Retailer Revelations

A Christmas Without

Christmas trade ended up sparkling on the sales front for many retailers, but it was not down to the flutterings of flitter as this was the year when sustainability was high up on Santa’s wishlist with the ground gained in plastic packaging reduction set to achieve greater heights this year.

PG checked in with some leading indies for their views as well as what sustainable treats several publishers have in store for this coming Christmas.

Above: A Woodmansterne Emma Bridgewater single card that spread the sustainable love this Christmas.

Fiona Fabien, owner of Papyrus, Glasgow

“Consumers are definitely more in-tune with sustainable products and environmentally friendly cards and wrap. Recyclable and sustainable products sold the best, as well as unwrapped cards and cards with sustainable materials and packaging. There was less interest in flittered, glittered and embellished paper products with these definitely slowing.”

Mark and Leona JansonSmith, directors of Postmark, five shops in London:

“Environmental considerations played a huge part in our customers’ buying patterns, reflected in all our ‘eco products’ selling very strongly. There was hardly a drop of glitter in the shop with publishers doing really well to cut this from their offerings while retaining the Christmasy feel. Who would have thought a few years ago you could have Christmas without glitter!

Our wrap is now nearly all eco-friendly, something that was sought out by consumers, so an essential part of our offering now.”

Sarah Laker, owner of Stationery Supplies, Marple and Wilmslow:

“Most definitely, sustainability remains high on the customer agenda: we sold out of recycled Christmas paper tape and wrap - it was a clear winner. Also, customers wanted 'useful' stocking fillers, rather than plastic items that would just get thrown away. We sold a lot of pens and stickie notes as stocking fillers during December with Legami’s erasable pens being top of many stationery wish lists. I'll be looking to source even more eco products this year!”

Top: A sustainable window display in Stationery Supplies. Above: Sarah Laker in festive mode.

Roy and Julia Beswick, The Card Collection, East Molesey

“Customers were aware of the recycling issue and so all our kraft paper wrap, bags and bows sold really well and we had to reorder these as well. We had made a decision only to stock recyclable products from Glick, The Unique Paper Company, The Art File and Belly Button Designs and this really worked well for us.”

Linda Bygrave, Celebrations, Aylsham

“Most customers were looking for items that could be recycled or that were not made in China.”

Packing no Punches

Building on the sustainability progress The Art File has made with its Christmas collection over the last two years, which included the introduction of new fully recyclable packaging on its now three times Henries winning Christmas Luxury Boxes, there are more green steps being taken with the 2022 collection.

“We have revamped the packaging of our popular Charity packs, which we are delighted to announce are now fully recyclable. We have introduced a glassine band (fully recyclable) which goes around the pack of six cards and envelopes neatly, keeps the product together and also features the charity’s logo,” explains James Mace, sales and marketing manager of The Art File. On the gift packaging side, the publisher’s new bags will all be laminate-free, meaning that they will be able to be recycled fully alongside other paper products. “One of the largest challenges for us during our continued sustainability campaign has been the cello that surrounds our popular roll wraps. We are absolutely delighted to announce that after much testing and trialling with key retailers, our roll wrap is now cello free too,” reveals James.

Top: In addition to supporting Clic Sargent, Dementia UK and RSPCA with its Charity packs, The Art File is now also working with the MND Association, one of the only charities that is actively searching and researching for a cure to Motor Neurone Disease. Above: Alongside its Luxury Boxes, The Art File also revamped the packaging on its Trio boxes and 3D Form pop-up card boxes. All of the publisher’s Christmas boxed and packaged products are now plastic-free.

Heidi Early, coowner of Earlybird, Stoke Newington, London:

“The only glitter card packs we had for 2021 were from Caroline Gardner, and the publisher uses eco-glitter and were packed in reusable hessian-style bags so were super popular.”

Sean Austin, owner of Austin & Co, Malvern

“All of our wrap was recycled and was 100% recyclable. It was very much in customers' minds, but more signposting may be needed on POS. Suppliers need to shout out more on their labelling rather than leave the message in the tiniest of fonts.

The star of wrap sales was the recyclable kraft tape by Eco Boy. Many customers are quick to buy the paper, but don't think of the sticky tape they are going to use. We sold out of Eco Boy's innovative product, despite it being priced as a premium product.”

Below: Some Eco Boy products.

