Greeting Card Trends

Above are interactive slides from my talk at Spring Fair International on greeting card, stationery and gift market trends. All images include hyperlinks so that you can click straight through to the websites of any companies you may be interested in. Feel free to share this using the links above.

The key take away points from my talk are summarised below:

Handmade, crafting and up cycling all remain strong trends and this is likely to continue this year. Knitting, crafting and stamp booking are all rising in popularity in the UK. Fuelled by of our interest in looking after the planet by reducing, reusing and recycling.

Sentiment is stronger and clever use of language and humour on text based cards, gifts and stationery continues to grow. Staying connected and close to loved ones is still important and it looks like there will be a rise in popularity in stationery and card sending. Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to write and send a considered thank you note each day throughout 2014.

We are also spending more time together looking back. So nostalgia, particularly vintage and retro, ranging from the 1920's through to the 1980's is doing well. It's all being done with a contemporary take to keep it fresh and interesting.

Nature is also a very strong trend. British woodland creatures are doing well. One of the big trends this year has ben owls which have been selling really well in cards and gifts . Foxes are going to be stepping into the limelight in the coming months and are set to be big this year.

British made and ethically sourced gift and stationery items has been one of the continuing current trends. The jubilee and the Olympics last year saw a huge British revival and our confidence on the world stage continued with Andy Murray winning Wimbledon and the US Open last year, Chris Froome winning the Tour de France (after Bradley Wiggin's win last year) and the English cricket team winning the ashes. The Commonwealth Games are being held in Glasgow in 2014, so we should continue to ride this wave of revived British pride.

Big events have been recognised as key drivers for retail sales. The birth of baby George has been key to growing baby product sales and forthcoming events like Shakespeare's 450th Birthday, World War I Centenary, the World Cup Football and the Commonwealth games will all offer opportunities for retailers. 

If you'd like to read more about key buying events and retail buying patterns click here.

Finally, one of the key observations to make regarding trends and how to improve your retail business is to pay attention to your customers needs and target them well. You can be as on trend as you like with your buying, but it the products are not priced and positioned well in your store you will not reap the benefits. Moreover, if your staff are not well trained and not focussed on making your customer's buying experience as pleasurable as possible your business will suffer as a result.

What I learnt about selling from Liberty of London's top shop floor sales staff

6 Ways that you can track UK Gift, Stationery and Greeting Card Trends

Click here for details of my talk on card & gift trends at Autumn Fair 2013

The UK card market is world leading and acknowledged to be up to 10 years ahead of other greeting card markets. Being aware of trends in the card and gift sector can help your shop stand out from the crowd and drive customers to your door. I'm not just talking about trends where leopard print or certain colours might be in fashion, although it useful to adopt these in your marketing and shop design each season. What we all need to be aware of are trends in products that are selling well or are about to sell well in our market place.

Whenever I speak or write about trends in the card and gift industry, I'm often struck by how they make sense in wider sociological, economic and political situations we find ourselves in. Experienced marketeers can tune into this and almost feel what might come next. If you don't have time to pay attention to these things yourself you can always take the following short cuts.

Here are six useful ways retailers track trends in our market:

1. Trade Magazines

The editors of the major trade magazines often write on trends in the marketplaces they cover. Magazines like Progressive Gifts and Progressive Greetings by Max Publishing both have What's Hot sections where retailers list out best selling products and top suppliers in different categories. The companies that are doing well often advertise in them too, Gift Focus is a bi-monthly publication that adds their advertisers from their trade magazine to their online directory on their website. They also regularly write on trends in the gift industry. Greetings Today magazine and Gifts today by Lema Publishing have regular columnists like John Ryan and myself who comment on trends and retail issues. Greetings Today also sends out useful emails if you subscribe to their list. All of these magazines are now available to read online via the links in this section.

2. Trade Fairs

Another good place to keep an eye on trends is at trade shows. You can pick up a visual clues by wandering the halls, reading the show guides and attending free seminars. Clarion Events organise the design led Top Drawer trade shows in London in January and September which are great for cutting edge design. They also organise Pulse in May and Home & Gift in Harrogate in July and have one on one surgeries where you can get advice from experts. i2i Events organise Spring Fair and Autumn Fair and are good at producing buyers guides and organising useful seminars on trends. They also have excellent websites that have great supplier listings with lots of images. There's even the specialist London International Card Show called PG Live held in London in May. You can see all of the shows Blue Eyed Sun attends by clicking here.

