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NEWS TOP STORY
Festive Feeling On A Low Simmer? Card retailers gear up for Christmas While Selfridges may have opened its Christmas shop in the middle of summer (July 31), most other retailers are only now starting to embrace the season. Clintons, Paperchase, John Lewis, Card Factory, as well as some of the other multiples and grocers, are teetering their way towards Christmas. But for many independents, it’s important to get the timing right. Too early and you risk alienating customers; too late and you miss out on sales. Emma Gillett, co-owner of Special Occasions in Castle Bromwich is steadfast the end of October is the right time to start putting out Christmas stock. “This means by the beginning of November we are fully stocked and in full swing for the festive season. This helps people get into the spirit of Christmas without forcing it upon them. We have to make a lot of changes in the shop to accommodate Christmas as we will not reduce down on relations birthday cards.” It’s end of October as well for Beverley Green, owner of Blue Rose Gifts in
Below: Boxed Christmas cards on sale at Card Factory.
Heywood. “The Christmas range takes over at least 70% of our available floor space.” In an exciting initiative this year, Beverley is working with 10 local primary schools to design the official Blue Rose Christmas card. “The idea is that the children will design a card then customers and parents will come into the shop (increasing footfall) and vote for the winning design, which we will professionally produce. This will bring new people into the shop. It has gone down very well with the local head teachers and we expect a good response.”
Inaugural Manchester Stationery Show For those in the card trade, the term ‘Henrys’ would normally be associated with the UK greeting card industry awards, but this is not always the case! H.E.N.R.Y’s is also the acronym for High Earning, Not Rich Yet, referring to the socalled millennial generation. Speaking at on both days of the Manchester Stationery Show, Phil Pond of trend forecasters Scarlet Opus, will be tackling how this group of consumers are different, in ways that have never happened before, and how understanding their expectations and influence over all consumer age groups will help retailers recognise how to win their custom. The inaugural Manchester Stationery Show (a sister trade exhibition to the London Stationery Show) will take place Tuesday and Wednesday, 31 October and 1 November, at the Victoria Warehouse in the Old Trafford area of Manchester. Among the stationery companies who will be exhibiting include Portico Designs, Go Stationery, Pomegranate and Allsorted. Visitors can register via www.stationeryshow.co.uk
Making positive Tracks Tracks has completely overhauled its website and has just gone live on a brand new online reincarnation, which has been developed in conjunction with Skylight Media. The new Tracks’ site marks the 30th website that Nottingham-based website developer Skylight Media has developed in the UK greeting card industry. As Ben Fidoe, Tracks’ design manager told Progressive Greetings: “We are delighted with the new site, it is much more product driven than our previous one, enabling us to be there for retailers whenever and wherever. The website will work very much in tandem with our catalogues and actual samples.” Although there is a facility on the new site for direct sales to consumers, the focus is very much as a trade site. Left: The new Tracks website.
Millennials need to up their card sending New research into the nation’s communication habits has claims that 43% of millennials have never sent a card in their life! The disappointing findings of a survey carried out by ipostparcels (part of DHL) suggest that the rise in popularity of smartphones and social media apps has seen people communicating more than ever, but not necessarily by cards. Some 42% of those polled admitted to texting their friends every day and over 208,000 pictures being posted to Facebook, and 65,000 images posted on Instagram every single minute. Some 40% of millennials confessed to never having sent a handwritten letter, 46% have never sent a surprise parcel and 42% have never sent a thank you card. The study by ipostparcels also discovered some confusion as to how the younger generation want to communicate because, despite 43% never having sent a letter, card or parcel, 80% are sad that these aren’t sent as much anymore. 81% of those surveyed also said they would feel more excited if they received a package or a letter in the post from someone they know, over a text or message on social media. Right: Time to get millennials engaged in card sending!
American Greetings sponsors entrepreneurs Incoming president of the Greeting Card Association (GCA) and director of marketing at UK Greetings, Ceri Stirland, was on a panel of judges for the Enactus World Cup in London at the end of September. UK Greetings’ parent company, American Greetings, was one of the headline sponsors for the event. Enactus is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring university students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action. Ceri says: “I feel proud to participate and be invited to be a judge of Enactus. Being part of the world’s leading greeting card publisher, investing time with future business leaders from 36 countries and hearing their entrepreneurial ideas is humbling.” Above: Chris Barr, UKG account director for Asda, Ceri Stirland, UKG’s director of marketing, and David Rowlinson, American Greetings’ executive account director Walmart.
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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