Greeting Cards

Any newsagent near a Priceline store ought to check out their Easter card range. Their new card supplier relationship has brought consistency to their greeting card offer. While the cards are cheap, they are packaged in such a way as to make them appeal to someone walking by.

A newsagent I was talking with a couple of days ago said he would respond with a spinner of $2.00 cards at the front of his shop. I don’t think this is the right approach. I have a Priceline opposite one of my newsagencies and I’ll leave them to play in the cheap card space. I’d rather focus on the more serious card shopper who knows quality when they see it and who wants a decent range from which to choose – the Priceline offer is very limited.

I was at a premium retail business yesterday and walking into the shop I passed a stand of $1.00 “quality” cards.  I thought what an odd message – I pass cheap cards as I enter a premium business.  Why not better quality cards?  Because they don’t sell said the retailer.  When did you last try?  Well, I haven’t.   Why make the decision for the customers?  It’s frustrating sometimes seeing confusing messages like this.

We’re have cards in the window with other products for Valentine’s Day. Saturday I saw a customer buy a card from the window. We use the window ought to showcase our full offer.

We have dotted our floor with these stickers, leading to our Valentine’s Display. It’s part of the newsXpress Valentine’s Day marketing collateral. Steal a kiss it says. I haven’t seen many kisses stolen – maybe closer to the big day.

I like the idea of the floor sticker because it encourages interactivity. The stickers make a nice difference from t-shirts and other traditional seasonal marketing.

Even though Valentine’s Day is still two weeks away, sales are strong.  Cards, plush and gifts are all selling well.  Going out early with our display was a good move.  While we don’t embrace the season as much as they do in the US, we’re getting there – I am keen to provide a more complete environment through which people walk for major seasons such as Valentine’s Day.

We are getting a good reaction from customers about our Valentine’s Day display at Forest Hill. With a big Hallmark bear on offer for one lucky customer we have a good driver for card sales. We have more plush coming in to complete the display next week.

I was talking with a customer at our boxed Christmas card table today and she was telling me how pleased she was that more card companies offered boxed cards as a fund raiser for charities. Her preference was for the Smith Family and thankfully we helped her support them.

My conversation this morning made me wonder what this move by the major card companies has had on traditional charity card outlets? It also reminded me that for Christmas 2008 we need to find a more practical way to connect with the charities for which card sales raise funds. I have a couple of ideas we might try.

By the way – boxed Christmas cards continue to sell well!

There was a time when boxed card sales fell off and single card sales took over – usually a week or so out from Christmas. At our Forest Hill store, where we have the longest history with boxed cards, this year has been different. Boxed card sales continue to be strong. We’re not engaged in discounting so the cards are selling on their merits.