print-on-demand operators?

13% 40% 44% 3%

Serious Threat Threat Neutral Bonus

How do you currently view garden centres?

15% 38% 45% 2%

Serious Threat Threat Neutral Bonus

How do you currently view Amazon?

Threats and opportunities Even now we are (hopefully) through retail lockdowns, supermarkets are seen as much more of a threat to an independent card retailer than Amazon, print on demand card operators and garden centres.

Some 72% of indies view the grocers as a real concern with 28% going so far as to view them as a ‘serious threat’. Two years ago only 17% of indies viewed them in this way.

Amazon looms high as a threat for 54% of indie respondents, especially given increasing numbers of publishers as well as retailers are tapping into the online giant’s agility in responding to the whims of the consumer seeking the ultimate convenience of shopping from their sofas.

Staying in the digital space, immense product selection and marketing muscle has seen Moonpig, Thortful, Scribbler (and other print-on-demand operators) take a larger slice of the greeting card cake, with 53% of indies, more than ever before (up 10% on last year’s findings) now viewing them as a real threat to their business.

Garden centres continue to niggle 39% of indies, though this percentage has dropped from last year’s Barometer findings (a reflection of garden centres being able to trade while indie card shops were not during lockdowns).

Despite the fact that Card Factory is the UK’s market leading player it is as though indies have learned to co-exist, now with only 32% of respondents viewing the chain as a threat. Two years ago, this figure was up at 41%.

How do you view the supermarkets’ expansion on the greeting card front?

Above: Indies see supermarkets as 28% 44% 27% 1%

Serious Threat Threat Neutral Bonus

How do you currently view Card Factory?

8% 24% 68% 0%

Serious Threat Threat Neutral Bonus

more of a threat than ever.

Below: Indies have learned to coexist with Card Factory.

22% 32% 45% 1%

Serious Threat Threat Neutral Bonus

Above: The Amazon uptick logo does not make indies smile!

Do you feel the increased price of stamps affects your card sales?

30% Not be affected

9% Decrease dramatically

61% Decrease marginally

What is your feeling about the number of Christmas cards people sent in 2021?

25% More than previous year 32% Same as previous year 43% Fewer than previous year

More please…

When asked which card categories indies would like an increased choice, once again it is more of the funny stuff they are after! After humorous cards, continuing the trend of last two years’ Barometers, it is male cards.

After that though it is in relations and occasions that there is a real appetite for more. New for this year is a thirst for more designs that reflect diversity and inclusion (a cry out from 19% of respondents) while, chiming with the return of celebratory gatherings, there is an urge for more age cards, especially for adults. as well as a potential for more high end handmade/hand-finished cards having been clocked.

On the specific caption front, continuing a trend of the last few years it is ‘greatness’ that is being called for - Great Grand-daughter, Great Great Nan etc. Other common pleas from indies are for more cards that reflect blended families, as well as better designs for the LGBT+ community as well as those reflecting diversity.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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GREETINGS TODAY 240 x 315 ENVELOPD LEAFLET.indd 1

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Growth indicators

Driving for sustainability

The power of laughter and a greeting card’s ability to cheer someone up continues to be reflected in the Barometer findings, with humorous cards topping the greeting card charts for indies as being the card category that showed the largest growth over the last year compared to the year previous.

Other industry ‘stalwarts’ that are the backbone of many indies’ card racks, that of occasions and relations cards held firm in the second position, shared by traditional words and sentiments cards.

An encouraging new entry into the list this year is for cards reflecting diversity and inclusion, while supportive friendship/thinking of you cards are still very much in the heart of the list of performers for indies.

Not surprisingly, concerns about the environment and playing their part in sustainability of the planet featured strongly for indies in the last year. Over eight out of ten (82%) of respondents said environmental considerations had played a part in card buying over the last year, with 16% saying that sustainability concerns had ‘greatly’ affected the buying decisions.

Reducing the number of cellowrapped cards came out tops on the sustainable improvements front for indies, with the continued reduction of plastic bags up in second place for the second year in succession.

Most notable perhaps is that this last year has seen a dramatical decline on the glitter front with almost half (46%) of respondents noting that they are stocking fewer products featuring the sparkly stuff.

Retailers have continued to expand their ranges of ‘eco’ products once again over the last year, though as time progresses it is hoped that this will become more the norm rather than being notable.

Which card categories have you seen sales grow in your shop(s) in the last year? (Previous year’s position shown in brackets) 1st

Humour (1st)

2nd = Relations and occasions (2nd) 2nd = Traditional words & sentiment (4th) 3rd = Christmas packs or boxes (3rd)

To what extent do you think environmental/ sustainability concerns have impacted on card buying in the last year?

3rd = Christmas card singles (5th) 4th

Contemporary trend (7th)

5th 6th 7th 8th 9th

Friendship/Thinking of you (6th) Handmade or Hand-finished (9th) Art (8th) Diversity and Inclusion (-) Children’s (12th)

Not al all 18%

Greatly 16%

Marginally 66%

10th = Photographic (10th) 10th = Father’s Day (=13th) 10th = Male (11th) 11th = Mother’s Day (=13th) 12th Cute (14th) 13th Easter (15th) 14th Licensed (16th)

On the slide Not surprisingly given the lockdowns at the start of 2021, the early Spring Seasons came in for a bit of a battering on the sales front, Valentine’s Day suffering more than most. Though it will be next year’s Barometer findings which should show a truer picture of negative shifts in any genre.

Which card categories have you seen sales decline in your shop(s) in the last year? (Previous year’s position shown in brackets) 1st Valentine’s Day (2nd) 2nd Easter (1st) 3rd Father’s Day (6th) 4th Mother’s Day (4th) 5th Weddings (-) 6th Photographic (8th) 7th Licensed (5th) 8th Cute (3rd) Above: It was a case of love 9th Children’s (10th) labour’s lost last Valentine’s.

10th Christmas card boxes (7th) 11th Christmas singles (=9th) 12th =Handmade or Hand-Finished (=9th) 12th =Traditional words and sentiments (=9th)

What steps did your business take in 2021 on the environmental front?

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th = 9th = 10th 11th

Reduction in cellowrapped cards 75% Reduction in plastic bags in the shop 60% Reduction in cards/giftwrap with glitter 46% Expansion of eco-products stocked 43% Increase in cards in compostable bags 38% More vigilant recycling 37% Introduction of paper bags 34% Persuade staff to be more sustainable 19% Removal of cellowrapped cards 16% Removal of cellowrapped cards 16% Change of energy provider 6% Introduction of ‘bags for life’ 4%

Going for promotion

Below: Sustainability issues continue to score high on the agenda for indies.

Indies have continued to flex their marketing muscles over the last year, with 62% of respondents having embraced the potential of various promotional activities.

This year it was loyalty initiatives that came out tops, pushing social media action into second place. Physical engagement with customers, through Continued on page 43 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

41

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shopping events as well as initiatives involving the wider community also served indies well on the promotional front.

Sale-generating ‘money off’ offers, charity fundraising and collaborations with other businesses also featured in the marketing mix.

Top Promotional Mechanisms Over The Last Year (Previous year’s positions shown in brackets) 1st

Loyalty cards/loyalty initiatives (2nd)

2nd

Social media (1st)

3rd

In-store ‘money off’/discount promotions (3rd)

4th

Customer events/private shopping and competitions (5th)

5th

Charity fundraising/community engagement (8th)

6th

Collaboration with other businesses (4th)

7th

Gift voucher scheme (9th)

8th 9th

Press advertising (7th) Free gift promotions (6th)

10th

Leaflets (10th)

Keen to ensure they have a wonderfully fresh product selection 35% of respondents are looking to increase their number of suppliers this year (up from 27% in the previous Barometer), with this not being the year to slim down the supplier list (only an option for 3% of respondents), with the majority (62%) intending to keep the same number.

The role of the catalogue and actual card samples have upped in their importance for indies, with 64% of respondents citing them as ‘very important’ and another 28% seeing them as ‘important’.

There has been a further increase in the last year in interest from indies considering moving to be supplied via brokerage, with 20% giving it the thumbs up as an option (an increase of 7% over the year previous) and around a fifth say they would consider it.

The issue of geographical exclusivity of supply seems to be rather less of a dividing issue than in previous years (with a 50:50 split between those concerned and unconcerned, probably due to the reality of ecommerce meaning the consumer can find products at a touch of a button.

What local organisations was your business involved with in the last year?

Bira 10% Chamber of Commerce 18% Charities 24% Federation of Small Businesses 24% GCA 20% Just a Card Campaign 22% Local retailers group 51% Local schools 18%

Top right: Museums & Galleries has long invested in its catalogues its 2022 everyday catalogue alone is 190 pages.

Right: As one of the first trade shows to go ahead in almost two years, PG Live 2021 was a joyful sourcing experience for indies.

In a word Positive words far outweighed negative descriptors in the Barometer question which asked indies to select the word they feel best describes the UK greeting card industry today.

The word ‘Resilient’ came out tops, very closely followed by ‘Buoyant’ and ‘Diverse’ though ‘Challenging’ was not that far behind.

The top seven POSITIVE descriptors…

Resilient, Buoyant, Innovative, Relevant, Creative, Strong, Supportive The top five NEUTRAL descriptors…

Diverse, Challenging, Competitive, Entrepreneurial, Necessary The top five NEGATIVE descriptors…

Fragile, Tumultous, Flagging, Stagnant, Declining

Sourcing matters The mutually beneficial relationships that indies have with their agents and reps really came into its own in the last year, with these being their 48% top lifeline to sourcing new products.

While online sourcing and ordering is now very much part of an indie’s armoury, with face to face (or Zoom/Teams) meetings with reps and agents now happening the percentage or online ordering has slipped somewhat in the last year. Almost a third (32%) of respondents only place 10% of their orders online, but over a quarter now log on to order 75% of their orders.

How Have You Sourced Products In The Last Year? (Previous year’s positions shown in brackets) 1st

From agents and reps (1st)

2nd

From Progressive Greetings (=3rd)

3rd

Looking in other shops (5th)

4th

From catalogues and leaflets received (2nd)

5th

From publishers’ websites (4th)

6th

Cards sent to you (6th)

7th

Social media (-)

8th

Trade shows/exhibitions online sites (8th)

9th

Internet platforms (eg Faire, Ankorstore) (-)

10th 11th

From the Cardgains’ newsletter (7th) Word of mouth (10th)

12th

Feedback from customers (9th)

Would you consider being supplied via a brokerage system?

20% Yes 19% Undecided 61% No Left: Face to face meetings are far preferred to Zooms or Teams.

Right: While one in five indies are considering brokerage, 60% are not.

Continued on page 45

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

43

Gary Leadston

I N T RO D U C I N G O U R D E V I L I S H LY FUNNY NEW HUMOUR RANGE Featuring three new collections to tickle your funny bone

Order now: Via your Business Development Representative, our Customer Services team on 01243 792600 or online at cbgtrader.co.uk www.cbgtrader.co.uk

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(Cyan) (Magenta) (Yellow) (BlacK)

@CarteBlancheGrp

@carteblanchegrp @carteblanchegrp

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How do you view seeing catalogues and actual card samples?

8% Not important 28% Important

64% Very important

The selection box On the product diversification front, gifts is back in the top slot, having just pushed sustainable goods down a peg. The big climbers this year are giftwrappings, clothing, confectionery with books, food gifts and handbags making it into the list for the first time.

Into which product areas would you like to further diversify? (Previous year’s positions shown in brackets) 1st

Gifts (2nd)

2nd

Sustainable products (1st)

3rd

Stationery (3rd)

35% Increase the number 62% Remain about the same 3% Decrease the number

4th

Candles and other home fragranced products (4th)

5th

Home accessories (7th)

6th

Giftwrappings (14th)

How have service levels from suppliers been over the last year?

7th

Impulse items (6th)

As far as the number of suppliers from whom you order, in the coming year do you expect to…

3% 21% 48% 18% 10%

Improved Significantly Improved Slightly Remained The Same Decreased Slightly Decreased Significantly

Above right: Some of the new candle and wellbeing products from Cinnamon Aitch.

Below: Online sourcing and ordering is part of life now for indies.

If you place orders online, what percentage?

32% 18% 23% 27%

Under 10% Around 25% Around 50% 75% And Above

Do you see your online ordering as likely to increase in the coming year?

36% 56% 5% 3%

Increase Remain The Same Decrease Not sure

Is the price right?

There has been something of a shift in retailer’s views on pricing, with more than ever before (15%) now recognising the merit in RRPs of cards to increase, but the majority (76%) would like them to remain at 2021 levels.

As for the real price ‘pressure points’, continuing the trend of last two years, indies are most fearful of breaking through the £2.99 barrier, with (shown in order of responses) £3.50, £3.99, £1.99, £2.45, £4.25 and £4.50 being the next most sensitive.

In the coming year would you like to see the Recommended Retail Prices (RRPs) of counter cards?

15% Go Up 76% Remain As Now 9% Come Down

Above: Social media is used by over three quarters of indies to promote their shops.

8th 9th 10th 10th 10th 11th 12th 12th 13th

Wellbeing products (8th) Jewellery (9th) =Clothing (=18th) =Chocolates/confectionery (15th) =Bath and body products (16th) Children’s products (=13th) =Food gifts (-) =Fashion accessories (12th) Books (-)

13th Partyware and balloons (5th) 14th Calendars, diaries (17th) 15th Jigsaws and boardgames (-) 16th Handbags (-) 17th Gardening products (=13th) 18th =Pet products (11th) 18th =Kitchenware and tableware (=18th) 19th Art and crafting products (10th) 20th Advents (-)

Channeling ideas No surprise that social media was a well-used tool for indies over the last year, with more respondents than ever (77%) now using social media for business purposes.

Over 65% of respondents, a sizeable upsurge year to year, now have a website for their shops.

How do you view texting, emailing or social networking sites as an alternative to greeting cards?

14% 38% 47% 1%

Serious Threat Threat Neutral Bonus

Above: Social media is used by over three quarters of indies to promote their shops.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Lights, camera, action!

While the release of No Time to Die put secret agent James Bond back in the limelight, PG sought the ‘film reviews’ from a cast of greeting card (not secret at all) sales agents as to whether the last year’s trade was a blockbuster, cartoon comedy or horror movie, as well as their highlights and tearjerking moments.

Derren Seal

On location: Southern England - a square area from Gloucestershire, Dorset, Bedfordshire to Hampshire.

The stars you represent: Derren’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ are Cherry Orchard, Gifted Stationery, Kingfisher Cards, Lola Designs, Rush Designs, Words ‘n’ Wishes and WPL Gifts.

The plot line: “My 2021 was such a mixed bag with all the differing advice, guidance, shutdowns, openings etc… sometimes making it feel much like the iconic film Pulp Fiction with stories running alongside other stories simultaneously.”

Highlights and tearjerkers: “The highlight for me was the magic date of April 12 when it seemed we all went Back to the Future. I jumped back into my Delorian honestly believing that if my calculations were correct, when this baby reached 88 miles per hour (obviously 70 on our roads!) I was going to see all my gorgeous customers again!

The lowlight of the year for me was definitely the early shut down on January 6. Thus began the stuck in time Groundhog Day we had already experienced in 2020.”

Popcorn strategy: “I think that we have all dug deep over the past two years and I particularly like the words in the letter sent to Red in Shawshank Redemption which aptly states: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies”.”

Casting couch: “A film character that best showcases my personality is Happy Gilmore - a guy who never gives up on his dreams.

But if I were to honestly compare myself to one particular film star however, it would have to be the late, great Yul Brynner. Apart from the obvious sex symbol similarities, I also represent The Magnificent Seven companies (detailed top).

Above left: Derren Seal in Yul Brynner Magnificent Seven mode.

And, like me, Yul Brynner was a life-long Liverpool Above right: 2021 had echoes of Back supporter, but unlike me, was not a fan of using to the Future for Derren.

Above: A message from Shawshank aftershave. Always remember… Yul never wore Redemption is that fear can hold you cologne! (Get it?!...You’ll never walk alone!)” prisoner, hope can set you free.

Lucy Sharp, Sharp Stuff

On location: All of Bonnie Scotland.

The stars you represent: These include Abrams and Chronicle Caroline Gardner, Roger La Borde and Talking Tables.

