07_09_11_13_15_News.qxp_9/11/13/15/19/23/25 19/12/2024 18:36 Page 7
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Braced For The Final Flurry All looking good for the last minute surge The shoplifters have been As PG went to press, incredibly persistent, but our greeting card retailers customers have been as were braced for the last loyal as ever.” big sales push in their Bev Yates, manager at festive trading, with kind Maddison in Harborne and weather, no postal the two Bentleys stores, strikes and the midhighlighted that its sales of week falling of Above: Shoppers consider the Christmas cards “have done Christmas Day, there Christmas singles in WHSmith’s extremely well this year. was a distinct feeling of Reading store, before the last minute dash. Despite postage going up, positivity in the air. Below: Customers of Maddison and Bentleys were full of festive people still want to stay in “Our Christmas card spending spirit. touch.” sales are incredibly It is a similar story for Jon May, cobuoyant, we are well ahead,” stated owner of Mooch Gifts & Home in Mark Janson-Smith, managing director Bewdley and Stourport-on-Severn. He of the Postmark group of 15 stores. said: “Last week was crazy! Realisation “Our Christmas card singles are up double digits on last year, the appetite for Christmas boxes and packs is holding up well too. We’ve had over 85% sell through of boxes already and are regularly replenishing the displays in our stores. Christmas card sending is a tradition that is still very much alive!” Echoing this view, Priya Aurorathat Christmas was just over a week Crowe, co-owner of 19 Lark stores in away dawned on a lot of people, with London and Surrey revealed that the many leaving our shops with bags majority of its stores “have been trading loaded with goodies!” better than last year which is amazing.
John Lewis’ blow to Christmas cards John Lewis dealt a sweeping blow to the greeting card industry by declaring “Christmas cards are lost in the post” in its latest retail Shop-Live-Look-Report. Despite being one of the most sought-after retail accounts for publishers, John Lewis only included cards in its list of Products We Left Behind, alongside gazebos, ice cube trays, office chairs, personal video recorders, small handbags, chrome housewares, and factor 30 suncream. The Report, which aims to cover how we shop, live and look claims sales of boxed Christmas cards are down 23%. It was not made clear that the claim is based on its 2023’s overall festive figures as sadly media, including Daily Mail latched on to it. “Writing and sending a box load of Christmas cards, a key part of people’s annual celebrations, has been in steady decline in recent years, not least because
many families have taken to Facebook or even WhatsApp to send their festive greetings,” the annual How We Shop, Live And Look Report for 2024-25 stated. “But in the last year they seem to have taken another dive, with sales of boxed cards down 23%, and individual Christmas cards down 15%. Their fortunes will not have been helped by the fact that a first-class stamp now costs an eye-watering £1.65.” Taking issue with the coverage of the Report in the Daily Mail, Danilo ceo Laurence Prince hit back at John Lewis’ claims with his letter headlined Don’t Write Off Cards being printed in the newspaper: “John Lewis sells only a tiny fraction of the cards people buy at Christmas each year and, in fact, as the GCA will confirm, despite increased postal costs, the market is buoyant,” Laurence wrote.
BBC Breakfast at Paper Salad Greeting cards have been making the news big time in a multifarious PR campaign instigated by the GCA to boost Above: Karen Wilson with Christmas card reporter Nina Warhurst being filmed. sending. Setting the bar Below: Reporter Nina Warhurst shared the facts about high, at the Christmas cards on TV. start of December, BBC Breakfast filmed at Paper Salad’s Stockport HQ to highlight how much people still love festive greetings. Featuring Paper Salad owner Karen Wilson and GCA ceo Amanda Fergusson, there were two segments within the 3½-hour news programme featuring greeting cards, championing the 91million Christmas cards sent last year alone, that equates to a total £178m spend. Recognising the creativity involved, reporter Nina Warhurst highlighted that all the publisher’s designs are hand-drawn first, before being scanned and tweaked via computer programmes to add their signature neon colours and foil, adding: “This is original art – it really is art landing on your doorstep.” Karen unfalteringly and engagingly delivered the all-important message of how lovely it is to receive something that someone “has taken the time and trouble to select and handwrite a message” also highlighting how the joy of sending cards has not been lost on youngsters, citing the increase in card sending among 18-30 year olds. With studio presenters Jon Kay and Sally Nugent raising the issue of the significant Royal Mail price increases taking first-class stamps to £1.65 each – making a book of 50 now £20 more expensive than this time last year – Karen, who is also vice-president of the GCA, explained: “We must remember it’s only 85p for the second-class stamp, and post your cards early.” It was an early start as Karen’s slot was filmed live at 6.35am, before the cameras returned to Paper Salad to close the show just before 9.30am with Amanda’s comments: “We all love receiving a handwritten envelope on the doormat, a greeting card that someone's chosen and written especially for us. You can't put a text on the mantelpiece.” (See pages 28-29 for more on the media splash)
Above: Christmas cards featured in the Products We Left Behind section of the JL report.
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