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NEWS TOP STORY
Chris Houfe At Centre Of TPS A six-way greeting card publisher collaboration Experienced industry exec, Chris Houfe, is at the centre of a six-way greeting card publisher collaboration that is to operate as Tailored Planning Solutions (TPS) to provide a viable greeting card planning and supply option for retailers that is not brokerage. Abacus, IC&G, Paperlink, Pigment, MGML/Mint Publishing/Real & Exciting Designs and Second Nature are all equally involved in backing the new initiative, which officially launches this month. “TPS will be all about providing retailers with an easy solution of a strong plan of great selling greeting cards, into which they have total input, with the simplicity of being paid by a single invoice if they so wish,” said Chris, whose industry expertise spans over 20 years, with a career that has involved him working for Emotional Rescue, GBCC and CCA, among others. He is now working as a consultant for all of the six card publisher partners. The idea for TPS was sparked by a conversation between Chris and Simon Wagstaff, md of IC&G. “We both agreed that a group of like-minded publishers with complimentary product portfolios working together could really help retailers looking for a topnotch greeting card display, planned to totally focus on their customer requirements, but without any one
publisher having a dominating interest,” said Chris. Highlighting the strong publishing attributes of each of the six parties, Chris summed up: “Pigment and Paperlink are incredibly strong in humour and contemporary design; Abacus and MGML/Mint/Real & Exciting offer great art, photographic and licensed ranges; Second Nature is an expert in handfinished and 3D lines, while IC&G’s core is in traditional captions. Of course if a retailer wants to include other publishers’ designs in their plan we will be only too willing to accommodate their wishes and can liaise with those publishers.” TPS’ planning will be undertaken from IC&G’s Dorset premises, but publishers will be dispatching from their individual warehouses unless a retailer requests otherwise. “The last thing we want to be is prescriptive. TPS is about providing a helpful solution to retailers, while bringing them a potent mix of greeting cards. We are all very excited,” added Chris. Top: The logo fanfaring the new collaboration. Above: Chris Houfe will be at the centre of TPS
John Lewis’ card replan sees 65% ‘newness’ John Lewis & Partners has finalised the greeting card selection for its next replan, which will see “around 65% of newness,” according to Lisa Rutherford, John Lewis & Partners’ buyer of cards, stationery and seasonal events. The replanned displays will be installed in the department store group’s shops in February. “The biggest changes in our new selection are in humour and photographic,” Lisa revealed. “We are bringing in several publishers who we have not stocked before, including those we discovered at PG Live and the GCA’s Speed-dating with Dragons event,” Lisa added. Of these she highlights Lottie Murphy and Wendy Bell Designs, that were both sourced from PG Live’s Springboard section, while Penguin Ink came about as a result of Lisa’s participation in the GCA’s Speed-dating with Dragons event in February. Brainbox Candy and Sooshichacha designs are also joining the JL&P line-up for the first time in the refreshed selection. The grand overhaul - for which Lisa and her team worked closely with Woodmansterne on the card design planning - covers JL&P’s entire everyday, occasions and relations selection as well as tweaks to the online portfolio. Above: John Lewis & Partners’ Lisa Rutherford at The Calies judging day last month.
Bang on A Clintons clincher? At the time of PG going to press there had been no official news about the potential sale of Clintons, the UK’s second largest specialist card retailer, which trades from 334 stores. Following the announcement in the middle of September that Clintons’ owners (the Weiss family) would consider offers for the business, serious contenders were urged to submit their bids for the business Inset: No news from the Clintons’ quarters. by October 4. While NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) precluded interested parties from openly declaring their intent to acquire the specialist retailer, bids are understood to have hailed both from expected and unexpected suitors. The plan was that once these bids were digested the KPMG team was to pursue the likely buyers to submit serious offers of intent to acquire the business. Assuring the trade that it is very much “business as usual”, Eddie Shepherd, ceo of Clintons said that he anticipated the process to have been concluded in 12-20 weeks, which would mean by mid February. (See Cardsharp pages 24-25)
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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners have confirmed that this will be the last Christmas that they will sell Christmas crackers with plastic toys inside (below). Instead, crackers will be filled with toys made from recyclable materials such as metal and paper games, and decorated with techniques such as embossing, rather than plastic glitter. The decision has been made as part of the Partnership’s plans to cut down on single use plastic products.