The plot line: “Unlike my favourite, Ferris Bueller, there has been very little in the way of ‘days off’. It's been a jam-packed action feature leaving me and my customers on the edge of our seats, but thankfully with a happy ending.”

My customers deserve an Oscar for keeping going when it looked like all their business was Gone With The Wind. It could have been Apocalypse Now with the ups and downs of Covid and the last minute supply chain plot twists and turns, but they pulled out all the stops to make sure it was still a Wonderful Life at Christmas.”

Highlights and tearjerkers: “Following on from a successful pop-up event in 2020, Above left: Lucy Sharp together with my 'co-star' in Labyrinth mode.

Easy Agency, we expanded Above: Thankfully businesses were not the franchise and opened ‘Gone with the Wind’.

Edinburgh's very own ‘Pinewood Studios’ (our 3,000sq ft trade showroom) where all the stars hung out!

With months of ‘on the edge of your seats’ drama, the film started to move into ‘too long’ territory towards the end of the year. There were definitely some tired eyes in the cinema that started to droop, but after a good Christmas break I think we're all ready for the next instalment.”

Popcorn strategy: “The cast of stars that fills my working life…the wonderful people I work with at the brands and the retailers PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

47

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Agents’ Film Reviews

alike - aided by a good coffee machine and some excellent pick n mix snacks in the showroom!”

Casting couch: “My life would be Labyrinth, an indie classic, that has stood the test of time, remastered in technicolour for 2021 and beyond!

I’d love David Bowie to play me...who wouldn't want to be more David Bowie!”

The 2022 sequel: “I'm writing the script as we speak. Very much planning for a blockbuster!”

Above: A ‘set’ of the Sharp & Easy showroom.

Nigel Willcock, NW Agencies On location: The North West The stars you represent: These include ArtPress, Bold & Bright, Holy Mackerel, Kali Stileman, Louise Tiler, Lucilla Lavender, Peartree Heybridge and Redback.

The plot line: “If I had to pick a film that has been would reflect the year, it would have to be Groundhog Day!” Highlights and tearjerkers: “Overall 2021 was a blockbuster, with most of my wonderful customers reporting good sales and positive feedback with their customers enjoying being out and about, supporting local businesses.

The downers have been the obvious Covid obstacles and for me personally wearing a mask, which really handicaps meetings and presentations.”

Casting couch: “With Groundhog Day as the perfect analogy to 2021, I would have to be played by Bill Murray.”

The 2022 sequel: “I so hope that the sequel depicts us all putting Covid behind us and getting on with our lives…and that we find an ultimate cure for road rage!”

Top: Nigel Willcock in Stationery Supplies’ Marple.

Above: With 2021 being most like Groundhog Day, Nigel Willcock would be played by Bill Murray.

Beth Robson On location: The greater city of London The stars you represent: Mint, Museums and Galleries, Oliver Preston, Real and Exciting Designs, Redback, Sooshichacha, Special Delivery and U Studio, The plot line: “Most definitely 2021 was a film noir. Missing all Spring Seasons was not a good start for anyone. It was very frustrating at times, however things certainly picked up and optimism returned with the jab roll out. It was lovely to be out of enforced hibernation and seeing customers again. We were all bobbing along rather nicely until the uncertainty caused by Omicron, which certainly put the brakes on again re face to face appointments, but in the end Christmas sales seemed to hold up very well with lots of last minute reorders.”

Highlights and tearjerkers: “For me, personally, the highlight would have to be my new knee. On the business front, it would be publishers knocking it out of the park with excellent new products/ranges; seeing my gorgeous customers as well as the random acts of kindness.

The tearjerkers have been the hold ups at ports, Congestion Charge being extended until 10pm and at weekends, the very unbusiness-friendly new parking charges (£15 for two hours in some boroughs) as well as anti vaxxers!”

Casting couch: “With my new knee, 2021 would have to be Fast & Furious and Charlize Theron would play me - the similarities are really quite obvious!! Not!” Popcorn strategy: “I’m an optimistic by nature so that has helped, as has chatting with other agents via WhatsApp, talking to customers and publishers was always a tonic - we are all in this together.”

The 2022 sequel: “Hoping for a full year of trading, holidays, Covid be gone and probably more!”

Top: Beth Robson as Cat Woman!

Above: With her new knee, Beth is now Fast and Furious!

Brendan Cahill, Cahill Agencies On location: Wales and Gloucestershire The stars you represent: Including Alex Clark, Glick, Mint, Real & Exciting Designs, Tracey Russell, Tracks, Woodmansterne, Words ‘n’ Wishes and WPL. The plot line: “If I am to compare 2021 to a blockbuster movie I would refer to Gladiator, with us agents all having to really dig deep, with sweat and blood (not literally) to maintain orders and to battle with some principles (through no fault of their own) as a result of the most frustrating time delays and shipment costs for our customers. However, on the positive side, the majority of my customers (and I) had a good 2021 and we have managed to soldier on dealing with whatever barriers have been thrown in front of us all.”

Casting couch: “If my life were in film I’d have to be the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz - a happy go lucky chappie, who doesn’t’ take life too seriously (and I get to have a wonderful brain in the end). And I would so love to Above left: Brendan in be played by Rob Brydon.”

A Good Year mode?!

Popcorn strategy: “At the start of each day, I have the Above: With 2021 fortunate choice to choose which form of transport I will use having been a battle, Gladiator is a great for the day to visit my fabulous customers, will it be ‘Planes, film choice.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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trains or automobiles’? Every day is an enjoyable adventure as ‘Herbie’ goes to Wales and Gloucestershire with my car fully loaded up and car packed with the finest ever samples.

Outside of work, walking around the mountains of the Brecon Beacons with Alison (my partner) who every time she’s on top of the mountain she thinks she’s in The Sound of Music and me seeing it as a calling to a proper country pub.”

The 2022 sequel: “My hopes for Above: Until he gets 2022 will be to finally trade in my ‘Herbie’ and his Aston Martin, for Brendan it is a case of take over from Daniel Craig and eventually drive Herbie Rides Again! an Aston Martin.

Let’s hope we all have a successful and healthy 2022 - May The Force Be With You!”

Carl Stirk

On location: The Northeast of England The stars you represent: These include The Art File, Cinnamon Aitch, Five Dollar Shake, Rachel Ellen, Rosie Made a Thing and Ziggle.

The plot line: “As the lyrics of the title track say ‘Life is a cabaret’, so the musical film Cabaret would best sum up my working life over the last year… largely bright and cheerful, but with a few unexpected happenings for us all to contend with.”

Highlights and tearjerkers: “2021 started off very slowly with retailers not knowing exactly how it was going to unravel, but as the year has rolled on it has/is slowly getting back to pre-pandemic business levels. Some of the ‘high kicks’ have been working with great innovative companies who have continued producing new, exciting and interesting ranges.

I loved the ‘show business’ of Harrogate Home & Gift in July, which was much busier than I anticipated and The Art File had an amazing position, which meant it was a very successful exhibition for me.

It has been sad that some retailers have gone while a lot of others have changed ownership and management.

Plus, all the uncertainty of what was going plus the negative slant taken by the consumer media served to add to the nervousness at retail.”

Popcorn strategy: “In common with most agents, I have loved being out seeing lovely customers enjoying all the energy and enthusiasm they have for our industry.”

The 2022 sequel: “I do feel now is the time to celebrate the new and hopefully put all of what has happened over the last few years behind us. I am hopeful that 2022 will be full of ‘Independents Days’ and there will be a return to all occasions being successful.”

Top: Carl Stirk with his friend Beki in Cabaret mode.

Above: Carl is hopeful that independents will have their day in 2022!

Rosie Trow

On location: The South West The stars you represent: Coral & Mint, Five Dollar Shake, Glick, Go La La, IC&G, Janie Wilson, Jellycat, Life Charms, Marmalade, Museums & Galleries, Oli Olsen, Paper Salad, Real & Exciting Designs, Redback, Transomnia, Wendy Jones-Blackett and Wrendale Designs.

The plot line: “As 2021 started with the news of a lockdown and emails from my principals regarding much shortened lead times for getting Christmas orders in, there seemed only one way forward, to get down to it and ‘Carry on Regardless’ with Zooms and oneto-one meetings with customers at their shops, ‘Home Alone’ or in their garden gazebos.

Retailers were amazing, working hard at keeping out of the ‘Jaws’ of the unknown and if anything positive has come out of the pandemic it’s the consumers returning to local high street shopping and making it a positive ‘Independence Day’.

With staycationing continuing in the UK the roads to most appointments invariably involved hot spots of holiday traffic, so getting around was by no means ‘Fast & Furious’.

The main ‘Gremlins’ have been the issues surrounding the delayed stock and shortages throughout the year giving principals and customers real ‘Hunger Games’ juggling stocks.”

Casting couch: “I think I would be Edward Scissorhands, because I am always trying to give a helping hand somewhere and I would very happily be an understudy for Johnny Depp!

Or Alice in Wonderland, which would be a great world to drift into, but I would have to be the White Rabbit as anyone in the South West who knows me well, knows I am always late!!”

Popcorn strategy: “For me keeping my spirits up….

(Other than the gin Advent calendars I received this year) has been the time spent seeing my customers and sharing the wealth of information and ideas that you accumulate as an agent helping to find different ways to achieve what we are all looking for. Carpe Diem.”

The 2022 sequel: “In the words of Toy Story, ‘to infinity and beyond’ and for everybody to have health, peace and happiness.”

Top left: ‘Edward Scissorhands’- Rosie in the hairdressers.

Top right: It’s been something of ‘The Hunger Games’ due to stock shortages.

Above: Rosie Trow, the White Rabbit of the South West!

Right: Rosie hopes 2022 will take sales into infinity and beyond.

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Behind The Scenes

The BBC’s Festive Greetings The BBC delivered a wonderful Christmas gift to the whole greeting card industry, dedicating a major chunk of its popular Inside the Factory Christmas Special episode to showing just how much thought and care goes into the making of a Christmas card.

The TV programme (which is available on IPlayer for a year), that was shot at Woodmansterne Publications’ Watford HQ as well as the publisher’s Milton Keynes warehouse, tracks the impressive journey its Red Stag Christmas card design from creation to being packed and shipped to retailers and distributors all over the world with viewers treated to engaging and insightful dialogue between presenter Gregg Wallace and various members of the Woodmansterne team along the way.

PG snuggled up on the sofa and pressed the ‘replay’ button to relive the whole televisual celebration of our industry.

Left: BBC’s Inside the Factory presenters Gregg Wallace and Cherry Healey in the Woodmansterne Publications’ showroom.

Above: The Red Stag Woodmansterne Christmas card, based on a design which started with a pencil drawing by Amy Eastland that was the star of the Inside the Factory Christmas special.

Right: Having been challenged to a drawing competition by Amy, Gregg admitted: “I have never ever considered how my Christmas cards were made. I have never considered there would be an Amy here drawing them!”

Far right: Filming underway, focusing Amy sending The Red Stag design files to production.

“Spread it like jam across a piece of toast,” said Gregg as his added the ink to the printer rollers.

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Left: (left) Seth Woodmansterne, md of Woodmansterne taking delivery of the Fedrigoni board on which The Red Stag is printed.

Right: Having gone through creating the four etched ‘plates’ Gregg moved into Woodmansterne’s printing press area delighting in spreading the four different ink colours onto the rollers under the direction of press operator Rod Clark.

Gregg described the “the Rolls Royce of printing presses” as a ‘monster of a machine, more than eight metres long” weighing nearly as much as two double decker buses, and able to print more than 10 cards a second.

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Behind The Scenes

Above: Having gone through the test batch process, which resulted in some slight colour adjustment, Gregg is delighted by the magic which results in the card coming out of the other end of the printing press.

The printed sheets of cards are left to dry for 24 hours.

“I’m really impressed that you go to so much trouble to get it absolutely right. I’m really impressed,” exclaimed Gregg Wallace to press operator Rod Clark.

Left: Time to for Woody’s Bob Surguy ‘the man with the golden touch’ to add the glitz and glamour to the design via some heated embossed plates with the raised parts being enhanced by some gold foil.

Right and top right: Keen for another “slice of the action”, Gregg meets Dave De Cruz, who is in charge of the super sharp guillotine machine, which cuts through 250 sheets “like butter” explains Dave. Having depressed the cutters, Gregg checks he still has all of his fingers intact!

“That looks big and meaty and scary, and I would love a go!” says Gregg enthusiastically when presented with the opportunity to operate the guillotine machine.

Right and far right: Moving to the publisher’s distribution centre in Milton Keynes, trying his hand, Gregg discovers that while Mihaela Micu, hand packer and re-work operative makes it look easy, adding the envelope to the card, folding it and applying gems to the cards by hand is not as easy as it looks.

“The incredible precision that goes into every part of making of these cards…with specialist skills and a little bit of festive fun, this factory turns a sheet of paper into a Christmas card that will bring a little bit of joy to millions of us,” summed up Gregg Wallace at the end of the programme.

Above: The publisher’s commitment to sustainability featured strongly in the programme relaying how 55 tonnes of plastic is being saved a year through its switch to paper banding and smart sealing alone.

Gregg tries his hand at paper banding!

“Buying a card is a nice thing; it’s a nice shopping experience. Because virtually every time, you are buying something for someone you like,” says Gregg.

Left: Ending in the picking and despatch area, for all his festive attire, Adam Osborne, Woodmansterne’s operations director explains how running a large publishing company efficiently and sustainably is a serious business. Gregg relays how Woody’s “giant greeting card grotto” holds a “gobsmacking” nine million cards, which double in number in the run up to Christmas.

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Retailer Revelations

A Christmas Without Christmas trade ended up sparkling on the sales front for many retailers, but it was not down to the flutterings of flitter as this was the year when sustainability was high up on Santa’s wishlist with the ground gained in plastic packaging reduction set to achieve greater heights this year.

PG checked in with some leading indies for their views as well as what sustainable treats several publishers have in store for this coming Christmas.

Above: A Woodmansterne Emma Bridgewater single card that spread the sustainable love this Christmas.

Fiona Fabien, owner of Papyrus, Glasgow “Consumers are definitely more in-tune with sustainable products and environmentally friendly cards and wrap. Recyclable and sustainable products sold the best, as well as unwrapped cards and cards with sustainable materials and packaging. There was less interest in flittered, glittered and embellished paper products with these definitely slowing.”

Mark and Leona JansonSmith, directors of Postmark, five shops in London: “Environmental considerations played a huge part in our customers’ buying patterns, reflected in all our ‘eco products’ selling very strongly. There was hardly a drop of glitter in the shop with publishers doing really well to cut this from their offerings while retaining the Christmasy feel. Who would have thought a few years ago you could have Christmas without glitter!

Our wrap is now nearly all eco-friendly, something that was sought out by consumers, so an essential part of our offering now.”

Sarah Laker, owner of Stationery Supplies, Marple and Wilmslow: “Most definitely, sustainability remains high on the customer agenda: we sold out of recycled Christmas paper tape and wrap - it was a clear winner. Also, customers wanted 'useful' stocking fillers, rather than plastic items that would just get thrown away. We sold a lot of pens and stickie notes as stocking fillers during December with Legami’s erasable pens being top of many stationery wish lists. I'll be looking to source even more eco products this year!”

Top: A sustainable window display in Stationery Supplies.

Above: Sarah Laker in festive mode.

Roy and Julia Beswick, The Card Collection, East Molesey “Customers were aware of the recycling issue and so all our kraft paper wrap, bags and bows sold really well and we had to reorder these as well. We had made a decision only to stock recyclable products from Glick, The Unique Paper Company, The Art File and Belly Button Designs and this really worked well for us.”

Left: Part of Postmark’s Christmas display.

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Retailer Revelations

Linda Bygrave, Celebrations, Aylsham “Most customers were looking for items that could be recycled or that were not made in China.”

Sean Austin, owner of Austin & Co, Malvern “All of our wrap was recycled and was 100% recyclable. It was very much in customers' minds, but more signposting may be needed on POS. Suppliers need to shout out more on their labelling rather than leave the message in the tiniest of fonts.

The star of wrap sales was the recyclable kraft tape by Eco Boy. Many customers are quick to buy the paper, but don't think of the sticky tape they are going to use. We sold out of Eco Boy's innovative product, despite it being priced as a premium product.”

