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VIEWPOINTS Below: Christmas stocking to generate maximum sales is always a tricky balance!
Festive Greetings As ever there was a lot riding on Christmas trading, but while a bit bumpy for some, it came good for the majority. While many of the buying public shopped early, prompting retailers to instigate several top up orders, other shoppers numbed their festive feelings until after the Budget was announced. PG caught up with a selection of greeting card retailers for their take on Christmas takings.
Hazel Walker, buying manager of Waterstones Christmas verdict: “Amazing!” Reveal all: “Our Christmas card sales were strong right from launch and this continued throughout the season meaning we finished with growth on the previous year and beat our plan. Both single and boxed/packs performed well and achieved Above: Waterstones saw strong Christmas card sales across the estate. similar levels of growth.” Below: The retailer had a special Christmas card box to tie in with an exclusive version of Charlie Your approach: “As well as Macksey’s new book Always Remember. extending our relations cards, we increased our singles offer in more shops. Overall, these shops finished up on the year, with some seeing growth as high as 40%, so it was a success. Growing the options in our larger shops worked well for us. I think, as we become more known for our card offer, we’re seeing a wider range of customers, including those looking for a relations card, shopping with us.” Star performers: “Our own brand boxed designs were popular as always – these supported the BookTrust charity with a 20% contribution. We also had an exclusive boxed design to tie in with Charlie Macksey’s new book Always Remember and this flew off the shelves. Singles wise, it was a real mix with strong sales across the board – Museums & Galleries, Jelly Armchair and designs from The Art File all sold well.” Hunch for 2026: “Excited! We think there’s even more opportunity for Christmas next year. Given the success of the range extensions this year we’ll be looking at where we can expand space in additional shops and we achieved some great sell throughs so have lots of space for new designs for XM26. Outside of Christmas, we’ve just launched some new everyday and Valentine’s, which are off to a strong start!”
Jo Sorrell, owner of Cardies, Stevenage Christmas verdict: “Better than expected!” Reveal all: “Christmas card sales and trade overall was slightly better than the previous year, which given all the doom and gloom was a pleasant surprise.” Your approach: “Our Lab On The Ledge campaign was very well received. People commented daily that they had seen something on our Lab On The Ledge posts. Above: Cardies’ Lab On The Ledge social media Last year our bumper campaign was well liked by customers, gently charity boxes sold out very reminding them of the shop’s festive products. Below: A Five Dollar Shake design that quickly so we ordered three unsurprisingly featured in Cardies’ Christmas selection. times as many this year and every box sold out. Tracks offered a great selection of charity bumper boxes with 24 and 30 cards retailing at £5.99 and £6.99, they were all very popular.” Star performers: “ICG, Five Dollar Shake, Tracks and Paperlink were all good. Our individual relations cards, as ever, performed well – Wife, Mum, Grandson, Granddaughter, Daughter & Son-InLaw, Son & Daughter-In-Law, and To Both Of You were top sellers. We also sell lots of cards with dogs on and the caption From The Dog is also particularly good for us but that’s no surprise! Five Dollar Shake produced one of my favourites for this area this year.” Hunch for 2026: “As always, we look forward to a new year. May it be filled with cards and labradors!” PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 29