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Industry Issue
The
PaperTrail
On top of the headaches of shipping and haulage, the greeting card industry is finding itself buffeted by a shortage of board supply and cardboard boxes, a paucity of kraft envelopes as well as a continuing upward spiral of costs paper prices alone have risen by 8%-10% over the last few months with another 5% increase on the cards for October. PG spoke to some dedicated trade suppliers about the rocky road and what they are doing to try and mitigate the challenges. The catch all phrase of ‘it is what it is’ continues to provide some brief solace during this extended period of uncertainty which is laid at the door of the pandemic. There are some things you can control, others that you cannot, it is learning to differentiate amid the yearn to satisfy customers’ expectations, be it from a paper company to a printer, a printer to a publisher, a publisher to their retail customer and ultimately a retailer to the consumer. “Board that we used to be able to rely on for an almost next day delivery may now take a month, kraft envelopes you cannot get for love nor money right now, thankfully there is still a supply of recycled kraft envelopes and publishers have been happy to swop to those,” summed up Adam Short, managing director of The Imaging Centre, which prints for over 500 greeting card publishers. “This is not about a blame game. The reality is we are all in this together. It is all about us Top: Some 80% of GF Smith paper is made in the UK. Above right: Windles’ md, Bruce Podmore in front of Iggesund’s Workington factory when the Incada campaign was launched. Right: The Imaging Centre’s Adam Short, allowing PG’s Jakki Brown to press the production button!
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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
continuing to work together, facing the challenges as then we have a chance of overcoming them.” As Adam adds, the erratic pattern of trade is further adding to the complexity of the situation. “It used to be that we all knew the rough pattern of how the year would pan out. This year that has gone out of the window. For us, usually January and February are peak months, then trade levels out during March and April, with a slump in August before rocketing in October and November. This year, January was dead, March was booming and August, usually one
of our quietest months went mad. You have to prepare for the unexpected!” With so many greeting card publisher customers, The Imaging Centre keeps 25 different boards in stock. “Publishers have designed their ranges with a board in mind. In these times of shortages and unavoidable price rises some have accepted a move to a very similar board, but for others their board is part of their look. We have tried to absorb as much of the price rises as possible, but in some instances this is just not possible. It is just a reality.” Ian Braithwaite, commercial manager of Fedrigoni UK (which supplies many greeting card publishers and printers with board), explains that one reason for the supply issue has been the rise in ecommerce during the pandemic which has triggered a big “demand for delivery packaging materials, the vast majority of which are made up of paper or board. There is also a growing backlash