Below: Some Eco Boy products.

Packing no Punches Building on the sustainability progress The Art File has made with its Christmas collection over the last two years, which included the introduction of new fully recyclable packaging on its now three times Henries winning Christmas Luxury Boxes, there are more green steps being taken with the 2022 collection.

“We have revamped the packaging of our popular Charity packs, which we are delighted to announce are now fully recyclable. We have introduced a glassine band (fully recyclable) which goes around the pack of six cards and envelopes neatly, keeps the product together and also features the charity’s logo,” explains James Mace, sales and marketing manager of The Art File.

On the gift packaging side, the publisher’s new bags will all be laminate-free, meaning that they will be able to be recycled fully alongside other paper products.

“One of the largest challenges for us during our continued sustainability campaign has been the cello that surrounds our popular roll wraps. We are absolutely delighted to announce that after much testing and trialling with key retailers, our roll wrap is now cello free too,” reveals James.

Top: In addition to supporting Clic Sargent, Dementia UK and RSPCA with its Charity packs, The Art File is now also working with the MND Association, one of the only charities that is actively searching and researching for a cure to Motor Neurone Disease.

Above: Alongside its Luxury Boxes, The Art File also revamped the packaging on its Trio boxes and 3D Form pop-up card boxes. All of the publisher’s Christmas boxed and packaged products are now plastic-free.

Heidi Early, coowner of Earlybird, Stoke Newington, London: “The only glitter card packs we had for 2021 were from Caroline Gardner, and the publisher uses eco-glitter and were packed in reusable hessian-style bags so were super popular.”

Right: Earlybird did well with Caroline Gardner’s reusable bagged Christmas cards.

Nicky Stephenson and Claire Jarvis, co-owners of The Tutbury Present Co, Tutbury “Most of our cards, including boxes, charity packs and singles are now cello-free or with just a belly band in the case of the packs. For us this is really important to show our commitment to becoming more eco-friendly. It has however caused a few issues with envelopes going astray when cards are nested rather than tabbed together. Customers haven’t really commented on the changes, but they are buying the unwrapped choices without issue.”

Above: Nicky Stephenson and Claire Jarvis enjoying a ‘white Christmas’ in January.

Maggie Wynn, owner of Just Cards, Honiton “When all the Christmas stock was on display we really noticed the lack of glitter - not only did the cards not sparkle, but neither did we! A lot of the costumers commented that we did not have the “usual” boxed cards which we think was because publishers had taken the sparkle out of Christmas.

That said, I do think the industry has been really proactive on the environmental front as evidenced by the reduction in plastic packaging. I admit that initially I was a bit dubious fearing it would result in more damaged stock, but this has not been the case.”

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Retailer Revelations

Carl Dunne, owner of Cards and Gifts, Sheffield and Dronfield

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“Sustainability was a huge consideration for customers. We were asked a lot for UK made products. We did have one customer who was upset that there was less glitter on cards, but all commented that they understood and that more needed to be done to find an environmentally sustainable glitter.

Too many customers for my liking said they were sending messages, e-cards etc. instead of physical Christmas cards due to cost and waste, we need to counter this! So, I’ll be expecting more suppliers to provide us with UK-made and printed, taking on board that more needs to be done to make their products sustainable and environmentally-friendly. Into the Green's products are especially interesting as they meet those standards already.”

Above: The Christmas catalogue for Out of the Blue Studios, the wholesale sister company of Into the Green, which is also committed to sustainability.

Chris and Tracey Bryant, co-owners of Expressions, Cats Whiskers and Polkadot in Swindon, Bishops Cleeve and Keynsham respectively.

“Sustainability was a consideration. Customers were pleased to know that all our Christmas wrap was suitable for recycling. Oddly though we had a few comments about the lack of glitter on cards!”

A Loud and Clear Message Both Ling Design’s and GBCC’s huge new Christmas collections for 2022 will be delivering the strong sustainable message right through to the consumer with the packaging detailing that there is no glitter or plastic used in the collections.

What’s more, the coating has even been removed from the cardboard used for the FSDUs of the group’s charity Christmas cards.

Right: Swan Mill, which owns both Ling Design, GBCC and Penny Kennedy, is making significant sustainability commitments with their respective ranges.

Well Minted This year marks a new chapter for The Mint Group (which includes Museums & Galleries, Mint Publishing and Real & Exciting Designs) as it has moved away from cello-packs for Christmas and are moving to a plastic-free aperture box.

“We are consciously moving away from plastic packaging where we can,” assures Sophie Bylina, administration and relationship manager of the Mint Group.

The group’s ‘zero plastic’ pledge features strongly in its catalogues with a separate M&G Christmas catalogue detailing the 2022 boxes, a new charity range with British Heart Foundation as well as an extensive Christmas relations collection.

Purpose and Beauty “At Belly Button we are all about creating purposeful design and a beautiful product, so anything that enhances that aim is a welcome addition. It so happens that there are various aspects of sustainability that do just that, and in the 10 years since we have incorporated ‘planet friendly’ as we like to call it into our collections, we have seen the quality of recycled board for instance improve incredibly,” states Rachel Hare, creative director and boss lady at Belly Button Designs.

For this Christmas, Electric Dreams is packed in the publisher’s specially-designed paper jacket and Mobius in a luxury box, both of which replace any need for a plastic bag or over packaging.

On the single card front, in 2022 all of Belly Button’s collections will be available either nested or card clasped.

Above: Belly Button Designs’ Mobius Luxury Boxed range for 2022 will adopt the same plastic-free approach to its boxes as this last year.

No Flitter to Flutter As part of UK Greetings’ commitment to sustainability, its Special Editions charity Christmas 2022 range is fully plastic-free, flitter free and all packaging is made of recyclable board.

The publisher has expanded the number of good causes the collection supports with the addition of Mind standing to benefit from sales this year with 10% of the RRP going directly to the charities.

Below: One of the boxes in the Special Editions 2022 collection.

Above: One of the designs in the new British Heart Foundation box from Museums & Galleries.

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International Perspectives

Around The

World As the BBC’s Around the World in 80 Days series of Phileas Fogg’s adventures draws to a close, PG headed off in its balloon to check in with some of the leading greeting card distributors and publishers in various part of the globe to find out how trade has been in their corner of the world.

The United States: Vanessa Harnik, managing director of Notes & Queries The year that was: “We found the US market for greeting cards to have been really strong in 2021 with retailers seemingly selling cards faster than before the pandemic hit.”

Challenges and positives: “Ah…so many challenges. The costs of everything materials, labour, shipping - have gone through the roof.

There is a worldwide massive paper shortage which has profoundly impacted all companies and has affected supply.

Shipping costs are triple or quadruple what they were before Covid. This has also meant that almost everything takes longer. It used to be that we could get inventory (generally) within 2-3 weeks. Nowadays, we average 4-6 weeks to get stock. In addition, finding additional staff has been extremely difficult.

My father (Alan Harnik) and I were pulling and packing orders for six weeks in the Autumn. We were that desperate! Ha! On the positive side of things, the demand for greeting cards and related stationery products is great.

The flip side of the supply and demand issue worldwide is that we have had new retailers contacting us for product, and new product categories Top: The BBC series Around the World in Eighty Days tracked the adventures.

Above: A Bug Art design that featured in a missive Vanessa sent out to explain about the challenges faced of late, from supply chain issues to complexities of its moving premises.

Left: Vanessa Harnik (centre front) with the rest of the N&Q team in their new premises.

last year, who we had never worked with before, and business with many existing retailers has increased because retailers have not been able to get inventory from other core suppliers. I also would like to think that our ability to fill many of these requests during in 2020 and 2021 has served us in good stead as retailers remember the vendors who supported them. Over 40% of our business comes from independent retailers who have bought our ranges for over 15 years. I have come to truly understand that my staff, our employees are N&Q's greatest asset.

With that said, of course, we are nothing without superb design, notably from our UK publishing partners.”

Card buying habits: “I think there is an understanding (generally) that there are massive supply issues so Christmas sales (and reorders) came much earlier and much higher in 2021 than in 2020. This might partially be as a result of the experience of massive USPS delays in December 2020 with consumers not wanting to go through that again.

On the design front, we have seen consumers gravitate towards cards with more colour or brighter colours. It feels as though consumers are buying more greeting cards too.

Get well and sympathy cards continue to do really well while we have also seen a total uptick in new home cards and wedding cards (people are planning for weddings this spring!) and we continue to PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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International Perspectives

South Africa: Eddie and Bella Lyons, co-owners of Starline Distributors.

see a huge increase in sales in blank and occasion cards.”

Hopes and dreams for 2022: “We sell really gorgeous stuff to really nice retailers, designed by some extraordinarily talented people. We sell a product that (generally) costs less than a cup of coffee! Aren't we lucky! So, my hope for 2022 is to continue to ‘push the envelope’ and develop deeper partnerships with our retailers and publishers.

In 2022 my father will be moving to a part-time position to focus back on product development and design review while I continue to take over as owner of N&Q. It will be an adjustment for all, especially as no one can think of N&Q without thinking of Alan Harnik!”

Above: Company founder, Alan Harnik in his new N&Q sweatshirt!

The year that was: “Covid obviously badly affected trade in 2020 and to a lesser extent, but was also quite a disruption in 2021 with the third wave that hit us in June/July/August. We are now in a fourth wave, but it has been far less in its severity and we are trading ‘normally’.

We had a good run up to Christmas and are happy with sales for the season but it’s hard to make up for the lost business in June and July where footfall in centres was way down and we had a spat of unrest resulting in looting, mainly in Natal, which also slowed business down.

The greeting card market in South Africa has shrunk a bit, mainly as a result of the demise of CNA (our equivalent of WHSmith).

It went into business rescue (BR) in March 2020, was bought out, and is now back in BR again. It has Above: Eddie (far left) and Bella Lyons at Spring Fair 2020 with closed around 100 stores and we expect the balance to close PG’s Warren Lomax. over the next few months.”

Challenges and positives: “The challenges have been the loss of business through store closures, periodic lockdowns that prevent normal trade and increased transport costs which have resulted in goods costing more to import.

The positives are that we have increased our business with retailers expanding to fill the void left by CNA and focusing on renewing our ranges more frequently as well as service, service, service!”

Card buying habits: “These have changed a bit in that the trend is now for more contemporary designs with a slowing down of the more traditional longer verse driven cards, although they are still valid.”

Hopes for 2022: “To have uninterrupted trade, no more lockdowns and an end to this damn COVID pandemic so we can all just work normally.”

The Netherlands: Dorothé and Ton Hollander, co-owners of Artige The year that was: “In the last year, our market has embraced greeting cards even more than in 2020 – and we wouldn’t have thought that this was possible. We feel that Covid-19 has made everyone more aware of the importance of sending a greeting card. The greeting card is very much back in the picture (and here to stay!) in the Netherlands.”

Challenges and positives: “Our biggest challenges have been that we started and ended the year with a lockdown, during which almost all of our customers had to close their shops. Even though we are in crisis, the economy has grown here and we (like most other companies) have a shortage of staff.

On the positive front, despite the lockdown, our revenue held up. Together with the whole team we’ve been super enthusiastic, have worked on new collections as well as trying to be the fastest in dispatching orders.

In general it seems that people are looking after each other more, which naturally means that they send more greeting cards too. It feels good that we sell such a great product; a product that makes people smile!”

Card buying habits: “We always try to stay on point with market changes. We were the first in the Netherlands to offer special Covid-greeting cards, a trend which many companies followed.”

Hopes and dreams for 2022: “In April this year we celebrate our 25th anniversary: 25 years of smiles through the mailbox!”

Above right: Dorothé and Ton Hollander (second row centre) with members of the Artige team, which also includes their daughters Yanick, Myrthe and Sharon.

Above: Artige’s 25th anniversary logo.

Left: One of Artige’s stunning new Gold Rush designs.

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International Perspectives

Australia: Jenny Cummins, managing director of McMillan Cards & Paper The year that was: “I have to admit that I approached 2021 with trepidation but it turned out to be a record year for McMillan. There are changes due to retail situations, but generally our market is buoyant and resilient, officially it is doing remarkably well. The changes relate to the sad disappearance of some chains, the closure of so many stores and our largely empty central business districts, due to most office staff working from home which is shifting business into the suburbs and regional towns.”

Challenges and positives: “The challenges can be summed up in one word - ‘logistics’!

On the positives, overcoming the freight issues and being able to supply; Left: Jenny Cummins during a recent trip to London from Sydney. working more closely with our retailers and helping them with ranges which will Above: This design from The Art File’s work well for them; appreciating the really lovely and even more exciting new ranges coming from our British Veryan range has chimed with the Australian card buyers. publishers who have all been amazing and great.”

Card buying habits: “The most obvious change has been the gradual acceptance of unwrapped cards in our market. There is also a noticeable decline of glitter and attachments, big changes (for the better) in board, all mindful of producing a more planet-friendly product.

This goes with strong themes for botanics, green themes and animals and at the same time more complex design.

More buying is being done via our website so supplier images of product need to be upgraded to better show off the assets of their cards.”

Hopes and dreams for 2022: “I find myself again stressing about what this year will bring, the curves it will throw at us, can we do as well as we did in the remarkable past 12 months? I hope we will continue to cope with the logistical nightmare of bringing card stock in via sea freight as it becomes even more difficult to even find a vessel ex Tilbury? Thank heavens for the strong team who surrounds me and take up so much of the load.

I hope we can return to trade fairs, I have really missed the interaction with people and also the opportunities they bring.”

Malta: Suzanne Mizzi, owner of Paper World The year that was: “2021 kicked off like any other ‘normal’ year. Sales in January are usually good since most stationers stock-up on everyday collections after the festive season. January 2021 was no different and sales were very encouraging. However in February we hit the first stumbling block.

Sales relating to Valentine’s Day were at an all time low. I do not attribute this to just Covid as we have been registering less interest in this occasion for quite some time now. Sales from March were steady, but not strong as Covid restrictions were introduced again. This had an adverse effect on sales, especially on occasion collections as well as children and adult age cards.

As we approached summer, and Covid numbers receded, restrictions were eased on mass events and gathering. Weddings, communions, and confirmation started to be organised, business picked up and demand for occasion cards rose, giving us some respite.

However, when we assess the situation over the full year, 2021 was not a good year as we witnessed a heavy decline in greeting card sales. I fear we are experiencing a shift from physical greeting cards to more virtual greetings, thus resulting in a dwindling demand for our products. This shift compelled us to add gifts and novelty items to our offer to make up for the shortfall. I admit that I am not very happy with this situation as I am passionate about greeting cards!”

Hopes and dreams for 2022: “I wish I had a crystal ball as 2022 seems to be unpredictable. Malta is heading again into a state of semilockdown, moods are low, negatively affecting buying trends. However as difficult as the first quarter may be, I remain optimistic, as the scientific community are saying that this is the last phase of the pandemic and although we might have to live with Covid, things should bounce back quickly.”

Above: Suzanne Mizzi is saddened that the card market in Malta has been in decline.

Germany: Stefan Hermann, managing director of TaurusKunstkarten The year that was: “Overall we are very happy that we came through 2021 with a good result. The sales in the second part of the year were good although we missed some occasions.”

Challenges and positives: “Organising staff, understanding the regulations at retail, handling material shortages and long delivery terms as well as organising imports from the UK in time have been challenging.

As for the positives the power and creativity of most of the independent shops during the lockdown periods was inspiring.”

Hopes and dreams for 2022: “Similar to how I felt at the start of last year, to keep my ear close to the market and enjoy selling lovely products.”

Above: Stefan Hermann busy taking at order at the recent Munich trade show.

Left: As well as distributing Louise Mulgrew cards (printed with German text), Taurus-Kunstkarten also licences some designs for postcards, which are popular in Germany.

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“We can hardly wait to visit PG Live this June – great way to celebrate N&Q’s belated 40th anniversary with our UK friends and partners!”

“The PG Live show has such a happy vibe and energy. It is my favourite show of the year. I love that it focuses on just greeting cards and offers a mix of large publishers, established independents and new starters.”

