22-23_Cardsharp.qxp_Layout 1 30/09/2025 20:09 Page 1
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Boom Boom! Within a year Generation X consumers will outspend Baby Boomers for the first time globally and will remain the biggest spenders until 2033, according to a recent survey. This has to be good news for the greeting card industry, reflects Cardsharp. For those readers who think Generation X is the punk rock band where a snarling Billy Idol launched his career, Cardsharp will clarify. Generation X refers to those people born between 1965 and 1980, so are Above: “Boom, Boom!” was the catchphrase of the celebrated puppet Basil Brush. Below: Punk Billy Idol was ahead of his time in calling his band Generation X.
22 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
currently 45 to 60 years old, while Baby Boomers captures those born between 1946 to 1964, so are currently between 61 to 79 years old. And Generation Zers are those aged 15 to 29. Gen Xers’ financial preeminence will have significant impact on the UK retail scene. There are13.7 million Gen Xers in the UK, which represents about 20% of the population. Up to now Baby Boomers have been regarded by many as the 'Gilded Generation'. All though it is easy to generalise, many Boomers benefitted from the huge increase in
the value of their property and their pensions. Many are comfortably off with relatively high disposable income as they are retiring or entering their last years of employment. In many ways boomers were responsible for the huge growth in the sales of greeting cards in the 1990s and the 2000s. They not only fully engaged the greeting card sending habit, but passed that baton on to Gen Xers, who also embraced the habit with gusto. Xershave, in many cases large social circles, especially the women, and this tends to lead to frequent card sending for a myriad of occasions and reasons. And there are strong reasons to believe that many Gen Xers will continue the card sending tradition. They are often known as the latch key generation, as they grew up with either both parents working or with parents that divorced and so are self-reliant in many cases. Gen Xers are also self-reliant in that they are the last generation to grow up without the internet or the mobile phone. This last analogue generation so to speak, means that although Xers are enthusiastic digital adopters, they still highly value their human contacts. Although many are at the height of their earning power, having experienced the financial collapse and subsequent recession of 2008 to 2010, the fallout from Brexit, Covid and lockdowns, they are often financially prudent. But when they do splash the cash, it is generally a mixture of online and bricks and mortar. And generally, they are no mass lovers of Temu and their like, displaying brand loyalty and a willingness to pay more for quality. This means that they will probably have a multi-channel approach to shopping so retailers with both a strong bricks and mortar and online presence will do well with this demographic. You generally won’t find them spending time on Tik Tok, but Facebook, Instagram and increasingly YouTube, rather than traditional network TV. Nor thankfully, are they influenced by the mighty army of ‘influencers’, or ‘content creators’ as they like to be called these days. Gen Xers are predicted to be the biggest spenders until 2033, and the fact that they are big card buyers bodes well for our industry in the decade to come, believes Cardsharp. After this the millennials will take over that coveted top dog position position. And with this follow on generation, also loving greeting cards and stationery the future for our industry looks bright for a few years yet, senses Cardsharp.