Thursday, November 29, 2007
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Thursday, November 15, 2007
Greeting Card Market Flourishing
Greeting Card Market Flourishing
A new study conducted by Unity Marketing finds that greeting cards were the fastest growing category in the overall stationery market in 2006. This showed a big comeback for the product after four years of steadily declining sales, rising over 11 percent from 2004 to 2006. The report further showed that, in 2006, the market for greeting cards climbed to over $10 billion.
Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, noted that from 2000 to 2004 the sales of greeting cards were in steady decline, but in 2005 sales began to turn around, as, she says, a result of a shift in consumers' shopping preferences away from mass retailers and discounters. "In 2006 specialty card and gift shops regained 6 market share points. As a result, the mass merchants are holding on as market share leader by a thread," says Danziger. She notes that a drop in the number of specialty retail shops in the card and gift segments had an impact on sales. Now there is a revival of specialty retail for greeting cards, and due to the quality products, people prefer these shops to the mass merchants and discounters. Danziger explains, "A few years back the mass merchants, such as Wal-Mart, were the biggest, baddest competitors in the greeting card business, driving prices down and capturing the largest share of business. This resulted in a winnowing out of the weaker specialty retailers that couldn't survive the mass retailers' onslaught. But this new study shows that the tide is turning. The specialty retailers that remain are robust competitors able to attract more affluent shoppers who will pay more for the better designs and higher quality greeting cards available through these stores."
Published by Talcott Communications Corporation. Copyright © 1998-2007
Talcott Communications Corporation. All Rights Reserved
A new study conducted by Unity Marketing finds that greeting cards were the fastest growing category in the overall stationery market in 2006. This showed a big comeback for the product after four years of steadily declining sales, rising over 11 percent from 2004 to 2006. The report further showed that, in 2006, the market for greeting cards climbed to over $10 billion.
Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, noted that from 2000 to 2004 the sales of greeting cards were in steady decline, but in 2005 sales began to turn around, as, she says, a result of a shift in consumers' shopping preferences away from mass retailers and discounters. "In 2006 specialty card and gift shops regained 6 market share points. As a result, the mass merchants are holding on as market share leader by a thread," says Danziger. She notes that a drop in the number of specialty retail shops in the card and gift segments had an impact on sales. Now there is a revival of specialty retail for greeting cards, and due to the quality products, people prefer these shops to the mass merchants and discounters. Danziger explains, "A few years back the mass merchants, such as Wal-Mart, were the biggest, baddest competitors in the greeting card business, driving prices down and capturing the largest share of business. This resulted in a winnowing out of the weaker specialty retailers that couldn't survive the mass retailers' onslaught. But this new study shows that the tide is turning. The specialty retailers that remain are robust competitors able to attract more affluent shoppers who will pay more for the better designs and higher quality greeting cards available through these stores."
Published by Talcott Communications Corporation. Copyright © 1998-2007
Talcott Communications Corporation. All Rights Reserved
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