Retail Interview

All in the name of charity

Naomi MacKay talks to Jeremy Lune, Chief Executive of Cards for Good Causes, about the organisation and what it does

Tell us a little about you. I have more than 30 years’ retail experience, initially in the commercial sector with Sainsbury’s and House of Fraser, before moving to the charity sector. I have been in my current role for six years. Tell us a little about the Cards for Good Causes’ history. Cards For Good Causes is the trading arm of The 1959 Group of Charities, which got together in, you guessed it, 1959, to collaborate and offer customers a choice of Christmas cards to support a variety of causes. The company itself was formed in 1988 and at its peak had nearly 400 pop-up shops. While retail trends and the pandemic have impacted this, we still trade in more than 100 locations, as well as online, with the support of more than 5,000 volunteers, and have passed back more than £35 million in the past 10 years Can you explain more about your notfor-profit status and how that works? As a trading company, we want to generate as many sales as possible and pass back every possible penny to the charities that we sell cards on behalf of. Like any retailer, we have costs and we need to cover these, but our shareholders are national charities and we don’t pay dividends or bonus schemes. The past couple of years have often seen us trading at a loss due to external circumstances so when we do have profitable year, we either counter those losses to keep a “We trade in more than 100 locations, as well as online, with the support of more than 5,000 volunteers, and have passed back more than £35 million in the past 10 years’’

stable balance sheet, or pass back excess to the charities.

Tell us more about the premise behind how Cards for Good Causes works. Historically, charities give us their Christmas cards to sell and we take a percentage of the sales to cover our costs (we don’t make a profit) and pass back everything else. For the 2022 season, we are moving towards a royalty model, where we produce the cards on behalf of participating charities and pass back a royalty for each sale. What about online sales? How are sales split between online and the pop-up shops? It won’t surprise anyone if I say that the balance is shifting towards online, and this was accelerated by the lockdowns in 2020. Online sales are becoming increasingly important to Cards For Good Causes, with the targeted split this year being 22% online vs 78% high street. This split isn’t as pronounced as many other retailers, but it is a significant shift from pre-pandemic levels when online sales accounted for just 4% of sales

Tell us more about the pop-up shops. We run two types of pop-up shop in the Christmas season - Traditional and Host - which run from October through to the end of December. The Traditional shops are those where we provide everything (staff, till, display equipment and volunteers) and rent the space. These are usually in spaces such as churches and community centres as well as, increasingly, empty shop units. The Host shops are those where we provide just the stock to set-ups such as libraries, Tourist Information Centres and cafes, which then receive commission as a percentage of sales.

Again, the pandemic has changed so much for us and accelerated some changes that were beginning to happen anyway. In 2019, we had more than 300 shops but the impact of Covid meant that last season (2021) we were down to just 65. We are now looking to build upthe chain to a sustainable level - this year we have around 110 sites planned. Our most predominant sites are in the Home Counties, as well as places such as Bath, Stamford, Oxford, York and Edinburgh, where there is a good mix of our core customer base as well as tourists.

How do you source products? We buy our main card range from a longestablished group of UK-based, charity-friendly publishers. In terms of gifts, we tend to work with a network of established suppliers, although we are always on the lookout for new product ranges. Pre-pandemic, ranges were discussed at trade fairs and followed up with face-to-face meetings, although this obviously changed during the pandemic when these meetings took place remotely and ranges were chosen through online catalogues.

What is your selection criteria? We have an incredibly loyal customer base with relatively traditional tastes so this is the starting point. We use a third-party merchandising consultancy, Flourish, which provides excellent analysis of sales history by type of design, charitable cause and outlet; this forms the basis of our buying plan for the year ahead. Obviously, sustainability and ethical production plays a huge part in informing what we buy and who we buy it from too. How do you work with suppliers? The card publishers that we work with are all incredibly supportive of us and the charity sector as a whole - it isn’t something that they do just to tick a CSR box, and while they undoubtedly offer excellent service to their commercial customers, they are all empathetic to the fact that we work with limited resources and budget in order to pass back as much as possible to our charity partners. Tell us some of the card publishers/ designers you work with. Over the years, we have tended to work with Paper Dove, Ling, Elle Media and Museum and Galleries, as well as Art File for everyday cards. What are your best selling products? There isn’t one standout - as mentioned, our customers’ tastes are quite traditional; they appreciate a good-quality card supporting a great charity. Our best performing pop-ups are in churches that also have a tourist footfall, so we do sell a lot of cards featuring classic religious imagery such as renaissance paintings of Madonna and Child and so on. Beyond that it’s all about robins, snowmen and Santa! Have you introduced anything new? We introduced a personalised card model on our online shop last year. We recognise that many customers are no longer looking for packs of 10 generic cards but would rather spend a little more on a product that is specifically bought with a close friend or family member in mind, as demonstrated by the likes of MoonPig. Is there anything from suppliers that you are particularly excited about? I think the shift to sustainability and environmental responsibility is hugely important. A couple of years ago, we really struggled to source plastic-free packaging and if we did, it came at a significant cost and at times it felt that the industry was some way behind the public demand for this. But now it seems to be integral to most offers, from single naked cards, to plant-based cello packaging. Have you been affected by price rises and stock shortages? We are a very seasonal business, so we plan some way in advance and, to date, supply chain issues haven’t affected us particularly. We are already seeing the economic landscape impacting our buy for this year but our suppliers have been as supportive as possible. What about diversity? Again, we have a very traditional customer base and our focus is primarily on Christmas cards but we recognise the need to generate income for charities across the year and to a more inclusive group of supporters. Last year we introduced a small range of products to celebrate Eid, Ramadan and so on. This is something that we need to get much better at in the future. What challenges have you faced over the past couple of year? With the seasonal nature of our business and the potential vulnerability of our core customer base, the 2020 lockdowns nearly brought us to our knees, and the recovery from that huge financial blow still continues. Like everyone else, we have had to become much leaner and this year is all about stabilising the balance sheet before moving forward to pass back even more income than ever to charities large and small. I am confident that, having survived the most incredibly challenging two years, we can continue to adapt and thrive. It’s a cliché, but being nimble is the key to working in a world of constant and rapid change.

The immediate challenge for all retailers lies ahead as people’s disposable income reduces. How this will affect the Christmas spending remains to be seen. We are fortunate that our customer base is broadly at the more affluent end of the spectrum so recessions haven’t impacted us to the degree that they might do others.

“The card publishers that we work with are all incredibly supportive of us and the charity sector as a whole - it isn’t something that they do just to tick a CSR box’’

Historically, the biggest economic factor that has impacted our sales has been a rise in Royal Mail costs and there is currently a lot of talk about one or more rises this year. Hopefully people will realise that charity Christmas cards are an affordable way to support a great cause of your choice. I always remind people that the cost of one of our cards from a pack of 10, along with a second-class stamp, is still less than half the price of a cup of coffee. Anything else you would like to add? I don’t think you can understate the impact of receiving a card through the post from someone you care about. Three years ago, I had a cancer diagnosis and cards came pouring through my letterbox from friends near and far. While I had the usual emails and lovely Facebook messages, it was the cards that really moved me and felt so very personal. So basically, when you are thinking about someone that you haven’t spoken to for a while or who may be struggling with something in their life, drop a card in the post. It makes the world of difference.

What cards would you choose to receive for a special occasion? Something stylish and witty - much like myself!