With valentines day just round the corner who is actually paying for the cards we buy are loved ones, for that special day. We buy 86.4 million cards for Valentine’s Day alone.
We browse the card stands in our favourite stores, only to be disappointed by the cheese and dishonour that en graces the card we read. We stand there and think; Who actually wrote this? and why on earth would I decide to buy this card for my special valentine?.
According to the GCA 2010 'UK greeting card industry is worth nearly 1.47 billion annually' The average number of cards an individual sends a year is rated at 31 and furthermore the average amount of money we paid for a single card was £1.41. Over the past five years, the sales of Christmas Cards have decreased by 5% from £272 million in 2005 to an estimated £259 million in 2010. Suggesting that the greeting card market is slowly in decline and people may be switching to more home made options.
Greeting Card Market Report Cards have taken somewhat of a back recently with the the rapid expansion in technology offering opportunities for e-cards, alternative to emails taking over the greeting card business. It seems it is underexploited for greetings as only 14% of home internet users sent e-greetings in 2010.
During the recession, people have become more price sensitive and therefore reluctant to spend £2 - 4 on a card, especially with Christmas cards, buying packs of Christmas cards rather than the single card. There has been a polarisation, with growing demand for special cards as well as lower-priced options. Special cards could include, valentines day cards and mothers day cards.
Whilst we live in a digital revolution the era of the e-card has not taken the world by storm as analysts first thought as only 14% of home Internet users sent e-greetings in 2010. Furthermore research reveals only 12% of consumers send e-cards or texts as well as greeting cards, just 8% use automatic reminders and 5% use paid for e-card companies.
According to Michelle, from the Mintel Report “Despite competition from virtual alternatives like e-greetings or greetings via text messaging, a ‘real’ card is regarded as more special by consumers and so the market for cards is expected to be resilient to competition from virtual alternatives.”
If you are the creative within you, then in my opinion the card industry is get even more saturated and therefore increasing competition by publishers. Therefore making your loved one a special card, is probably the best option. and firstly the design is totally original, nothing quite like it, suggesting you have put allot of effort in to it and secondly you can choose your own cheesy one liner phrase inside the card.
Or as Michael Mcyntyre would put it "see last years card for full details". Couldn't find the YouTube video.
Statistics: http://www.greetingstoday.co.uk/news/november/%3Chttp://links.mkt3471.com/ctt?kn=4&m=3236112&r=MjA0ODAxNjkyNjQS1&b=0&j=MTAwODk0MDA2S0&mt=1&rt=0%3E
We browse the card stands in our favourite stores, only to be disappointed by the cheese and dishonour that en graces the card we read. We stand there and think; Who actually wrote this? and why on earth would I decide to buy this card for my special valentine?.
According to the GCA 2010 'UK greeting card industry is worth nearly 1.47 billion annually' The average number of cards an individual sends a year is rated at 31 and furthermore the average amount of money we paid for a single card was £1.41. Over the past five years, the sales of Christmas Cards have decreased by 5% from £272 million in 2005 to an estimated £259 million in 2010. Suggesting that the greeting card market is slowly in decline and people may be switching to more home made options.
Greeting Card Market Report Cards have taken somewhat of a back recently with the the rapid expansion in technology offering opportunities for e-cards, alternative to emails taking over the greeting card business. It seems it is underexploited for greetings as only 14% of home internet users sent e-greetings in 2010.
During the recession, people have become more price sensitive and therefore reluctant to spend £2 - 4 on a card, especially with Christmas cards, buying packs of Christmas cards rather than the single card. There has been a polarisation, with growing demand for special cards as well as lower-priced options. Special cards could include, valentines day cards and mothers day cards.
Whilst we live in a digital revolution the era of the e-card has not taken the world by storm as analysts first thought as only 14% of home Internet users sent e-greetings in 2010. Furthermore research reveals only 12% of consumers send e-cards or texts as well as greeting cards, just 8% use automatic reminders and 5% use paid for e-card companies.
According to Michelle, from the Mintel Report “Despite competition from virtual alternatives like e-greetings or greetings via text messaging, a ‘real’ card is regarded as more special by consumers and so the market for cards is expected to be resilient to competition from virtual alternatives.”
If you are the creative within you, then in my opinion the card industry is get even more saturated and therefore increasing competition by publishers. Therefore making your loved one a special card, is probably the best option. and firstly the design is totally original, nothing quite like it, suggesting you have put allot of effort in to it and secondly you can choose your own cheesy one liner phrase inside the card.
Or as Michael Mcyntyre would put it "see last years card for full details". Couldn't find the YouTube video.
Statistics: http://www.greetingstoday.co.uk/news/november/%3Chttp://links.mkt3471.com/ctt?kn=4&m=3236112&r=MjA0ODAxNjkyNjQS1&b=0&j=MTAwODk0MDA2S0&mt=1&rt=0%3E
