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NEWS JL&P inks in Christmas
TOP STORY
Sainsbury’s To Go Naked Supermarket’s unwrapped card trial to be extended to all stores Sainsbury’s has announced that it is to ‘go naked’ on all cards stocked by the supermarket from 1 April 2019. Asda was the first UK supermarket to announce that it is making a widespread move to unwrapped cards. From this month Asda will start to remove ‘cellowrapping’ from the vast majority of the cards stocked. The only exceptions will be the more delicate, hand-crafted cards that will remain in a plastic ‘sleeve’ to protect them against damage. The move by Sainsbury’s is likely to result in the grocer reducing its plastic waste by 77 tons per year (given that the average weight of a cello bag is 1.4 grams). Of the latest development, a Sainsbury’s spokesperson told PG: “We are committed to ensuring our packaging is as recyclable as it can be, with a view to achieving our vision through continuous innovation or plastic free alternatives. We’re thrilled to be offering our customers sustainable greeting cards from next year as one of the steps we are taking towards meeting our collective target to reduce plastic waste.” Sainsbury’s, which won Best Supermarket Retailer of Greeting Cards award in The Retas 2018, set the pace in the grocery sector by launching a trial in 10 of its stores in September whereby all of the cards stocked were sold unwrapped. The trial was deemed a success on many fronts, not just the environmental one, as its card sales increased by 2.8%. Commenting at the start of the trial, Carly Pearson, buyer of cards and wrap for Sainsbury’s said: “Sainsbury’s is committed to reducing the volume of non-
Above: Sainsbury’s is going unwrapped on all cards from 1 April 2019.
essential plastic waste, with all cello bags destined for the bin, it is the right thing to do for our business and the environment to investigate how essential this plastic is within our department.” Up until now 70% of all Sainsbury’s cards have been sold wrapped, with customers responding positively to their unwrapped presentation, during the trials. “We received feedback from customers that they would prefer us to remove plastic from cards permanently,” revealed Erin Steel, Sainsbury’s brand communications manager. This step change is the first of a twopart process for Sainsbury’s. The retailer is now encouraging all suppliers to investigate the removal of plastic attributed to delivery packs. Continuing the approach it took with the trial, when Sainsbury’s moves to completely to unwrapped cards, the price label will be affixed to the back of the cards. Sainsbury’s is planning on communicating the change to the consumer when the unwrapped cards go into stores in April.
John Lewis semi-undresses cards John Lewis & Partners has launched a trial in its Milton Keynes store at the beginning of December whereby all the everyday Woodmansterne greeting cards were being sold ‘naked’ apart from a slim band of polypropylene than runs from top to the bottom to keep the card and envelope together. Lisa Rutherford, John Lewis & Partners’ stationery and seasonal events buyer, whose remit includes single greeting cards, told PG: “Like everyone we have been giving serious consideration to our environmental impact and Woodmansterne has risen to the challenge of possible solution. We are keeping this low key at the moment and did not want to involve other suppliers or involve Christmas stock, but a week into the trial and it’s looking good so far.” She added that if this way of presenting the cards in JL&P stores was to be expanded, that the ‘band’, or whatever bound the card to the envelope, would be made of an easily recyclable material.
As PG went to press (December 13), JL&P was reporting “amazing” Christmas card singles sales. “We were 10% up last week year on year and 11% cumulatively, which is excellent,” revealed Lisa Rutherford, the retailer’s buyer of cards, stationery and events, though Lisa could not comment on Christmas boxes and packs as they fall outside her buying remit. The department store retailer added some artistic cheer for customers of its Peter Jones store in London’s Sloane Square as well as its Oxford Street flagship, offering them the opportunity of having a personalised message created by talented calligraphers and brush stroke artists from The Proper Mail Company (a sibling to Woodmansterne). “Customers really enjoyed the interaction with designers and fully appreciated the craftsmanship that goes into greeting cards and how sending them is something special for the recipient,” said Lisa. Below: The Proper Mail Company/ Woodmansterne designer, Emma Grant at work in John Lewis & Partners.
Clearer thinking “It is self-evident that there is a huge amount of wastage in the industry and, thanks primarily to the general media and social media coverage about the pollution of our planet caused by plastics, we felt that we had to change our practices and make some changes to reduce our environmental impact,” Vicki Prior, Clear Creations’ founder and creative director commented. “Like many publishers and suppliers, Clear Creations is committed to reducing our environmental impact and, as a result, we have decided that for UK orders cards will no longer be distributed in outer bags. We are also looking into greener packing alternatives for individual cards as well as providing consumers with information on our cards about recycling options,” confirmed Vicki. Below: Vicki Prior, Clear Creations’ founder and creative director.
Above: While the Oxford Street store is its flagship (pictured), JL&P is using the Milton Keynes branch for its initial semi-naked trial.
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