Alan and Vanessa Harnik directors of Notes & Queries USA

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Maggie Wynn owner Just Cards Honiton

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International Perspectives

Italy: Furio Ceciliato, managing director of Origamo

Left: Furio and and his wife Erica with one of the new Florever cards.

The year that was: “During 2021 the greeting card market in Italy recovered all the ‘lost steps’ of 2020. People had the opportunity to arrange birthday parties, weddings, graduation parties so the number of greeting cards sold were back to 2019 levels, which was a very good result considering that there were still a lot of restrictions.”

Challenges and positives: “The major challenges came from the production difficulties and shipping costs. Everything became more expensive and complicated. The positives are that people are eager to meet and party, with a general desire to return to ‘normal’ life. Plus, we launched our new range, Florever by Origamo, the sales of which have beaten every record for a greeting card range in Italy. It clocked up over a million euros of sales to shops in 45 days!"

Card buying habits: “The market is moving up to more expensive cards, with handmade and more precious cards being the ones that are invariably chosen with cheap cards slowly going out of the market.”

Hopes and dreams for 2022: “At the end of 2021 I made a dream come true: I founded Origamo Ltd, my UK company. So, our plans for this year are to enter the UK as well as other European markets, extending the successful story of Origamo to new markets, with the same philosophy and attention to ethical production and our charity programmes.”

Ireland: Paul Slater, commercial director of Watermark Cards The year that was: “It has been a strange year in Ireland as the retail sector (nonessential) was effectively closed from Jan 2021 until mid-May 2021. Brexit also had an impact on supply chain as it became more costly and time consuming to bring product in from the UK. Despite these issues the greeting card market has stayed resilient, and demand remains strong for our products.

During the period of the lockdown the primary place to buy cards was in multiple/essential retailers and it is hoped that the independent retailer can claim back this business as we move back to normality.

Our initial feedback is that Christmas 2021 was positive, and most retailers seemed to trade well and meet or exceed expectations.

Geographically city centres have suffered more with the work from home initiatives along with the lack of tourists and general pedestrian traffic. Rural towns on the other hand benefitted from this and local retailers in general performed well.

Overall everyday business is probably down 15-20% as the lack of gatherings for milestone birthdays, children’s parties, christenings/communions, confirmations and weddings along with poor Valentine’s and Spring Seasons sales subdued demand.”

Challenges and positives: “Brexit caused significant disruption and challenges at the beginning of the year, and it became almost impossible to get

product out of the UK. The cost of moving pallets and parcels increased significantly and we also had to deal with customs clearance costs and increased administration in importing product. Many shipments were delayed for prolonged periods as they were held up in customs because of incorrect paperwork.

The supply issues out of China caused delays for many of our publishers and obviously had a knock-on effect on us while the increased cost of shipments has meant some price inflation and going forward this is going to become a bigger issue for us.

In a strange sense Brexit was also a positive for us as local retailers who in the past would have bought direct from the UK now sought to source locally as the transaction costs and turnaround times were significantly reduced by dealing with

Left: Watermark’s co-owners Paul Slater and Brian Murtagh.

Below: Watermark’s Dublin showroom. The company’s expansion into brokerage in Ireland has been successful.

Watermark Cards. In addition to this we also now supply several other European countries who now seek to source product from EU sources.

Our hope is that this period of the pandemic will have further engrained the culture of sending and receiving cards.

In 2021 brokerage became a bigger part of business and we currently represent over 15 different publishers in the Irish market. Given the challenges of supply chain arising out of Brexit and the fact that we have our warehouse and distribution facilities in Dublin this has been a significant advantage to us and our retail partners in ensuring a consistent supply of product.”

Card buying habits: “Over the course of the past couple of years we have seen greater demand for blank cards as social distancing and restrictions meant that people could not meet in person, and this was a nice way for friends to stay in contact.

Over the past year we also experienced a big demand for Sympathy cards as people could not attend funerals and this was a good way for people to sympathise.

Hopes and dreams for 2022: “For there to be an end of Covid and a more efficient, reliable and cost-effective supply chain.”

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Designs On Society

Inset: One of the SeedFolk characters in action.

It wasn’t a big surprise that SeedFolk, the brand concept created by Seedlings Cards & Gifts, was proclaimed a winner of the ‘License This!’ competition at the end of last year, as its premise, based around characters that care for our wildflower seeds chimes so perfectly with our heightened awareness and appreciation of our native wild flora that help to protect the planet and aid our wellbeing.

With the lovely idea of seed cards (in different incarnations) having germinated from several publishers, PG was happy to discover they are reaping more than they have sown.

Sarah-Jayne and Joel Mercer are co-owners of Seedlings Cards & Gifts “Seedlings Cards & Gifts began over 11 years ago, from an idea to give the gift of seeds, beginning with a small range of seed cards. As our ranges grew so did our education on seeds and we quickly became aware of the importance of using British grown varieties of flower, preferably of native origin and in particular the benefits of planting wildflowers for maintaining natural habitats. We’ve always had an interest in nature and preserving our natural environment for future generations, and it therefore became essential that our beliefs and values aligned with our business and so we began to spread the message.

Many of the seeds we use are British grown native varieties which means they have evolved to be ideally suited to our native insect species, which have sadly suffered huge declines in recent years, mainly due to habitat loss. As opposed to many cultivated varieties of flower, wildflowers have accessible nectar and provide not only food and fuel, but a home for our wildlife, acting also as nursery plants for young larvae.

In the early days, before the Save the Bees campaign highlighted the plight of our important insect species, we came across many who did not understand the importance of wildflowers and had people often refer to them as ‘weeds’. It is now wonderful to have experienced the change in perception in recent years, and the awareness of the wider public, which has contributed to the ‘growing for nature’ movement.

On our 10 year anniversary we opened our bricks and mortar shop in the historic quarter of Hereford. It has been a delight to Left: Seedlings’ co-owners Sarah-jayne and Joel Mercer.

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Designs On Society

hear first hand from customers how engaging with our products has led to them to plant wildflower areas in their gardens and notice the wonderful insects and wildlife they bring. We have also met many people who have expanded our own knowledge and made links with local people doing grass roots projects.

Planting a seed is a simple yet powerful action. It is said that gardens in the UK cover an area bigger than the Peak District and Lake District combined. From the smallest of outdoor spaces, like balconies and windowsills to allotments and yards full of potted plants, these areas offer our wildlife a much-needed home and a chance to refuel.

Above: One of Seedlings Cards & Gifts products.

If we all became involved in planting seeds and growing for wildlife their networks would expand. With the climate emergency, it is now more important than ever to make informed choices in all areas of our modern lives.

Our products make it easy for people to start on their journey of planting with wildlife in mind. From our seed cards, with simple ‘scatter and go’ varieties, to our yearly seed calendars, which introduce the idea of each plant benefiting a particular species of wildlife, our products aim to give back to the environment and encourage the recipients to become engaged with nature.

This year will see a number of our ideas come to fruition, with the launch of our new SeedFolk range, based on the brand the company won the LicenseThis! competition with.

We will also have new growing gifts aimed at children, year calendars, card ranges and a ‘no-waste’ plantable advent calendar which we have been working on for a while.”

Hannah Dale, founder of Wrendale Designs “Seed cards are something that we’ve wanted to do for a while as there is such a strong connection between my artwork and nature. Two years ago, Jack (Hannah’s husband and co-director) and I decided to take our 300 acre farm out of food production (it’s low lying, unproductive land which was very stressful to farm) and plant it with a mix of wildflowers and grasses instead.

In a short amount of time, we’ve seen a huge proliferation in wildlife on the farm as a result and the increase in the number of birds is particularly noticeable - we even heard our first cuckoo last spring for the first time in many years.

This is something that we are passionate about, and bringing it into one of our card ranges felt like a natural progression for us; if everyone had a small patch of wildflowers in their gardens or on their windowsills it would make a huge impact. In the end we opted to design the cards to hold seeds rather than using paper embedded with seeds as we have had problems germinating some of this type of paper ourselves and had heard of similar issues so we felt that this would be more reliable. We worked with a local seed supplier in Lincolnshire to put together a mix of native seeds.

There are 12 designs in our inaugural Say it with Seeds collection which is launching this month, each design incorporates a floral element, so it is a lovely range to be launching for the spring.”

Above: One of the designs in Wrendale’s Say it with Seeds range.

Left: Hannah and Jack Dale, mid-way through their recent mammoth tree planting and rewilding project.

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Rosie Tate, director of Cath Tate Cards “We first launched our Seeded range in January 2020. We had wanted to launch a range of plantable cards for some time prior to this as stainability and being kind to the planet have always been among our core values.

Charlotte Day, who has designed our Seeded range, was already working with us on another botanical card range and prior to being an artist worked for the Royal Horticultural Society, so she was the obvious choice to design the range. We researched the seed mix in the paper and Charlotte went about hand painting the flowers that are in the seed mix, so the artwork on the front of each design is an illustration of what the card will grow into once planted. It was a time consuming and difficult range to produce, but worth it, because the cards are a lovely earth friendly keepsake and perfect for gardeners or just anyone who cares for the planet.

Planting wildflowers is really key to the world’s eco-system because bees love them! A third of the world’s food production depends on bees for pollination, so that’s every third spoonful of food eaten! So planting is essential in helping create a more sustainable planet.

There are currently six designs in our Seeded range, and we are adding two more in February 2022, making eight designs in total covering a range of occasions from birthdays, thank you, Mother’s Day and Thinking of You.” Above: Great sentiment from this Cath Tate Seeded design.

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Sarah Reilly, founder of Love Country “The idea for my seed card range goes back to when I planted a wild garden at the front of my house. I received so many comments of how lovely it was and how good it was for the bees. I then saw some homemade seed cards on Etsy and wondered if there was a way to offer these on a larger scale to my customers. After researching lots of options I found a reliable supplier and decided to offer smaller cards to keep the cost down for the customers. That way they could send more cards and more flowers would be grown.

One card really can make a difference. I worked with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to ensure the correct seeds were used in our cards. With the decline in our bee population, it is really vital that we all do a little bit to help our environment, otherwise who will? It's great fun for younger children to get involved in planting so that they grow up focused on helping our environment too, the future is in their hands after all.

There are now 20 designs in the range, which reached the shortlist in this year’s Gift of the Year awards.

After such a wonderful response to our launch in May 2021 with the first 10 summer designs, we then added 10 festive designs which were equally as popular and flew off the shelves. We are still a growing brand so hopefully as more stockists find our products we can reach more and more customers to plant the flowers.”

Above: Sarah Reilly, founder of Love Country.

Right: Love Country offers a free counter display unit with any orders of 120+ cards.

Below: Sarah Jackson is a big lover of plants.

Sarah Jackson, director of Stormy Knight

Hannah Marchant, founder and creator of Hannah Marchant “As I design, print and finish all greeting cards myself, I tested a number of paper stocks.

After lots of trial and error I was able to develop a range of seeded cards (made from recycled paper pulp which is embedded with seeds in manufacture) which I thought would appeal to many people (including children) and inspire them to learn about gardening and growing!

I saw these greeting cards as a perfect eco-friendly solution in that as they are embedded with seeds, once the card has been enjoyed it can then be planted where it will grow as part of a garden. I love the idea that as they grow and blossom they echo the greetings and good wishes of the friends or loved-ones who sent them.

I think it is very important to have an awareness of what we can all do for the environment. I would like to think that my little seed cards are helping make recyclability fun!”

Above: Hannah Marchant now has over 200 designs to choose from and has added two new ranges to the collection recently.

“What sparked the idea for our Bloom seed card range was the trend for cards with added value (patches, badges etc) which had appealed to me for some time, but I wanted to think of something different. I've always tried to utilise green material with our cards, and I’m a big plant lover so the idea of including seeds in a card felt like a really lovely fit for our brand. And so the idea for our Bloom range took shape.

I researched it for quite some time and discovered seed papers - which are lovely, however I wasn't sure that this would allow me the flexibility with print that I wanted or the seed varieties. I also wanted to provide something that felt like more of a surprise gift element when the card was opened. Including seed sticks was a perfect solution - they are totally biodegradable and are all made in the UK, and they are super easy to plant, even if you only have a sunny windowsill. I then went on to work with paper engineers to construct a traditional style greeting card that could house the seed sticks inside securely - and then we launched Bloom at PG Live 2021! The whole process took around eight months - much longer than I would usually spend on a collection, but there were a lot of elements to consider.

I think that people are becoming more interested in gardening and have a greater awareness of the need for biodiversity over the last couple of years. Lockdown saw many take to growing their own and the waiting lists for allotments are getting longer and longer.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Designs On Society

We are all becoming aware of how important it is to grow wildflowers to help nature thrive and protect our beloved bees too. Even if it's just a couple of pots on a doorstep, it all contributes to giving plants a place to grow and insects to feed - and worms a place to call home! Our seed sticks focus on wildflowers and bee-friendly varieties, as well as herbs and strawberries.

The range currently comprises nine everyday designs, and we are just about to launch three Christmas designs that contain seed sticks to grow your own Christmas tree! We are also in the process of designing some additional birthday and Spring Seasons designs, plus we are in discussion with our seed supplier to see what additional varieties we can include.”

Above: One of the Christmas designs in Stormy Knight’s Bloom range.

Kay Patel, director of The Seed Card Company

“The idea for The Seed Card Company goes back to seven years ago, when, through our Intricate Creations business (which specialises in bespoke corporate design projects and wedding stationery), we created a pop-up oak tree card for L’Occitane as part of its pledge to sustainability. The ‘card’ enabled the recipients (bloggers, celebs and influencers) to grow a tree sapling. The following year we undertook another two projects in a similar vein which meant we fell in love with the idea of working with a material that grows, giving the product a wonderful continual life and helping the planet.

Then, during lockdown, with no weddings to distract us, we set up The Seed Card Company, going into great detail about the provenance of seeds that were embedded in the paper we use in all our cards, experiencing the wonder ourselves of seeing them germinate in 3-4 days.

The pandemic, as well as accelerating the drive for protecting our planet has most definitely made people appreciate the natural world more.

We are big believers in the ‘Power of One’, how doing one small thing can help the planet. We love the idea that our cards are contributing positively in the climate change battle, one card at a time.

From a standing start a year ago, we are now up to 400 designs and have a new card collection, The Doodlings, all set to launch at Spring Fair, with other new designs also joining our existing ranges.”

Above: One of The Doodlings designs from The Seed Card Company.

Left: Kay Patel and Jit, her husband and business partner on their stand at Autumn Fair.

Emma Sutton, founder of Mosney Mill

“The idea for the range came during 2020 when we were revising our Sustainability Policy and looking at the products across our range. Mosney Mill already had a range of notelets printed on FSC paper, and talking with our suppliers we discovered the possibility of printing images on ‘seed card’ paper.

At Mosney we are fortunate that for the past five years we have set aside a large area of land to plant a wildflower meadow as we recognise the need to support pollinating insects, therefore the seed cards complemented the vision for our home and business.

As with all Mosney Mill products, the inspiration for my illustrations come from the animals, birds and insects that live alongside us on the Mosney land.

Once the images were created we wanted to ensure that the packaging and envelopes were also environmentally friendly. Therefore, the individual cards are packed in compostable clear packaging and suppled with a Kraft brown envelope produced from recycled material. To complement the range, we also offer a beautifully illustrated countertop Point of Sale which reflects the design and environmentally friendly aspects of the cards.

Being lucky enough to live in a beautiful part of rural Lancashire, as a family and business we recognise our responsibility for the stewardship of the land on which we live. Apart from the natural beauty and sense of wellbeing we can receive from observing flowers, they are essential to help with pollination and to support the life cycle of the bee population.

We have also received feedback from parents and grandparents who have planted the cards with children and the cards have therefore become part of their learning about nature.

There are 21 designs in our current range of seed cards and this Spring we are introducing two new designs featuring two adorable bunnies hugging.”

Above: A card from Mosney Mill that celebrates its bee-helping attributes.

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Industry Issue

Arti sts’

Impressions

Greeting card publishers would be nothing without the creative talents of the artists, designers, illustrators and photographers who provide the images that grace their collections. But in turn of course, greeting card publishers provide incredible opportunities for those in the artistic community to share their creative ideas.

