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State of the Nation
transport hubs. However, with the lockdowns, travel restrictions and working from home, it was on a hiding to nothing. But in contrast with the behaviour of certain other multiple retailers, the family-owned business did everything possible to alleviate the pain felt by suppliers - and at least is still trading, albeit from far fewer stores, from a much smaller estate, with former director Rumit Shah still part of the set up, working for the administrators. These two business failures aside, 2021 certainly showed the UK greeting card industry to be robust, something borne out by ‘Resilience’ topping the charts in the PG Retail Barometer as the one-word indies felt best summed up our sector in the last year. As retail and the economy picked up so did greeting card sales, with specialist card shops beginning the revival. Trade shows started up again, including Harrogate Home & Gift and a delayed PG Live in July, although by necessity they were shorn of international buyers. Even real physical awards events returned after a two-year absence with well attended Henries and Retas ‘dos’ while the GCA AGM and Conference in Manchester last October was a triumph. And the BBC joined in the industry celebrations with its marvellous Christmas Special prime time Inside the Factory programme, being dedicated to the journey of a Christmas card through the camera lens of a Woodmansterne design. But as the global economy revived, supply problems multiplied impacting on our industry. China, the manufacturer of so many greeting cards, had its own problems with localised lockdowns and labour shortages. The demand for raw materials pushed prices up and delivery times became longer and longer.
Above: Harrogate Home & Gift last July was the first ‘real’ trade show since the start of 2020.. Below: Wendy and (right) Steve Jones-Blackett with Windles Bruce Podmore, sharing one of the many moments of joy at The Henries last October.
Compounding all this was a truly astonishing increase in Far East container shipping costs. The average price of a 40’ container rose from an average £2,500 to a peak of around £20,000. The reasons for this were unclear. ‘Cartel’ and ‘profiteering’ were words bandied about, but whatever the cause, the result was inflationary pressure and depays for many products. But however damaging this was to publishers’ profit margins and mental health, the uncertainty and rumours of shortages on
shop shelves certainly helped give Christmas greeting card sales a very welcome early boost. In the end, although it was a close-run thing in many cases, most Far Eastern produced products did arrive in time to get on the shop shelves. And even the late Omicron scare did little to dampen sales for many card retailers, apart from those situated in large shopping malls, or city and town centres who were clobbered by the drop in footfall. So, what of 2022 for the greeting card industry? There are reasons to be optimistic.
For the first time in three years, we are on course for non-interrupted Spring Seasons greeting card industry events. While ‘working from home’ will not disappear, more workers will start returning to offices leading to busier shopping centres, town, and city centres as well as shops in travel hubs. Online greeting card sales which have boomed in the last two years are here to stay, but as research company Kantar clocked, greeting card purchases showed one of the strongest returns to ‘bricks and mortar’ than virtually all other consumer products, with people rediscovering the joys of physical shopping and fully appreciating the tactility and aesthetic triumph of greeting cards today. Greeting card sending events like weddings, children’s birthday parties, family celebrations and dinner parties will all be back with a bang. Spring Fair returns shortly after a twoyear absence, Top Drawer a few weeks afterwards while, with the easing of travel restrictions, the signs are that PG Live in June will see international buyers and distributors return to the London show. Despite all these hopefully positive developments, there are concerns. On top of worries of paper shortages, inflation will continue to eat into publishers’ margins while the huge projected increase in energy bills and tax hikes due in April will no doubt affect that vital disposable income upon which the industry depends. But after all the disruptions the greeting card industry has experienced in the last two years these are the type of challenges we are well equipped to deal with. The last words go to Jo Parman, strategic insights director of the Worldpanel Plus team at research company, Kantar, who stressed to PG the key role greeting cards play in human behaviour. “There was a sense of emotional impetus driving change as people longed for connection to one another last year - the greeting card sector offered an important way for people to stay in touch and show they care from afar. We’re still facing challenging times and it will be interesting to see how that desire to show the special people in our lives how much they mean will convert into sales for greeting cards.” The answer to this will determine the state of the greeting card nation in 2022! PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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