Retailer Face to Face

This time last year, Tesco was about to take an enormous leap of faith on the greeting card front, transitioning to a partnership contract with UK Greetings, who in turn would bring in designs from 25 other publishers via brokerage.

Having successfully launched completely new selections in everyday, seasonal and own brand, trailblazed with its Introducing collection to champion diversity as well as support for small publishers and designers and clinching a Retas award to boot, that leap has put the UK’s second largest greeting card retailer very much on the front foot.

PG caught up with Sam Ody, senior buying manager of everyday cards and Katy Strachan, category manager for celebrations for the grocery giant to reflect and look forwards.

“Yes…looking back it has been quite a year for us on cards - and a very positive one at that,” summed up Sam Ody, Tesco’s senior buying manager of everyday cards and giftwrap about the first year into the contract with UK Greetings. With 2,700 Tesco stores, and each and every one stocking greeting cards, the logistical planning and execution to ensure a smooth installation across the entire estate within a few weeks last January was enormous.

“Full credit to UKG for ensuring that the transition happened with minimal disruption to our store teams and our customers,” added Katy Strachan, whose remit as category manager for celebrations covers greeting cards, partyware, disposable tableware and seasonal events.

Having both worked for Tesco for many years - Katy for 17 years and Sam for 15 - in various areas of general merchandise, they both know that all non-food products need to sing for their supper to safeguard their place on the grocer giant’s shopfloor. “Greeting cards however are very important to our customers, achieving the highest penetration of all products in Home [general merchandise], so they are definitely an important product area for us at Tesco!” stressed Sam, revealing that a third of all of Tesco customers in the UK buy greeting cards when instore. “Our greeting card displays are among the most visited in our stores, so we need to cater for all their sending needs, be it life changing events, birthdays or just to keep in touch,” elaborated Katy.

This high customer traffic means of course, that there is a lot riding on any changes made to the product mix, be it on the look and feel from the publishers involved, balance of design type, formats, retail pricing, display, PoS and marketing - and all that in a year when no one really knew how consumer card buying patterns were going to pan out as the nation adapted to life post-Covid.

“A key element of our relationship with UK Greetings was that we wanted to have

Above: All 2,700 Tesco stores stock greeting cards.

Left: Designs from Kong Yew Wong, Lucy Hook and Sam Jayne which formed part of the inaugural Introducing collection. Below: The rear of each Introducing design includes details of the artist, their photo and a QR code to link to them. Bottom: A new look display which incorporates cheaper own brand cards right up to those from upmarket publishers.

the flexibility of being able to bring in publishers to add different tones and bolster certain areas, such as in humour,” explained Sam. “We also wanted to develop an own brand selection that would mean we could offer great value as well as some charity everyday options.”

One of the highlights of Tesco’s new launches is Introducing, an innovative collection which the supermarket team developed in collaboration with UKG to showcase various designers, with each card incorporating a photo and bio of the artist on the back of the card, along with a QR code link, with dedicated POS instore.

“There are so many talented artists, designers and small publishers out there for whom supplying us via brokerage is not a model that would work for them. Through Introducing we have been able to share some of this incredible creativity with our customers with the designers each receiving a royalty payment and exposure to their work,”

explains Sam. “Such has been its success that we are making Introducing a constant feature on our display plans from January, meaning we can share this wealth of talent to even more of our customers.”

Introducing also forms part of Tesco’s commitment to ensuring more diversity and inclusion is reflected in its greeting card racks. “I would like to think that Tesco is leading the way with a fully diverse and inclusive offer, learning and adapting as we go,” states Sam.

Another priority area is sustainability. “We are proud to have been leading the card market on this front, but we still have some way to go. Our card range is now 100% sustainable, recyclable, and plasticfree. Sustainability was a key strategic pillar for us last year and will continue to be a focus,” said Sam. “We do however still need to be innovative and creative to ensure our ranges/products excite our customers through clever techniques, inks and paper engineering.”

A key to this, Sam feels has been the greater engagement with its publisher supplier base: “Having held two publisher events this year has helped to ensure our publisher community is engaged and up to date with the latest information from both UKG and Tesco. This has served to strengthen our offer, by giving them the tools to understand our business and our focus, which is always on our customers.”

An adjunct to this has been Katy, Sam and the Tesco card team’s greater engagement with the wider greeting card community, including by spending time at PG Live, being involved in judging The Henries, attending The Retas, as well as participation in the upcoming GCA Dragons Speed-dating event in March.

“The PG Live 2022 show was a great opportunity to witness how the already polished publishers, such as Emotional Rescue, Woodmansterne, Danilo and Carte Blanche, had really moved on design wise, but to also spend time with all the newbie and emerging publishers on the Village Green and in the Springboard area, to fully appreciate their lens on card design - and I am so excited that the launch of Introducing has resulted in us working with several of these,” elaborated Sam.

Looking to the year ahead and beyond, both Katy and Sam feel pretty buoyant about the greeting card sector. As Sam summed up: “Immediate challenges aside, the future looks bright. Our insights predict that the UK greeting card market is set to grow for the next five years…and we intend to be out there at the front!”

Right: As part of its commitment to D&I, Tesco worked with Hallmark on Braille cards for Valentine’s Day. Below left: The Tesco card buying team celebrating The Retas’ win. Bottom: Introducing is a significant card collection for Tesco.

Up close and personal

Having earned her Tesco buyer spurs in cookware, Christmas, fireworks, gifts, bed, bath and home accessories, Sam Ody was promoted to senior buyer for cards in April 2020, right at the start of Covid, when everyone was in lockdown. With her grandparents having been bookbinders, her father a printer, and her husband involved in the print business too, paper products were not only in her blood but her daily life. PG put Sam Ody on the spot for some other personal revelations… l What three words would your best friend use to describe you? “Fun-loving, genuine, caring.” l What is your guilty pleasure? “A large (or two) glass of Sauvignon Blanc.” l What is the favourite part of your job? “Seeing new ideas/ranges come to fruition, but most importantly resonating with customers is always a great feeling and is something that never gets old.” l What is your least favourite part of your job? “All things admin - although important to the job I much prefer being hands-on with the product development and builds than filling in spreadsheets.” l If you had all the skills in the world, what would be your dream job? “A travel critic.” l If there was a magic carpet at your disposal, where would you go? “Anywhere hot!” l How do you relax? “Some really addictive reality TV with a few too many chocolates always do the trick.” l Which three people (dead or alive) would you like to have at a dinner party? “Ryan Reynolds, Ant&Dec (surely count as one as they come as a pair!) and Luther Vandross.”