Nicky Stephenson and Claire Jarvis, co-owners of The Tutbury Present Co, Tutbury

“Most of our cards, including boxes, charity packs and singles are now cello-free or with just a belly band in the case of the packs. For us this is really important to show our commitment to becoming more eco-friendly. It has however caused a few issues with envelopes going astray when cards are nested rather than tabbed together. Customers haven’t really commented on the changes, but they are buying the unwrapped choices without issue.”

Above: Nicky Stephenson and Claire Jarvis enjoying a ‘white Christmas’ in January.

Maggie Wynn, owner of Just Cards, Honiton

“When all the Christmas stock was on display we really noticed the lack of glitter - not only did the cards not sparkle, but neither did we! A lot of the costumers commented that we did not have the “usual” boxed cards which we think was because publishers had taken the sparkle out of Christmas. That said, I do think the industry has been really proactive on the environmental front as evidenced by the reduction in plastic packaging. I admit that initially I was a bit dubious fearing it would result in more damaged stock, but this has not been the case.”

Carl Dunne, owner of Cards and Gifts, Sheffield and Dronfield

Boxed & P P Packaged Coectition

.outowww ofthebluestudios.co.uk “Sustainability was a huge consideration for customers. We were asked a lot for UK made products. We did have one customer who was upset that there was less glitter on cards, but all commented that they understood and that more needed to be done to find an environmentally sustainable glitter. Too many customers for my liking said they were sending messages, e-cards etc. instead of physical Christmas cards due to cost and waste, we need to counter this! So, I’ll be expecting more suppliers to provide us with UK-made and printed, taking on board that more needs to be done to make their products sustainable and environmentally-friendly. Into the Green's products are especially interesting as they meet those standards already.”

Above: The Christmas catalogue for Out of the Blue Studios, the wholesale sister company of Into the Green, which is also committed to sustainability.

Chris and Tracey Bryant, co-owners of Expressions, Cats Whiskers and Polkadot in Swindon, Bishops Cleeve and Keynsham respectively.

“Sustainability was a consideration. Customers were pleased to know that all our Christmas wrap was suitable for recycling. Oddly though we had a few comments about the lack of glitter on cards!”

A Loud and Clear Message

Both Ling Design’s and GBCC’s huge new Christmas collections for 2022 will be delivering the strong sustainable message right through to the consumer with the packaging detailing that there is no glitter or plastic used in the collections.

What’s more, the coating has even been removed from the cardboard used for the FSDUs of the group’s charity Christmas cards.

Right: Swan Mill, which owns both Ling Design, GBCC and Penny Kennedy, is making significant sustainability commitments with their respective ranges.

Well Minted

This year marks a new chapter for The Mint Group (which includes Museums & Galleries, Mint Publishing and Real & Exciting Designs) as it has moved away from cello-packs for Christmas and are moving to a plastic-free aperture box. “We are consciously moving away from plastic packaging where we can,” assures Sophie Bylina, administration and relationship manager of the Mint Group. The group’s ‘zero plastic’ pledge features strongly in its catalogues with a separate M&G Christmas catalogue detailing the 2022 boxes, a new charity range with British Heart Foundation as well as an extensive Christmas relations collection.

Purpose and Beauty

“At Belly Button we are all about creating purposeful design and a beautiful product, so anything that enhances that aim is a welcome addition. It so happens that there are various aspects of sustainability that do just that, and in the 10 years since we have incorporated ‘planet friendly’ as we like to call it into our collections, we have seen the quality of recycled board for instance improve incredibly,” states Rachel Hare, creative director and boss lady at Belly Button Designs.

For this Christmas, Electric Dreams is packed in the publisher’s specially-designed paper jacket and Mobius in a luxury box, both of which replace any need for a plastic bag or over packaging.

On the single card front, in 2022 all of Belly Button’s collections will be available either nested or card clasped.

Above: Belly Button Designs’ Mobius Luxury Boxed range for 2022 will adopt the same plastic-free approach to its boxes as this last year.

No Flitter to Flutter

As part of UK Greetings’ commitment to sustainability, its Special Editions charity Christmas 2022 range is fully plastic-free, flitter free and all packaging is made of recyclable board.

The publisher has expanded the number of good causes the collection supports with the addition of Mind standing to benefit from sales this year with 10% of the RRP going directly to the charities.

Below: One of the boxes in the Special Editions 2022 collection.