Following on from last month’s edition, PG tapped into the Creative Card Collective - the new online membership hub for creatives - to take a reading from another clutch of its members as to their views on whether they are given the welcome, respect and rewards they deserve in the greeting card industry.

Top: A photographic design by Bev Cunningham, founder of Ginger Bee Studios and co-founder of Creative Card Collective.

Above: (right) Hannah Curtis, founder of Creative Sparrow and Bev Cunningham, founder of Ginger Bee Studios have cofounded Creative Card Collective as a ‘home’ for creatives in the greeting card industry.

Anoushka Lynd, photographer and founder of Orange Fig The welcome: “I knew nothing of the greeting card industry 12 months ago and all I know now is that it is massive and complex and somewhat daunting!

Is it welcoming? With the exception of CCC that would be “no” from me. I have found obtaining information very difficult and a challenge and there is very limited guidance on how you might want to approach joining the industry.”

Improvements: “What CCC is doing is amazing - like everything in life it is about creating contacts and building relationships. In this time of Covid these things are even more challenging and it is so hard to just get started. I think more networking and feedback opportunities with others would be a great place to start.”

Price issues: “I actually have no idea what creatives get paid for their work - I tried to find out but got absolutely nowhere. I pay a commission to the photographers I use at Orange Fig [our publishing side] and I have no idea if it is over or under market rate - would be nice to find out!

I strongly believe that all creatives should be credited for their work on the backs of the cards - with contact details. This is an opportunity for people to reach a new audience and should be wholeheartedly adopted by the industry - cross promotion is without a doubt the best way forward.”

Why have you joined CCC? “I wanted to join the collective because I like the vibe and the way it has been set up. The new online ‘hub’ feels very relaxed, open and honest and provides a good opportunity to meet others and learn from one another. The greeting card market is so huge it feels like a giant task to try and even become a small drop in the ocean. This group helps me on that journey.”

Above: Anoushka Lynd applauds more opportunities for creatives to network.

Right: An uplifting Spring photograph by Anoushka Lynd.

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Industry Issue

Dale Simpson

Improvements: “It’s sometimes difficult to gauge with some UK card publishers who have an in-house staff of creatives, if they do actually have opportunities for freelance illustrators.

More guidelines and seasonal submission date information on their websites would be helpful for artists so they could submit designs at the appropriate times.”

Why have you joined CCC? “I joined the Creative Card Collective to have that connection with like-minded people in the industry and be inspired to keep going as it’s been tough of late continuing to find a reason to continue with promoting myself towards card publishers.”

Above: Dale Simpson feels that it could be made easier for freelance illustrators to contact publishers.

Below: One of Dale’s animal designs.

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Lindsay Kirby The welcome: “I have generally found the greeting card industry to be pretty approachable and friendly, but then I worked within it for at least 20 years or so, (mainly as an in-house designer for major card companies) before going freelance. I realised how everyone seems to know everyone in the industry and how many people have worked in many of the same companies at different times. Although perhaps a bit daunting when you are starting out, I do think companies seem pretty open to being approached (it's how I got one of my studio jobs) and they are always looking for new talent/styles so it's always worth sending images of your work. I think having an online design profile of some sort is probably considered an absolute must these days as a company can look at your work and approach you if they are looking to find new designers and like your style.

Enrolling with community/social media avenues such as CCC, that already has links to the industry and that can give advice and focus to get started is a good idea. I have also found that signing with my agent (Hannah Curtis at Creative Sparrow) has been hugely beneficial to me as a freelancer and has opened doors and got me new work with lovely new clients. She also takes the stress out of sorting out fees and chasing payments as she takes care of all that which makes my job much easier! It is definitely my preferred way to work.”

Price issues: “I think companies vary with regards to renumeration. Some are better than others but generally it seems the card industry pays less well in comparison to other design sectors though I am not really sure why this is.”

Above: Lindsay Kirby would like to see prompter payment for freelancers.

Below: One of the many looks created by Lindsay Kirby.

Improvements: “I definitely like getting my name on the back of cards, which is still a novelty for me after years of being anonymous within corporate companies.

Some companies really do pay late when it comes to freelancers and it would be good if they could address this as it can be very frustrating to constantly be chasing payment and it can of course have a dire effect on financial matters for the freelancer.”

Why have you joined CCC? “I was keen to become a member of the Creative Card Collective in order to take advantage of what it offers…industry expertise, enthusiasm, information and trend awareness, joining a community of creatives to work alongside, share work and ideas. I am of course hoping it will lead to more work opportunities.

I have found the Collective friendly, helpful, informative and inspirational and look forward to continuing to contribute and learn more alongside some very talented members.”

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Industry Issue

Hilary Taylor of Freedom Mill Designs The welcome: “I have been working in the greeting card industry for four years and during this time I have met so many creatives and made great connections. I have previously worked in the fashion industry, which is very different, fast paced and as a designer I had to be constantly adaptable to the retail market. Within the card industry I feel that creatives are recognised for their talent and they are supported to develop their style. I feel that networking is key and the growth of the internet and social media is a great asset to promote and showcase work, as well as providing support and knowledge. Freelancing can be very isolating and opportunities could be missed if the information is not available.”

Price issues: “In my experience, the greeting card industry pays well compared to the fashion industry.”

Improvements: “Prompt payments is always a good thing and it also creates trust with the publisher. Credits on the cards are also a great asset for a designer; it’s free advertising and would support their brand.”

Why have you joined CCC? “I wanted to network with other creatives and use this as a platform for insights within the industry. I would like to develop my design style. I currently work on the management side of the card industry, so by joining the Creative Card Collective I feel it will support me.”

Above: Hilary Taylor feels that creatives in the greeting card sector receive more recognition than in the fashion trade.

Right: Having come from a textile background, Hilary’s work lends itself to greeting cards.

Georgina Moir

The welcome: “I don’t have much experience of the greeting card industry being welcoming as it’s very hard to know where to start! Apart from the online publishers eg Thortful, the industry seems a very closed book unless you have contacts and/or an agent.

It was during one of my searches into the industry that I discovered the Creative Card Collective, and since then it has become a much more insightful journey into the industry. I’m looking forward to learning more and meeting fellow creatives along the way!”

Above: Georgina Moir with a furry friend.

Below: Two of Georgina Moir’s card designs.

Nicky Dawson of Turtley Creative The creative welcome: “I have been in the industry for over 20 years now and I would say it is extremely friendly and welcoming.

There are so many places where you can get advice and also have a fun career.”

Price issues: “I feel that over the years buyers have tried to get the publishers/designers down on price and want always to get more for their money, which is not fair, especially when we are trying to make a living. I would love to see an overall ‘across the board’ price point, to which all buyers/publishers adhere in order to stop this happening. It’s awful for designers when buyers want designs for £30-40 each when we all have bills to pay. This also knocks confidence, especially for the younger or newer members of the industry.”

Improvements: “I am a creative designer as well as having been a publisher in the past and I so have had experienced both sides of people not paying on time. I think more designers should be protected with the sale and payment of their designs (or be taught how to do simple contracts when taking on a freelance project) as many young artists and designs do not have the cash flow to take companies to court for non-payment. I would also love it if it was compulsory for the artist’s name to appear on the back of the cards on which their designs appear.”

Joining CCC: “As I am freelance again, it is lovely to be able to join like-minded people and be assured that 'more is more powerful than one' when dealing with running a business in the creative industry.”

Above right: Nicky Dawson is back in the industry!

Above: One of Nicky Dawson’s designs.

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A selection of new ranges and designs on show at Spring Fair (February 6-9, Birmingham’s NEC)

A Cute Above Making an adorable entrance into Moongazer Cards’ portfolio are a host of new designs in the Pipkin’s Patch range. Based on illustartions by Sally Anne Lambert, Pipkin, a cute bunny, sows seeds and lovingly tends his garden in this fun range of greeting cards and mounted prints. Each 16cm square card is illustrated front and back and printed in UK on FSC certified textured board, accompanied by a brown ‘eco’ envelope. Available with cello wrap or ‘naked’ with a sticker holding the envelope in place.

Moongazer Cards 077454 81411 www.moongazercards.com Hall 3 Stand Q34

Who’s A Pretty Boy? Art & Dec(o) Taking inspiration from the past, Lesser and Pavey’s Art Deco collection, which is set to launch at Spring Fair, spans a range of mugs, coasters, placemats, trays tea for one, butter dish, jugs as well as glass decorative items such as tea light holders, candle plates, oil warmer, frames and jewellery boxes.

Lesser & Pavey 01322 279 225 www.leonardo.co.uk Hall 5 Stand D10-E11 and D20-E21

Growing Gains

While the Buddy and Betty range from Earlybird is so named after the Early’s doggie and his ‘girlfriend’, the range now far extends beyond canine designs. Created in collaboration with Emma Jayne Designs, a dozen new joyful birthday cards join the line-up.

Emma Jayne’s kitsch and fun illustrations are printed on Revive fully recycled board.

Earlybird Designs 01227 765372 www.earlybirddesigns.co.uk Hall 3 Stand P32

Hobbies Galore

Sabivo Design is extending its new Garden range, a feminine floral collection that will now include 64 captions covering general birthdays, milestones, occasions and relations. All the designs have been hand-illustrated and are handfinished with cup flower sequins. The cards are 145 mm square, come with brown kraft envelopes and are wrapped in biodegradable cello bags.

Sabivo Design 01858374221 www.sabivo.co.uk Hall 3 Stand Q31

Pink Pig’s new Three Up range features fun characters and their hobbies. There are 18 designs covering all manner of popular pastimes from football to yoga, paddleboarding to rugby. All 150mm square, the cards are printed on quality 350 FSC gsm recyclable board and come with a recycled Ekokraft envelope available naked or cello wrapped.

Pink Pig 07583088596 www.pinkpigcards.co.uk Hall 3 Stand Q30

Thyme Marches On Creeping Thyme is Peartree Heybridge’s latest humour range based on designs

by Sarah Boddy. The range is certain to appeal to women ‘of a certain age’ depicting the nuances of female charm through a series of diverse characters.

Peartree Heybridge 01423 876311 www.peartreeheybridge.co.uk Hall 3 Stand M51 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 79

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A selection of new ranges and designs on show at Spring Fair (February 6-9, Birmingham’s NEC)

Small Is Beautiful Dinkies is Paper Salad’s brand-new range of small packs of cards. The collection features 10 different designs, all printed in bright neon colours with a shiny liquid foil finish.

Supplied as a pack of five 125mm square blank cards, they come in bespoke designed packaging which is 100% recyclable and plastic free. The collection includes hand painted floral images as well as some bright children’s designs.

Paper Salad 0161 427 0001 www.papersalad.com Hall 3 Stand R10

Words To The Wise Lola Design is launching over 100 new designs at Spring Fair, including additions to its best-selling Wildlife Botanical range as well as a vibrant new range called Just Sayin’. The latter features a fun die cut shape and top fold to do things slightly differently. The aim of the range is to be bright, bold and cheerful full of positivity and hope.

Lola Design 01904 900141 www.loladesignltd.com Hall 3 Stand S24

Put Your Hands Together Applause is among several new ranges that are being launched by Molly Mae. Covering special occasions and celebrations, the designs are based on delicate hand drawings enhanced by subtle foil with embossing finishing.

The cards are sized 131mm x 146mm, come with a cream pearlescent envelope and can be supplied either clasped or cello wrapped upon request.

Molly Mae 01455 557115 www.mollymaetrade.co.uk Hall 3 Stand R36

Golden Moments

Absolutely Dean

Gold Leaf is one of three brand new ranges launching at Spring Fair from Megan Claire. This luxury range consists of 27 hand lettered gold foil designs on a different pastel backgrounds covering birthdays and occasions. Each card is 145mm square, foiled onto a luxurious cream stock and complemented by a pastel grey envelope.

Megan Claire 01536 560345 www.meganclaire.co.uk Hall 3 Stand Q39

Dean Morris Cards has added loads of new designs to its ever-popular Fabulous range, which is edging ever closer to its 20th anniversary. The latest additions are a mix of cheeky Dean Morris humour (from mild to wild) combined with bright and colourful retro imagery.

Dean Morris Cards 07941 269 307 www.deanmorriscards.co.uk Hall 3 Stand S51

Boxing Clever IC&G has augmented it boxed card collection with the addition of nine new designs, including those in its Brighstone art style. The new designs extend the range into Baby Girl, Baby Boy and Dad captions. As with all IC&G boxed cards, each design includes foiling is handfinished with tip-on embellishments and come with a colourful layered insert, packed in a special box.

IC&G 01202 897494 www.icgcards.com Hall 3 Stand N20/P21 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 81

BE THE FIRST TO SEE THE ART FILE’S 2 0 2 2 C H R I S T M A S C O L L E C T I O N AT S P R I N G FA I R H a l l 3 | St a n d P 1 1 | 6 - 9 t h Fe b r u a r y | N EC

Including our Best Selling Charity Pack Collection , which is now plastic free!

W W W.T H E A R T F I L E . C O M T H E A RT F I L E

T. 0115 850 7490

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F. 0115 941 3411

@T H E A RT F I L EO F F I C I A L

E . sales@theartf ile.com

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A selection of new ranges and designs on show at Spring Fair (February 6-9, Birmingham’s NEC)

Going Dotty Spotty Love is a brand new fun, quirky and wild card collection from Marina B Designs.

The 28 designs feature animal print in a variety of colours, all of which are finished with the publisher’s signature rainbow foil.

The cards are 155mm and are printed on 350 gsm board.

Marina B Designs 01858 434462 marinab.co.uk Hall 3 Cardgains Village Stand M10/N11

Spring Into Action Championing nature through the changing seasons, the latest clutch of designs joining Abacus Cards’ BBC Earth Springwatch collection are some stunning photographs which showcase the beauty and diversity of wildlife around the UK. The designs also reflect the trend for gardeners to experiment with wildflowers and perennial meadows to attract birds, insects and animals.

Each 160mm square card features relevant information, supplied by the BBC Springwatch team, on the reverse.

Abacus Cards 01638 569050 www.abacuscards.co.uk Cardgains Village Hall 3 Stand M10/N11

Leaf It Out Rocket68's luscious botanical Passion4Plants card range is now available in wrap form. The wrap designs feature exquisite plant illustrations set against bold contemporary colour backgrounds which tap into the nation’s love of tending to their houseplants which has grown and grown. The wrap is printed on eco FSC 120 gsm matt finish paper.

Rocket 68 01935 829015 www.rocket68.com Hall 3 Stand P34

Festive Abundance

Hot Off The Press

Wholesale publisher, Out of the Blue Studios is launching its largest ever Christmas collection, across counter cards as well as boxed and packaged designs.

For 2022 the publisher has reduced the flitter on its Christmas counter cards by over 40% while all of the cards and envelopes are manufactured using FSC approved sustainably sourced paper and board. It will also be showing a new range of its Acquire Premium Giftwrap in a two sheet/two tag format with a foil finish.

Out of the Blue Studios 0800 529 8785 www.outofthebluestudios.co.uk Hall 3 Stand N30

With Boo-tanicals having been a finalist for Best Hand-finished Range in last year’s Henries awards, Bexy Boo has now extended this beautiful floral range to include lots more birthdays and occasions designs. ‘Bringing the beauty of the outdoors inside', a real pressed, dried flower is carefully and lovingly applied to each card. With the new additions, the range now encompasses 62 designs (150mm square) which come bio-cellowapped with an alabaster white envelope.

Bexy Boo 01565 830546 bexyboo.co.uk Hall 3 Stand S26

England’s Expansion Since launching at PG Live last July, the New England collection from Rush Design keeps on growing. The latest additions are relations designs in both large and standard sizes. There are 20 new standard size relations cards, all printed on luxury textured board and finished with a vibrant gold foil while the nine new large relations cards are finished with glitter and diamantes for very special occasions.

Rush Design 01788 521745 www.rushdesign.co.uk Hall 3 Stand S20 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 83

2022 COLLECTION Our latest and most inspiring collection to date has just launched. Request your catalogue via our sales team, website or local agent – and see it all on show at Spring Fair.

