78-79_UK Greetings.qxp_Grid 21/05/2025 15:56 Page 1
IN CONVERSATION WITH… UK GREETINGS
GLiMMERiNG GREETiNGS When you are the major supplier in a market, not only directly but indirectly through brokering in so many other companies’ products, you have to know your stuff as well as being able to strut it on the product and service fronts. UK Greetings certainly does. It’s broad distribution, from the displays in the major grocers through to the 2,100 indie rooftops it supplies, means that the Dewsbury-based
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78 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Above: UKG’s ceo Ceri Stirland (centre), product director Sandi Parisi and Darren Cave, customer & channel director at the company’s Dewsbury’s HQ in front of its Henries trophy display. Below: A reassuring graph which shows the UK greeting card market is set to grow.
publisher has a close grip on the consumer’s greeting card buying habits today, as well as a pretty good idea of how things will pan out in the future.
UK Greetings is a force to be reckoned with, but it relies on the UK population continuing its love affair with greeting cards. Thankfully, not just for UKG, but for the entire community, the publisher’s insights show that the market is not only set to grow at least until 2030, with 93% of the UK population already buying at least one greeting card a year and with celebrations of minorstones signalling more opportunities. PG took a tour of UKG’s Dewsbury HQ to hear more insights and see how these are being put into practice on the 6,500 new card designs it has created in the last 12 months. Armed with its own data as well as a host of commissioned research, it is less crystal ball reading and more crystal clear. Crunching the hard facts and overlaying these with insights into consumer behaviour means Louise James, UKG’s head of brand development has her figures on the health and wealth of the sector. “There is lots of good news,” assures Louise, “not just in the current market but looking five years hence.” Accepting that life for the nation’s shoppers is not ideal with economic uncertainties, concerns over inflation and rising costs putting a squeeze on finance. Yet the “movement towards seeking out the glimmers of happiness and joy while valuing gratitude” all bodes well for greeting card sending as does our wider embrace of celebrations. “96% of the UK population are buying into the celebrations category, and within that greeting cards, at 93%, are still the most popular way to mark these celebrations, which is the highest it has ever been,” assures Ceri Stirland, ceo of UKG. What’s more, 81% of the population believe it has become more important to make an effort to recognise occasions such as birthdays and other life events, with 65% of shoppers revealing that they had recognised a birthday that was not their own in the last month.