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GCA Market Report
For What It’s
Worth The British public spent more on greeting cards last year than ever before - an astonishing £1.75 billion, up £500,000 on the previous year. This triumphant industry news is revealed in the recently published GCA UK Greeting Card Market Report 2017. PG considers the facts and figures of this important annual research, which provides a health check for those in the greeting card industry. This industry is very much anchored in the visual and the emotional, the buying and sending of greeting cards, as we all know, performs a vital role in our nation’s social communication. Its ‘worth’ in this sense is immeasurable, but as one of the most retailed consumer products it is important to know how the humble but mighty greeting card is faring in our technologically instant age of pinging texts and What’s App messages, overfull email inboxes, Instagram abundance and where ‘sharing’ and ‘likes’ are things you do with people you may never meet. A recent study (from ipostparcels, a parcel provider that is part of DHL) claimed that 43% of Millennials have never sent a card, letter or parcel. Now, is this worrying stuff for
those in the greeting card industry or should it be viewed as an opportunity? It depends on how you look at it. Certainly the UK greeting card industry is holding its own at the moment, in fact, it is doing rather well. The recently published UK Greeting Card Market Report 2017 from the GCA makes for reassuring reading. The facts speak for themselves. The British public spent £1.75 billion on greeting cards in the last year (2016 compared to 2015), up a chunky £500,000 on the previous year. Any increase is good, not only as it reaffirms the product’s place in contemporary society, but it also puts food on the tables of
The report card method The UK Greeting Card Market Report is commissioned annually by the Greeting Card Association (GCA) to provide reliable figures on the greeting card industry. Award-winning market data company, Ebiquity, once again undertook to manage the project this year. Publisher members submitted their UK retail sales data covering January 2016 - December 2016 to a confidential, secure online survey. The report assumes that the actual data submitted by members’ accounts for 73% by value and 64% by volume of the greeting card market (considering the market shares of the likes of Card Factory and online operators). The collected sales data is then extrapolated to give full market figures. The Market Report is available at no additional charge to GCA members (in the Members’ Library of the website) and for non-members for a cost of £750 (+VAT). Above: GCA’s ceo Sharon Little took to the streets to promote Thinking of You Week last year which saw members of the public proclaim their love of cards. Left: The GCA Market Report shows how UK card purchasing held up across everyday, Christmas and Spring Seasons in the last year.
the 100,000 people that are estimated to be employed directly and indirectly by our industry, and this is likely to be a conservative estimate on the indirect front considering the wide ripples to the masses of people who are involved on the retail, creative, sales, production, warehousing or transportation sides of the trade. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the sales in the period came from everyday cards (accounting for 77%), encouragingly with relations and occasions, the bedrock of the specialist retailer, performing very well, up by almost £1million on the previous year. The report will no doubt prompt member publishers (and retailers) to have another look at the Spring Seasons area to PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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