NEC Spring Fair 2022: Hall 3, Stand 3L30-M31

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A selection of new ranges and designs on show at Spring Fair (February 6-9, Birmingham’s NEC)

Artistry in Motion For its 2022 collection, Roger la Borde has created almost two dozen brand new lasercut greeting card designs. The stunning results are achieved by converting artists’ work (including Monika Forsberg, Katie Vernon, Su Blackwell and Antoana Oreski) into intricate, technicolour lasercut panels which are then printed in full colour on the front and back. A special panel is included on the reverse for the message.

Roger la Borde 0207 328 0491 www.rogerlaborde.com Hall 3 Stand R20/S21

Written In The Stars Tapping into the enhanced interest in astrology and all things celestial, Zodiac is Rachel Ellen Designs new cosmic range. Comprising 12 designs, one for each sign of the zodiac, each 120 x 170mm card combines a contemporary depiction of the sign with the likely attributes of those born under it, all enhanced by some subtle gold foiling. The cards come with a bespoke printed envelope.

Rachel Ellen Designs 0115 9700321 rachelellen.co.uk Hall 3 Q10-R11

Train Of Thought Paperlink has a whole clutch of new ranges, from Ace, new male range with a cool cream and a monochrome palette with accents of copper foil to Lotus, elegant floral art cards in a beautiful, muted colour palette with light accents of champagne foil and deboss. Another newbie is Love Train (pictured), which is a fresh humour collection which features retro black and white photos coupled with handwritten captions.

Paperlink 020 7582 8244 www.paperllink.co.uk Hall 3 Stand N35

Seen It, Felt It Ginger Betty’s brand new Sunshine on Leaf range is based around delightful photographic images which encompass cute felted creatures, basking in warm sunshine. There are an inaugural 12 designs in the range, all with open birthday captions to create a warm fuzzy feeling. The cards are 150 x150mm and come with a crisp white envelope.

Ginger Betty 07923 368612 www.gingerbetty.co.uk Hall 3 Stand Q50

Bright And Boofle UKG is launching 90 brand-new Boofle designs for Christmas 2022, covering a multitude of captions. From updated sentiment formats to fun new cute and quirky poses, this favourite pup is depicted in contemporary grey snowfall scenes as well as against rich claret backgrounds, that are complimented by tip-on captions, a variety of folds and copper foil detail.

UK Greetings 01924 465200 www.ukgreetings.co.uk Hall 3 Cardgains Village M10/N11

Bearing Up The Art File is launching 170 new card and wrap designs across a number of ranges, including Bear, featuring a new look from Robert Reader, creator of the hugely successful Ink Press. This new everyday collection features the Bear and his friends, Robert has combined loveable characters, charming words and a warm, earthy colour palette to create a collection with a wide appeal. The cards are finished with tasteful debossing and framed with ivory envelopes.

The Art File 0115 8507490 www.theartfile.com Hall 3 Stand P11 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 85

February 2022 Issue New Releases Full Page.pdf

Spring Fair 3N40-P41

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Jonny Javelin

NEW FOR 2022

A total of 56 New Velvet titles in code 75 main relations and relation Ages

Stunning New Signature designs in both relation code 75 and open Birthday code 60

Fudge The roll out of our fantastic new-look Fudge and Friends continues!

The Great Grandson and Great Granddaughter Ages have now been added from Ages 1 to 6

Tel: 01423 563740 086_PG_February 2022.indd 1

info@jonnyjavelin.co.uk

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A selection of new ranges and designs on show at Spring Fair (February 6-9, Birmingham’s NEC)

Taking Time Off All set to launch at Spring Fair from Jessica Hogarth is Recreation, a birthday range which celebrates ways we like to spend our downtime. The 12 designs cover popular topics, such as gardening, coastal scenes, camper van trips and more in Jessica’s signature illustrative style. The 120 x 170mm cards come with a kraft envelope, cellowrapped as standard but nonplastic packaging is also available.

Jessica Hogarth 07786906648 www.jessicahogarth.com Hall 3 Stand 3R39

Way With Words Funny Business Whether it is lots of silly, on trend humour from additions to its Cuckoo range or the wit from the typographical Badinage humour collection as part of its Fox and Butler range, Pigment is brimming over with funnies. One newbie capsule is Life & Times (featured), which hits the spot across open birthday as well as some selected relations and occasions.

Pigment 01423 520098 www.pigmentproductions.com Hall 3 Stand L31

The Relationship Business

A fresh typographic approach and slightly cheeky sentiments set against contemporary block colour backgrounds feature in Colourful Kardz’ ‘colourful’ range. From ‘I love watching you sleep…(but I hate listening to you snore)’ to designs around friendship, drinking and even kung fu fighting, the range covers all manner of sends.

Printed on FSC certified board, the cards come with a white envelope, packaged in biodegradable, clear, nonplastic cellophane envelopes.

Colourful Kardz 07858 470089 www.ColourfulKardz.com Hall 3 Stand R50

Eastern Promise Known for his work in contemporary chinoiserie, talented artist and textile designer Chris Chun’s twist on traditional Chinese art features on Paeonia, a new range from Clare Maddicott Publications.

Vibrant colours combine with the opulent finish of textured foil on these 5” x 7” cards, each of which comes with a metallic gold envelope.

Clare Maddicott Publications 01638 569050 www.maddicott.com Hall 3 Cardgains Village M10/N11

In addition to unveiling its revamped brokerage proposition, GBCC will be showing over 500 new Occasions and Relations designs featuring all manner of design styles and captions. It will also be launching its largest ever Christmas boxed and single cards selection, plus its extensive plastic-free Advents range.

GBCC 01452 888999 www.greatbritishcards.co.uk Hall 3 Stand L20-M21

Line Them Up After much deliberation and discussion with lovely customers, Sarah Kelleher has decided to add stripes to her Fabulous Foils range to give the range a more unisex feel.

The 15 new ‘stripey’ additions cover Happy Birthday designs, as well as a wide range of ages and a few best selling captions. In addition to the stunning hot foil lettering, the cards are printed on FSC accredited textured board and come with a brown ribbed envelope.

Sarah Kelleher 07768 123957 www.sarahkelleher.co.uk Hall 3 Stand P36 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 87

New Year New Designs!

From NIGEL QUINEY PUBLICATIONS

NEW

12 ‘must-have’ Pizazz designs

NEW

hot off the press!

12 traditional male outdoor scenes,

…a breath of fresh air!

NEW Bright and fun Juvenile and Young Ages

Something for everyone!

NEW

A fabulous new collection of Everyday designs

.

superb quality and great value!

COME AND SEE US AT THE NEC SPRING FAIR - HALL 3, R25

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Cloudesley House Shire Hill Saffron Walden Essex CB11 3FB T: 01799 520200 F: 01799 520100 www.nigelquiney.com

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A selection of new ranges and designs on show at Spring Fair (February 6-9, Birmingham’s NEC)

Button Up As well as having a fantabulous selection of greeting cards and gift wraps, Hype has now augmented its selection of ‘button’ badges. Extremely covetable and collectable, each countertop display includes 120 badges of mixed designs from over 10 different licences, from Snoopy to Beatrix Potter.

Hype Associates 0151 662 0400 www.hypa.com Hall 5 Stand M50

Flying High Tasty Treats

The Eco-friendly Card Co is launching a brood of new designs from contemporary artist Kathryn Callaghan at Spring Fair. Kathryn's original artwork is created with inks that are poured freestyle onto canvas, creating a sense of energy and movement. The cards are printed on 100% recycled textured board and supplied with 100% recycled envelopes, available with a card-clasp label or in a compostable bag. Notecards, stationery and Christmas designs featuring Kathryn's work are also available.

The Eco-friendly Card Co 01626 369269 www.ecofriendly.cards Hall 3 Stand M52

Dishing up something different, Famous Foods is Tache’s brand new card collection based on a licensing agreement with Unilever featuring several household brands. The inaugural collection of these handmade cards feature classic brands of Marmite, Bovril, Pot Noodle, Colman’s Mustard and Wall’s ice cream.

Tache 01202 691 435 tache.co.uk Hall 3 Stand S11 (and Top Drawer Stand J39)

No Objections The Festive Feeling

Straight talking as usual, Objectables’ latest range name tells it like it is - I AM OBJECTABLE. The publisher pitches this latest collection of designs as an addition to its core range, featuring a “few lovely people/creatures suitable for birthdays, people you love and people you like”. Each 120mm 170mm card comes naked with colourful envelope, unless otherwise requested.

Objectables Publishing 01303 767240 www.objectables.co.uk Hall 3 Stand Q37 Top Drawer N61

Ling Design will be in full festive mode at the show, launching its largest ever Christmas collection, all of which has sustainability at its heart. As well as a host of Christmas boxes, in a variety of styles, the latest Penny Kennedy gift packaging will also be on show.

Ling Design 01892 838574 www.lingdesign.co.uk Hall 3 Stand L10-M11

The Art Of Words Up until now Meg Hawkins’ art has spoken for itself, but the savvy artist is now launching Sentiments, a greeting card range which combines her depictions of the wonders of the natural world with well proven sentiments and card sending captions.

Meg Hawkins 07811 672 460 www.meghawkins.com Hall 5 Stand F33 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 89

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A selection of product launches (some of which will be on show at Top Drawer, February 20-22)

Past and Present 21st Century Disasters is among the latest launches from Cath Tate Cards. The designs in this new humour range playfully pair novel modern quandaries with elegantly illustrated Georgian scenes. All the cards are printed on 100% recycled paper and come with a recycled kraft envelope.

Cath Tate Cards 0208 671 2166 www.cathtatecards.com Top Drawer Stand O29

Worldly Wonders Fashion Forward Meraki will be brimming over with newness at Top Drawer. As well as its Electric Sunshine range, which delivers a neon, modern take on adult age cards, is Moonlight, a fashion-inspired collection. The designs in the latter, feature gold textured foil on luxury cream board with a mixture of debossing and embossing.

Meraki 020 7840 2662 www.merakigreetingcards.co.uk Top Drawer Stand O88

Representing a new move for Belly Button Designs is Wonderful World.

This new children’s range of 22 everyday designs takes its inspiration from nature, featuring attentiongrabbing elements in the design and text. The cards are made in the UK, printed on board made from 100% post consumer waste.

Belly Button Designs 0161 902 0200 www.bellybutton.cards Top Drawer P61

Small Is Beautiful Tails Of The Unexpected Snapshot is life as you don’t know it. One of the new greeting card ranges from Mint, is courtesy of Helga Stentzel’s ability (evidenced by her 200k+ Instagram followers) to transpose everyday objects into unexpected playful settings. A lettuce as a pup, avocado halves as a choir, a slice of cake as a dog’s head, it sure is a quirky and fun range!

Mint Publishing 0116 230 4197 www.mint-publishing.co.uk

Rosanna Rossi has released lots of new additions to its popular collections for 2022, including 12 new 125mm square cards within its Kirra Mini collection. These beautiful, painterly illustrations cover birthday, wedding, thank you and good luck titles. Also being released are new vibrant birthday designs within the Fiori Rosa and Confetti Sprinkles collections.

Rosanna Rossi 07900 698522 www.rosanna-rossi.co.uk

A Gem Collection Bug Art has just extended its best-selling Jewels range with a clutch of new designs, which exude elegance, enhanced by their black background, a style that has kept this popular range flourishing for over 20 years. Each of the cards (118mm x 167mm) is embossed with two different foils, is blank inside and comes with a gold envelope, all wrapped in a biodegradable bag.

Bug Art 0115 929 4776 bugart.co.uk PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 91

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info@jamesellis.com 117 7667 info@jamesellis.com +44 +44 (0) (0) 117 927 927 7667 info@jamesellis.com +44 (0) 117 927 7667

L U X U RY, S U S TA I N A B L E , L E T T E R P R E S S G R E E T I N G S , S TAT I O N E RY & H O M E W E A R PENGUININK.CO.UK | 07525 497 122

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Artist In Focus

Potter-ing Around This year’s 120th anniversary of Peter Rabbit coincides with the V&A opening its doors on a six month exhibition of Beatrix Potter’s artistic life, Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature, celebrating how her illustrations have captured the imaginations of people the world over for well over a century.

With greeting cards being the very first product to be graced with one of the UK’s best loved illustrators’ designs, PG tracks back to the early days of Beatrix’s greeting card fame as well as burrowing into the plans for Peter Rabbit’s milestone year. eter Rabbit is on for a big 120th birthday this year. However, while there’s no doubt that Beatrix Potter’s most famous character is Peter Rabbit, it was actually another rabbit, Benjamin Bouncer, with whom Beatrix first found success - and it was through greeting cards that Miss Potter first chose to share her endearing artwork with the world.

Beatrix Potter made her first Christmas cards for her family in 1889, which featured Benjamin Bouncer, her pet rabbit.

Encouraged by the family, Beatrix and her brother Bertram looked at purchasing a printing machine so they could print the cards commercially. The printing machine cost £16, but they were short by £6. Beatrix’s Uncle Harry (who was the English chemist, Sir Henry Roscoe), suggested that the cards were of such quality ‘any publisher would snap at’ and encouraged her to try to sell them.

With this in mind, Beatrix prepared six more designs for cards, based again on Benjamin Bouncer.

She sent them to a list of five publishers, starting with the company Marcus Ward, but they were promptly returned.

Bertram then delivered the pictures to Hildesheimer & Faulkner himself. The following day a cheque for £6

P

arrived and a request to the ‘gentleman artist’ for more sketches.

Uncle Harry offered to take Beatrix to the offices of Hildesheimer & Faulkner to show them her new designs - this was Beatrix’s first business meeting and she did the negotiations herself. Her designs were

Above: This year marks the 120th birthday of Peter Rabbit.

Left: Beatrix Potter.

Bottom left: Benjamin Bouncer appeared on Beatrix Potter’s first greeting cards published in 1890 by Hildesheimer & Faulkner.

Bottom right: In addition to greeting cards, Hallmark also offers this endearing Peter Rabbit giftbag.

published in 1890, first as Christmas and New Year cards, and then as illustrations, featuring alongside a set of verses by Frederic E Weatherly. Offering inspiration to many current day would-be card publishers and artists, Beatrix was just 24 years old at the time.

“It would’ve been most unusual for a woman to be conducting business herself in those days,” explains Sara Glenn, curator of the Frederick Warne Archive. “But Beatrix was not a normal Victorian lady. We know from letters in the archives that Beatrix had a head for business. She also enjoyed scientific research and understanding the natural world around her.”

With Peter Rabbit having been (and still to this day) a star of the show, it was an illustrated letter in 1893 which told a story about Peter, Beatrix’s pet rabbit, to the son of her ex-governess that saw Peter Rabbit come to life.

Encouraged by the feedback, Beatrix decided to try and get her Peter Rabbit story published. She sent the manuscript to six publishers, who all turned it down. Undeterred, in 1901 she privately published 250 copies.

The books sold so well that Frederick Warne & Co (one of the publishers who had initially turned down the book) PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Artist In Focus

offered her a publishing contract. In 1902, Warne published an initial print run of 8,000 books, which were all pre-sold prior to publication.

After the success of these early books, Beatrix, showing incredible forward thinking, initiated the development of Peter Rabbit licensed merchandise by registering a patent for a Peter Rabbit doll with the Patent Office in 1903. “This really was the start of the Peter Rabbit merchandise programme,” says Sara.

“Beatrix was ahead of her time when it came to licensed merchandise, and we know from letters in our archives that she was very hands-on. In 1910 she designed a Jemima Puddle-Duck doll, which was made by J.K Farnell. Not only did she negotiate the agreement, she also visited the factory in Acton to collect the royalties!”

Some of Beatrix’s most notable greeting cards were the cards she designed for one of her favourite charities, the Invalid Children’s Aid Association (ICAA).

Between the years of 1925 and 1941 she regularly produced Christmas cards that helped raise money for the work of the ICAA. And today, the public’s love of Peter rabbit continues to grow as modern day licensees introduce Peter Rabbit and his friends to new audiences with Hype Cards and Hallmark being active

Left: One of the many Beatrix Potter cards from Hype Associates.

Below: A 3D musical Advent from Danilo.

greeting card licensees while Danilo has introduced Peter Rabbit into its innovative 3D musical Advents range.

Sharing her views on the enduring appeal, Paula Ford, Hype’s creative director, says: “The books are a perennial nursery favourite and the art is loved by all generations. The detail is exquisite and the characters tremendously charming. With our cards we aim for a tactile quality by printing them on heavy textured board which looks and feels like watercolour paper.”

