Apple this week released a greeting card App for for its devices. Hallmark is cool with the move. The share price for American Greetings (John sands) dropped 10%.
The Apple move will have a short term impact on greeting card sales but physical card innovation will protect and drive sales. As people settle in with sharing emotions through a ‘card’ some are likely to consider doing the same in print … especially with marketing from card companies and retailers indicating that a card on the mantlepiece is of more value than a text message which can be deleted.
I am not surprised by the Apple move. More will come too, not only in the card space but also more innovation challenging newspapers and magazines. This is what we must expect in this mobile content platform world.
Our job as retailers is to run card departments which are professional, appealing and comforting. We need to understand that buying a card is an emotional experience and connect with our shoppers appropriately.
We need to deal with card companies which evolve their products and work with us to evolve the shopper experience.
Vale Steve Jobs
Ditto, Brett 🙁
Yes this is so sad, such a dreadful disease. He was an incredible man.