Remaining true to Beatrix’s historic creations, Hype publishes an extensive range of greeting cards and mini cards, as well as gift wrap and is just launching a set of 10 retro button badge designs that will be sold in a counter box.

The World of Beatrix Potter is one of the world’s longest running and largest international literature-based licensing programmes. Beatrix Potter was a pioneer and a very astute businesswoman and thanks to her early efforts, the 120-year old Peter Rabbit has appeared in books and on licensed product in over 110 countries throughout the world - but it all started on greeting cards!

Hoppy 120th Birthday Just some of the plans for Peter Rabbit’s 120th anniversary celebrations being spearheaded by Penguin Random House. l Peter Rabbit’s role as children’s

ambassador for the Queen’s Green Canopy will see Peter supporting tree planting initiatives throughout the year, while celebratory Picnics for Peter will take place during the summer supported by key partners at locations throughout the UK. l There will be a programme of experiential activations in the UK offering families immersive events throughout the year, to include a brand new Peter Rabbit Story Time Trail which launches in March. It will tour libraries and gallery spaces across the country, with venues booked up until July 2023. The trail will offer little ones the chance to step into The Tale of Peter Rabbit. l There will be a brand new stage production, Happy Birthday Peter Rabbit, launching at the World of Beatrix Potter attraction in the Lake District this summer. l Outside of the UK, celebrations will include a major touring exhibition of Beatrix Potter’s original Peter Rabbit artwork in Japan, while a new permanent Peter Rabbit English Garden will open at Fuji Motosuko Resort with Fujikyuko Co. l In Australia, a collectable 120th anniversary stamp pack will be produced by Australia Post, consisting of 12 commemorative stamps.

Bouncing with joy Among the Peter Rabbit licensees is Enesco, which has held a Beatrix Potter licence for over 30 years.

At Spring Fair, Enesco will have a large feature area dedicated to Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit’s anniversary, with a celebratory event held at the show.

Among its new Peter Rabbit products are a Running Peter figurine (a limited edition of only 1,200 pieces), an Insulated bottle bag, the company’s multi-award-winning baby collection while there will also be additions to the Beatrix Potter by Jim Shore collection which features a new mini size range, plus full size figurines.

Right: Beatrix Potter by Jim Shore collection.

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People Matters

When 10-year-old Jay Harrison saved up pocket money to buy his Mum a lovely Christmas card, he had no idea that he would be starting a family tradition that would span three decades.

PG fully embraced the heartwarming story of a Simon Elvin card that has not only passed between a mother and son every year for 30 years, but the exchange reached new heights on the Christmas Day just gone, all serving to reinforce the power greeting cards wield in our lives.

Simon Elvin has published millions upon millions of greeting cards since he started the publishing company that bears his name back in 1978. An email from a member of the public about one particular design ignited Simon to delve into the company’s rich archives, make contact with fine artist Kevin Shepherd (who painted the original design) and engage in an enduring Christmas tradition for one devoted mother and son.

Roseleen (Roe, as she likes to be called) Walsh, who works for the NHS in Oswestry hospital, wrote to Simon Elvin to pay tribute to the quality of the cards he publishes, with ample proof, namely one Christmas card that has been passed between her son Jay and herself for the last 30 Christmasses.

“Some 30 years ago, I received a Christmas card from my then 10 year old son

In the front ‘Roe’

Roe is a firm believer in the buying and sending of greeting cards, something she inherited from her father, who she describes as having been “the greeting card king” who sadly passed away in March last year. “He would “spend hours finding the right card, especially selecting the verse, for birthday and anniversary cards for Mum. The sentiment he put into his card choices would bring a tear to the hardest heart,” says Roe. “I recently sat and read the Christmas card that my Mum and Dad sent me for Christmas 2020. Seeing his handwritten message in a card that he sent me a few months before his death evoked fabulous memories of him. That was the last Christmas card he ever wrote to me, and I will cherish it forever,” shares Roe. Roe tends to buy her cards from the shop in the NHS Trust hospital where she works.

“They have a really good selection of cards and it helps the League of Friends to raise money for the hospital,” she says.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Above: The special Simon Elvin card that has been passed between mother and son every year for three decades.

Left: Roseleen Walsh with her son Jay and the 30 year old Christmas card.

Jay who had saved his pocket money to spend £1.00 on a card, which was the earth to us back then,” said Roe of the Code 100 card which features a cat and mouse design, typical of the popular cute style of the early 90s. “I was very happy to receive it,” said Roe of the card (that Jay bought from Neighbours of Chirk, a convenience store that is now owned by the Co-op). Although not a fan of cats, and still bemused as to why this particular design was selected by her son, she loves how being given that card by her young son was to spark a family tradition that was to span three decades and continues to this day.

“The following Christmas he handed me the same card, and has done every year since,” Roe continued about the annual card exchange. “The card has become a big part of our family Christmas traditions,” Roe adds.

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People Matters

delighted he was to hear such a “positive story in the current gloomy climate”.

Immediately recognising the design, Simon made contact with Kevin Shepherd, the artist who painted the original card. “Kevin is now producing fine-art prints, mainly of animals; not cats though!” Simon told Roe. But the story does not end there, as unbeknownst to Roe, her son Jay also got in Left: Jay surprising his mum with a framed print of the card on Christmas Day. Below: The inside of the Code 100 card.

While the practice has gone on for so many years, it was only a few months ago that Roe decided it was about time that Simon Elvin heard about this incredible story of one of his cards. Struck by how “the card has endured numerous house moves, the endless handling of children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren, it's a either a minor miracle or testament to the quality of your cards,” Roe told Simon, keen he knew about the important place the card had in her family life. “I thought you might like to know that you can certainly advertise durability on any future advertising campaigns!” she suggested.

As soon as he received Roe’s email, Simon responded saying how

touch with Simon with an idea of a special Christmas present for his mum - a framed print of the card.

While Simon’s personal delve into the company’s archives to try and find the original design was not successful, he worked with Sarah Vockins, the publisher’s senior design manager to turn a photo of the original card into a print that was sent to Jay so that he could surprise his mum on Christmas Day, making for an emotional moment for both mother and son.

Exclaiming her joy to Simon on Boxing Day, Roe wrote: “Well, you certainly know how to make someone's Christmas very, very special. I had no idea at all that Jay had been in touch with you and that our special Christmas card exchange would make anyone go to the extraordinary lengths you went to, to make Christmas 2021 so very memorable for us both. I want to thank you so much for the fantastic effort you and your team made to make this magic happen.”

While clearly very touched that one of his cards has been a long running thread in a mother and son relationship for three decades, Simon joked that, businesswise, he hopes this practice does not become the norm.

“I don’t think we will be encouraging the habit of re-posting cards for 30 years or we will be out of business in no time!” he quipped.

Down to a fine art

Kevin Shepherd is now widely revered for his fine art paintings of British wildlife that he paints in his studio gallery in Ferrers Centre for Arts and Crafts in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, yet he is equally proud of the countless greeting card designs he painted for Simon Elvin over many, many years, including the one that is pride of place in Roe Walsh’s family.

“I started working with Simon only a few months after he started the business and continued until I set up my fine art studio nine years ago,” says Kevin, who in addition to creating his own designs was also art director of a team of artists in Simon Elvin’s Leicestershire design studio. “I have the utmost respect for Simon and loved creating all those thousands of greeting cards, often meeting him at 8pm at Toddington Services to pass over the next clutch of artworks, as well as enjoying the regular meetings we had at the offices in Bourne End to go through the pile of ideas I had for designs.”

Kevin clearly remembers creating the specific pussycat and mouse design that has been part of Roe and Jay’s life.

“Like all of my card designs, I created them by hand, for that one I used gouache and airbrushing. It was all about aiming for that classic ‘ahh factor’, which I sought to capture by depicting the cat’s eye slightly elevated and ensuring that the buyer/recipient immediately saw this at the same time of seeing the mouse,” says Kevin.

Kevin feels that the many years he spent painting greeting cards has been invaluable in his current creative chapter of his fine art painting.

“Creating cute greeting card designs was all about delivering the ‘ahh factor’ whereas my current mission as a fine art artist is about landing the ‘wow factor’. “’Ahh’ or ‘wow’ factor, it is the same principle. You need to grab the attention with your art, whether it is a greeting Above: Kevin Shepherd with some of his art. card in a card shop or a painting in an art gallery,” believes Kevin.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

97

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Art Source

In The Swim

The push for optimism and maximalism and the pull of nostalgia and self-care, joining the weft and weave of our respect for people and the planet are just some of the trends predicted by some leading artists agencies and picture libraries to be reflected in greeting cards over the coming year.

Following on from last month’s edition, PG serves up a second helping of what a trio of experienced aesthetic bellwethers cite as the current cultural drivers of our creative tastes.

Right: The urgency to care of our planet will continue to be reflected in designs such as this coral reef design by New Zealand artist Katherine Quinn who is represented by Jehane.

Jehane Boden Spiers, founder of Jehane

fusing strong visual impact with sustainability and wellbeing from engaging with Mother Nature.”

Drivers: “Our on-going lack of movement will undoubtedly encourage our thirst and interest in motion design and animation. The chaos and commotion of our ever-changing situation will impact this trend of life in motion. Chris Algar, a senior designer at Design Bridge London believes the trend for motion design will also influence type. ‘Title sequences viewed across streaming platforms during lockdown will have most certainly inspired designers, from people binge-watching Killing Eve to more recently Squid Game.

Both take very different approaches to typography but are linked through their captivating movement and amplified personalities’.

The justifiably increasing pressure to use more sustainable materials will be matched with ecoaesthetics. Rising to the challenge of meeting consumer expectations around brand ethos and environmental standards will increase the focus on Above: Jehane Boden Spiers.

Left: Things I Intend to Do by Lee Foster-Wilson.

Right: Upward Dog by Jade Mosinski.

Jehane’s trio of trends…

Connection & Contemplation: “Self-care and positive reflection remains a growing trend and will be big in 2022.

The connection of the visual to content in this area is perfectly exemplified with the interest in journaling and ‘The Enneagram of Personality’, or simply the Enneagram. A model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types, the Enneagram provides a host of visual and design opportunities. The trend for journaling gives people the opportunity to focus on themselves and move their goals from dreaming to planning.

The increased awareness around recognising and playing to our own strengths is a strong driver behind this trend.”

Sense of Balance: “The work/life balance is a hot topic and a distinct trend for this coming year. We are seeing an ever-increasing importance of prioritising and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. With one in five people working 50+ hours a week, a true balance is harder and harder to come by. Meeting your deadlines while still having time for friends and hobbies; the magical idea of having enough

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Art Source time to succeed in your career while still enjoying your life, family, and anything else you love. Google recently reported that the yoga industry is worth over $88bn worldwide and expected to reach $215bn by 2025 - and this doesn’t includes retreats, clothing, mats, and yoga accessories. The growing trend of a fourday work week increases employee satisfaction, company commitment and teamwork. Discovering the charms of yoga and work-life balance is here to stay.

Abundant Opulence: “In a world full of seriousness, it is no wonder we are seeking optimism and positivity. 2022

Above: Abundant Tulips by Kate Heiss.

brings a clear desire for a more opulent approach with a focus on upbeat interpretations of classic themes with joyfulness and abundance. The limiting requirements of our daily lives over the past few years is impacting and this trend provides bright colours and a light at the end of the tunnel. Illustrations and designs with an abundance of texture will be popular, from film grain to lino-cutting. Abundant shapes and figurative celebrations of all shapes and sizes; figures which aren’t necessarily realistic.

Expect maximalist statements which are far from frivolous but are rooted in our collective sense of where we seek change the most.”

Kaye Hunter, licensing manager of This Is Iris Drivers: “When I think about trends, it would be easy to immediately default to ‘Sustainability’. But I decided not to list that as one of my forecasted trends. Why??

Surely this should be the most important thing when designing and creating? Exactly! It should, but it shouldn’t be classed as a ‘trend’, sustainability should be a given, a way of life for us now, not a flash in the pan, box-ticking exercise.

The last two years have heavily influenced the marketplace, and priorities and attitudes have changed. Sustainability, recycling and reusing are all becoming part of everyday life and perceived less as an expensive option for some, but accessible to all.

There has been a very positive shift in both the needs of the consumer and what is being supplied by the retailers, giving us all better choices.

The isolation from family and a hankering for ‘better times’ has also fuelled a hunger for nostalgia.”

Kaye’s trio of trends…

The Nostalgic Pull: “I think we need familiarity and comfort with Above: Kaye Hunter.

Right: A collage of images from the History of Advertising Trust (HAT) archive (of over 10 million items) which This is Iris represents for licensing.

Above right: Some foliage rich imagery by Georgia Breeze, who This is Iris represents.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

everything going on in the world, and products with imagery that evokes warm, fuzzy childhood memories are growing in popularity. But even with younger generations who don’t necessarily remember the products of our childhoods or nostalgic brands on display at our grandparents’ homes, nostalgic brands seem to be loved because they are just so cool!

We’ve seen a clear uptake in requests for nostalgic artwork over the past year with our licensing and retail partners looking beyond TV brands for something a little different that can work across categories. We couldn’t be happier in sharing the work

of our partners at The History of Advertising Trust. HAT is a charity with an archive dating back to 1800 that holds some of the most influential pieces of advertising of our time. They have quite literally saved multiple brands from skips!”

Eat Your (Emerald) Greens: “We have heard a lot about trying to reconnect with nature, bringing the outside inside, and this is being

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Art Source reflected in next year’s big colour… emerald green, and the use of large scale leaves and foliage across a whole gamut of products. The bigger and bolder, the better!

The opulence of emerald green works beautifully with rich golds and coppers. It is a colour that really reflect harmony, growth, renewal and a sense of positivity.”

Turning Japandi: “Predominantly seen coming through in interior design, the Scandinavian Japanese mix design style is sure to follow through into different product areas.

Minimalist in style, using simple lines and muted palettes with natural materials. It is contrasted beautifully with the use of oversized greenery and bold, statement elements.”

Left: Echoes of Japandi from Dominique Vari, who This is Iris represents and shared on Instagram.

Below left: A pared back pure design from Dot Dash.

Below right: There are echoes of sunshine in this Dot Dash design.

Christa Mavroudis, design director of Dot Dash Design Drivers: “2022 brings with it a sense of optimism and renewed enthusiasm with fresh ideas.

We are ready to go on adventures and undertake new experiences. The focus will be towards the feelings of happiness and joy. People don’t want to spend 2022 holding back their creative ideas so we will see a rise in travel inspiration and art experiments. The one positive that will be taken forward into 2022 is the rapid growth and adoption of so many new digital creative channels and this will produce some exciting and fresh ideas from new creative personalities.”

Christa’s trio of trends…

Creative expression: “Embracing the new year with optimism using colour, creativity and fun! Abstract and expressive patterns will be strong in 2022. As we try new outdoor activities and start travelling, the prints will be energetic, bold and bright.

We will be celebrating positivity and self-expression.

Artwork will feature abstract faces, naïve childlike motifs and joyful cut and paste patterns. There will be a combination of florals, fruits and phrases. Colour palettes will be mood boosting and vibrant, using super-sized Above: Christa Mavroudis.

Right: An expressive feelgood image from Dot Dash.

feelgood motifs and bold quotes on love and togetherness.”

Neutral combinations: “Earthy neutrals that nourish and uplift the soul will be another key trend. Inspired by ancient rituals and the moon cycles, this holistic trend will have warm sand dune hues and new celestial motifs.

Spreading joy and unity through art, there is a sense of tranquillity and calmness.

Peaceful and timeless with organic shapes and traditional wisdom.

Neutral combinations with a sense of minimalism. Dried florals and desert landscapes inspire floral prints and texture.”

Celebrating soulful positivity: “Sun-kissed palettes that promote health and wellness. Ditsy florals, sunflowers and sun motifs will reflect happiness and the simple pleasures of life.

Stripes will be hand-painted and teamed with subtle geo prints.

Encouraging phrases will be strong as we inspire each other.

This story is about light and wellbeing, using colour blocking and zesty palettes to freshen our moods and feel energised.”

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PG ASKED A SELECTION OF RETAILERS FOR THEIR BEST SELLERS. Paul Gibbs and Neil Burden, co-owners of Humbugs, Towcester.

A specialist card and gift shop in a Northamptonshire market town.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Noel Tatt Cherry Orchard Publishing Jonny Javelin Alex Clarke UK Greetings Noel Tatt

All ranges Grace; Paper Hugs

“These four publishers always have great ranges with designs that change regularly.”

Humour

Photographic

Abacus Noel Tatt

Adult ages

Cherry Orchard Publishing Words ‘n’ Wishes IC&G Nigel Quiney Noel Tatt IC&G Jonny Javelin East of India Sarunds

Children’s

Gifts

All ranges All ranges Traces of Nuts; Giggles; Out of the Ark Photographic humour BBC Countryfile; BBC Springwatch RSPCA; Cube Down Memory Lane; Grace Letter Press All ranges All ranges Doodle Pip All ranges All ranges All ranges Belgian chocolates

“Between these ranges there is a design to make anybody, of any age, laugh.”

“Great range of animal and scenes with blank cards for any occasion.”

“All these publishers offer right cheerful ranges to please everybody.”

Above: A new design in Abacus’ Springwatch collection.

Right: One of the age cards from IC&G’s new boxed card collections.

“They offer modern designs that change with the latest trends of today.”

“Pick up gifts at an affordable price.”

“A better range of flavours than the ‘normal’ boxed chocolates.”

John Barratt, owner of The Card Centre, Felixstowe.

A 75 year old card shop in the Suffolk port and seaside town.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Bug Art

Kooks

Humour

Jonny Javelin IC&G Woodmansterne Peartree Heybridge

Across the board Across the board Secrets to being a cat; It’s a Dog’s Life Camilla & Rose

“So well designed. They appeal to all ages.”

“Well cared for collections, with good quality inserts.”

“Great for pet owners.”

Green Pebble

Across the board

Woodmansterne Paper Bird

National Trust Harmony Fauna

Relations and Occasions

Museums & Galleries Jonny Javelin

Matthew Williamson Across the board

Photographic

UK Greetings

Giftwrap

Glick Museums & Galleries Paper Blanks Portmeirion

Landscape Photographer of the Year Across the board Matthew Williamson Notebooks Wrendale mugs; Sara Miller London mugs

Art

Above right: A Kooks design from Bug Art. Right: Puffin in Boots from Paper Bird.

Gifts

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

“Ideal for women to women sends, with a little bit of naughtiness.”

“A lot of the imagery and artists are ‘localish’ to us.”

“Just beautiful.”

“The birds in boots are amazingly popular.”

“Stunningly colourful.”

“Customers ask for the publisher by name.”

“Fabulous images.”

“Great co-ordinated collections.”

“The designs really stand out.”

“The presentation is spot on.”

“Good size mugs that are nicely boxed.”

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Koren Mark, owner of Cards & Wrap, Diss.

A well loved card and gift shop in a small Norfolk market town.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Nigel Quiney

Pizazz

Humour

Rosie Made a Thing

Gin & Frolics

Art

UK Greetings Wrendale Designs

Giggles Country Set

Words ‘n’ Wishes

Across the board

Jonny Javelin

Velvet

Giftwrap

Words ‘n’ Wishes Holy Mackerel IC&G Simon Elvin

Letter Press One Lump or Two Year You Were Born Giftwrap sheets

Gifts

Potters Crouch

Wellness

Wrendale Designs

Homewares and stationery

“A great all-rounder with not too many words.”

“A special breed of fresh quirkiness.”

“Good variety of designs.”

“The original and the best.”

“Increasingly diverse styles.”

“Great traditional designs.”

“Very smart looking cards.”

“Something a bit different.”

“Continues to sell well.”

“Great value and good designs.”

“This range has gone down well.”

“We have loyal Wrendale customers.”

Relations and Occasions

Thinking of You Adult Ages

Above right: A Thinking of You design from Words ‘n’ Wishes’ Letter Press range.

Right: Holy Mackerel’s One Lump or Two range has adult ages covered.

Brent Milburn, owner of Newframes, Soho, London.

A greeting card and framing shop located in the heart of Soho by Carnaby Street.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Paper Salad

Hoopla

3D

Wendy Jones-Blackett Lagom The Art File

Rainbow Drops Across the board Form

Lucilla Lavender Paperlink Lagom Ohh Deer Brainbox Candy

Art

Dean Morris Pack a Punch Paperlink Canns Down Press

Across the board Across the board Across the board Twin Pines Modern Toss; David Shrigley Fabulous Across the board Just Saying Across the board

“Vibrant, original designs with great embossing.”

“Wonderful foiling.”

“Often copied, but never as good.”

“They look impressive on the spinner.”

“Lots of fresh updating to the collections.”

Children’s

James Ellis Stevens

Shakies

Giftwrap

Giftwrap UK

Plain colours

Self-purchases

The Art File Guppy’s Chocolates Pyramid

Gift bags Across the board Posters

EastEnd Prints Legami Potters Crouch

Prints Powerpacks, lights in bottles Candles; diffusers

Flame Tree Publishing

Notebooks

Relations and Occasions Humour

Gifts

“We do very well with irreverent humour from these four publishers.”

“Strong general appeal.”

“The range covers all art genres.”

“Great graphics and sustainable to boot.”

“The bows and ribbons are great too.”

“Very impressive.”

“Great pick-up packs.”

“The film and pop icons do well.”

“Strong designs.”

“Unusual gifts at good price points.”

Top: A Fabulous design from Dean Morris.

Above: Some Guppy’s Chocolates Shards.

“The Sea Breeze and Vetiver & Grapefruit scents are especially popular.”

“The foil embossed designs look very attractive.”

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Publishers of quality blank greeting cards Tel: 0115 929 4776 enquiries@bugart.co.uk Order Online

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l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

7RPFDW &DUGV 6 Heron Trading Estate Alliance Road, Park Royal, London W3 0RA T: 0208 385 4474 F: 0208 385 4471 E: info@Xpressyourselfcards.co.uk WWW.XXPRESSYOURSELFCARDS.CO.UK

PRODUCTS: World’s leading publisher of high quality plastic greeting cards. Also an extensive range of quality greeting cards covering Everyday, Occasions, Christmas and Spring seasons.

To appear in the Product Directories contact Warren Lomax T: 020 7700 6740 email: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact Tracey Arnaud T: 07957 212 062 email: traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

BRANDS: Cherished Thoughts, Sweet Sentiments, Buddies Always, Symphony, Thinking of You, Style, Special Wishes, Special Times, Young Editions, Groove Sensations, Forever Blessed, Grey Skies, Classics.

METHOD OF SALE: SENSATIONS – Direct to retail XPRESS YOURSELF – Now one of the leading wholesale publisher suppliers in the UK

www.tomcat.cards info@tomcat.cards

Products: Greetings Cards, Gift Wrap, Gift Bags, Social Stationery, Partyware

Brands: Blossom & Bows Card Essentials Greetings Impressions In Touch Isabel·s Garden Planet Happy Sentiments With You In Mind Word Play

Method of sale: Wholesale Distributors

Simon Elvin Limited Wooburn Industrial Park, Wooburn Green, Bucks HP10 0PE Tel: 01628 526711 Fax: 01628 531483 www.simonelvin.com mail@simonelvin.com

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

The UK’s leading publisher of highest quality handmade Greetings Cards.

Products: Greetings cards for all occasions, Christmas and Spring Seasons. Spinners and other retail displays available.

Talking Pictures Cards Ltd 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent, TN12 6BE

Tel: 01892 838574 enquiries@talkingpics.co.uk www.talking-pictures.co.uk

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY

DIRECTORY OF WHOLESALE

Market Leaders in

Verse

& entimen

an extensive range of superior quality,

design-led Greeting Cards for all occasions, Spring Seasons & Christmas.

EUROPE’S LEADING GREETINGS CARDS, PARTY PRODUCTS, GIFTS, CANDLES, TOYS, STATIONERY AND FLORIST SUNDRIES DISTRIBUTION CENTRE 75000 SQ FT BESCOT CRESCENT, WALSALL, WEST MIDLANDS. WS1 4NG 01922-646666 www.greetingshouse.co.uk info@greetingshouse.co.uk MON,WED,FRI 8.00am-4.45pm TUES,THURS 8.00am-7.45pm SAT,SUN 8.00am-1.45pm

Method of Sale: Direct to Retail Orders can be placed on our trader site

www.cbgtrader.co.uk or call our customer services team on

+44(0)1243 792600

To appear in the Product Directories contact Warren Lomax T: 020 7700 6740

We offffer a COMPREHEN

range of high Greeting Cards f ALL

Occasions,

CHRISTMAS an Season f Sale:

To appear in the Product Directories contact: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud

mail: inffoo@words-nWeb: www We w..words-n-wishes.co.uk

Tel: 01942 233201

warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact Tracey Arnaud T: 07957 212 062 traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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DIRECTORY OF WHOLESALE

CLASSIFIED

l CLASSIFIED BAGS

Polypropylene & biodegradable bag specialists

GREETING CARD

Over 40 years quality service to the trade Hotfoiling also available

T 01206 396209 E sales@badgerconverters.co.uk www.badgerconverters.co.uk

BAGS We’ve been producing p bags of high clarity and high q quality for over 30 years.

01274 220 220 www w.wrapid.co.uk sales@wrapid.co.uk

BAGS

GIVE E YOUR

Manuffacturers of high quality fllexible packaging 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE - QUA UALITTY Y SERVICE EXTENSIVE STOCK RANGE - QUICK DE ELIVERY ASSURED

- HEADER BAGS - WA WALLET BAGS - ZIPPER BAGS - FLEXOGRAPHIC, HOTFOIL & THEERMAL PRINTING www.transrappackagin ng.co.uk sales@transrap.co o.uk

CALL US TODA AY

01773 5378 810

V VIP

TREA AT A TMENT HIGH CLARITY L TY Y BA AGS FOR R GREETING G ET T NG CARD DS, CALEND EN N ARS ARS A AND ND D ARTW TWORK WORK ŏ ŏđŏ ŏ

FOIL LB BLOCKING NG G EXTE XTENSIVE NSIV VE RANG V R RA ANGE OF S ST TOCK SIZES SIZ ZES AND BES AND BE ESPO OKE KE MANUF KE MANU UF FACTU TUR TURE T U E AT TED D WRAPPING SERVICE NEW AUTOMA

CALL CA CAL C LL US ST TO ODAY OD

0122 1228 228 2 28 8 5605 56 60 052 26 6 www.fful ulcrumfilms. ulcrrum mfillm ms s co.uk uk

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PRINTERS

ENVELOPES

FOR ALL YOUR ENVELOPE NEEDS! Largest range of in-stock colours Over 400 Bespoke Envelope Sizes 8 Sizes Permanently in Stock RECYCLED

PAPER

100% Recycled Paper Available Stock & Bespoke Cello Bags Peel & Stick Envelopes Bespoke Service on Request

ORDER ON LINE AT:

W W W. EN VE CO .CO .U K

01 90 83 78 86 6

www.regentenvelopes.com 01274 583000 sales@regentenvelopes.com

IN FO @E NV EC O. CO .U K

‘we we make Envelopes and Stationery’

MOREE THAN 50 COLOURS 6 POPULAR GREEETINGS CARD SIZES 50+ WH HITE SIZES IN STOCK BESPOKE ENV VELOPES AV AVAILABLE PEEL A AND SEAL CLOSURE RECYCLED / KRAFTT / 140GSM / 120GSM 11 SUPER BRIG GHT NEON COLOURS BESPOKE NOTEBO OOKS & STATIONERY

PLEASE GET IN TOUCH FOR TARY RY YOUR COMPLIMENTA ENVELOPE OR NOTEBOOK WATCH PA PACK SWA

SPECIALISTS IN SHORT RUN MULTI IMAGE PRINT s Foiling Services without the need for dies s Wiro bound notebooks, no minimum quantity s In House Fulfilmment Services

T 01274 305832 E info@hellocards.co.uk www.hellocards.co.uk

The simplest way to order your greetings cards

FLITTERING FOR ALL YOUR FLITTER REQUIREMENTS

ABL Foil Ltd Unit 1, Industrial Estate East Hanningfield Chelmsford Essex, CM3 8AB

Contact DAVID JIGGINS Tel: 01245 400104 Email: david@abl-ltd.co.uk

Powered by

Unit 8, Archers Park, Branbridges Road, East Peckham, Kent TN12 5HP www.theimagingcentre.co.uk Email: info@theimagingcentre.co.uk Tel: 01622 871449

we print

we finish

we pack

we deliver

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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CLASSIFIED

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l CLASSIFIED

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PJ PRINT LONDON The Capitals Only Specialist Greeting Card Printer All Industry Finishes Available In-House Including Laser Cutting

The Print Works Colville Road, Acton, London, W3 8BL E-mail: sales@pj-print.co.uk Tel: 020 8993 5160 www.pj-print.co.uk

Your saf ep ai

cturing ufa an m

ds for Far E as han f t ro

Outstanding, cost effective and efficient production of Greeting cards, Packaging and Social stationery, ideal for intricate and hand finished products.

• Over 15 years experience providing high-quality printed products direct from the Far East • Trusted and financially stable, UK owned by The Sherwood Group • Socially responsible manufacturing: SMET TA A, ISO9001, ISO14001, FSC certification • Full product prototyping in the UK for competitive speed to market requirements

To find out how we can benefit your business, contact Derek Lam +00 (852) 3527 3471 / derek@sherwood-press.com or The Sherwood Group Head Office Hong Kong Office: 13/F, Kam Chung Commercial Building, 19-21 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

www w..sherwoodgroupuk.com 112

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CLASSIFIED

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Social Sta tationerry Printer of the Year

Award winning U UK & Global specialist manufacturer ffor the greeting card industry fo or over 40 years To discuss how we can worrk together, contact Richard Bacon: Tel 0115 928 7766 Email ric chard.bacon@sherwoodgroupuk.com

www.sherrwoodgroupuk.com Hadden Court, Glaisdale e Parkway, Glaisdale Drive West, Nottin ngham NG8 4GP

WAREHOUSING & DISTRIBUTION

Same day order turna around Accurate fulfilment Value added only as you sell the product

THE SPECIALIST GREE ETINGS CARD PRINTE ER

Exclusively Greeting Cards Dedicated Account Managers

Litho Print

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Digital Print

F ering Flitt

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D Distribution

With an excellent reputation we work as an integral part of your team bringing QYGL QSVI XLER JYPǻPQIRX 4YV GSWXMRK WXVYGXYVI MW WMQTPI ERH XVERWTEVIRX ;I ; I GEVV] SYX EPP EWTIGXW SJ LERH ǻRMWLMRK ERH EWWIQFP] ERH TVSZMHI [LEXIZIV EHHMXMSREP WIVZMGIW ]SY RIIH 4YV WIPIGX XIEQ SJ SYX[SVOIVW GEVIJYPP] LERH [VET ER] WM^I SV JSVQEX SJ GEVHW YVKIRXP] 4ZIVRMKLX ;I ; I GEVI EFSYX ]SYV TVSHYGX EW QYGL EW ]SY HS &XXIRXMSR XS HIXEMP 6( .WWYIW

Tel:0127 e 4 4531828 Email: info@herbertw o alkers.co.uk

www.herbertwalkers.co.u uk

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APPOINTMENTS

l APPOINTMENTS

l APPOINTMENTS

l APPOINTMENTS

Va V acancies are being b created for Territory Agents Te s for Independent and Key Account Customers around d the UK. Please email mark.mo ostyn@wplgifts.co.uk to register interest and detail your experience.

www w..wplgifts.co.uk g

FINDING QUALITY TEAM MEMBERS RS Looking for A Artistss, Sales Agents, Sales ess Reepresentatives, Marketing M gM Manager ers, Designers orr P o Product manaager gers?

Taalk to uss about ab our In ntegratted Recruitmen ment Packkage.

An advert in PG mag gazine’s g Appointment Sectio on and a month’s worth of advverts on our digital new news w feed, ee G BU BUZZ. or more m details contact Warrren Lomax on warrren@max-publishing.co.uk or TTracey Arnaud on Tracceya@max-publishing.co.ukk 115

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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