3. Trade Awards

Trade Awards tend to be judged by leading industry players and can give you a good indication of which products and suppliers are ones to watch. The Gift of the Year awards are organised by the Giftware Association and held at Spring Fair each year. Winners will often develop point of sale material that can help boost sales in your store. Here's a list of last Gift of the Year 2013 Winners and Finalists. For greeting cards, The Henries Awards are held in October each year and have an excellent cross section of leading publishers. Here's a list of the Henries Finalists 2013. It's also worth paying attention to retailers who win awards at The Retas for card shops and The Greats for gift shops. Check out the shops who are short listed to learn what has made their businesses successful. They often have a close eye on what trends sell well.

4. Trade Associations

The Giftware Association has been serving the gift and home industry since 1947 and is open to both supplier and retailer members. Retailers can benefit from discounts and special offers from supplier members at shows as well as various other benefits. They also have an excellent new directory show casing suppliers and an inspiring annual Members Day where you can learn from and network with industry pros. Members of associations tend to be more proactive with their businesses and pay closer attention to trends and products that sell. The Greeting Card Association is another great organisation that has a very good web directory of it's members.

5. Sales Agents and Reps

In many industries sales people are often regarded as focussing on their own interests to the point where customers have become wary of them. Blue Eyed Sun have had so many agents and reps (that are not our own) refer customers to us over the years that I really believe the card and gift sales folk to be different in this regard. For the most part they are genuinely focussed on helping their retail customers. It's worth grabbing a coffee with them and picking their brains on what's hot in the market place in addition to what their own best sellers are.

6. The Internet using Social Media and Blogs

I find tracking twitter activity at trade shows a great way of keeping up with what's going on in the market place. Social media can help with engaging with your customers and other retailers (who don't directly compete with you) to find out what trends are hot and what's selling well. Gifts and Greetings Review is an active trade blog that keeps you up to date with industry news and trends. I also like the Card and Gift Blog which regularly features up and coming card publishers. Print and Pattern is also worth keeping an eye on. So there you have it six ways to track gift, stationery and greeting cards trends: Trade magazines, trade shows, trade awards, trade associations, sales reps and the internet. Check out my other recent posts on trends and retailer buying habits below.

Read UK Greeting Card, Stationery and Gift Market Trends 2013.

Read How retailers are changing their approach to Buying

Below are the slides from recent my talk at Autumn Fair on greeting card, stationery and gift market trends.

Click here for details of my forthcoming talk on card & gift trends at Spring Fair 2014

The key take away points from my talk are summarised below:

Handmade, crafting and up cycling all remain strong trends and this is likely to continue until the economy starts to improve. I think this is because people have had to get creative with what they are restricting their expenditure because of uncertainty over the economy. Knitting, crafting and stamp booking are all rising in popularity in the UK. Fuelled also by of our interest in looking after the planet by reducing, reusing and recycling.

Sentiment has grown stronger and is very creative at the moment. Clever use of language and humour on text based cards, gifts and stationery continues to grow. I believe this is because we all want to feel more connected during more difficult times. Humour and loving messages on our gifts and cards help us to do this.

We are also spending more time together looking back. So nostalgia, particularly vintage and retro, ranging from the 1920's through to the 1980's is doing well.

Nature is also a very strong trend. Perhaps as we get back to basics and what is really important we are thinking more about the world around us. British woodland creatures are doing well. One of the big trends this year has ben owls which have been selling really well in cards and gifts . Foxes are going to be stepping into the limelight in the coming months and are set to be big next year.

British made and ethically sourced gift and stationery items has been one of the continuing current trends. The jubilee and the Olympics last year saw a huge British revival and our confidence on the world stage continues with Andy Murray winning Wimbledon and the US Open this year, Chris Froome winning the Tour de France (after Bradley Wiggin's win last year) and the English cricket team winning the ashes. The Commonwealth Games are being held in Glasgow in 2014, so we should continue to ride this wave of revived British pride.

Big events have been recognised as key drivers for retail sales. The birth of baby George has been key to growing baby product sales and forthcoming events like the 50th Dr Who Anniversary, World War I Centenary, the World Cup Football and the Commonwealth games will all offer opportunities for retailers. If you'd like to read more about key buying events and buying patterns click here.

Finally, one of the key observations to make regarding trends and how to improve your retail business is to pay attention to your customers needs and target them well. You can be as on trend as you like with your buying, but it the products are not priced and positioned well in your store you will not reap the benefits. Moreover, if your staff are not well trained and not focussed on making your customer's buying experience as pleasurable as possible your business will suffer as a result.

6 Ways that you can track UK Gift, Stationery and Greeting Card Trends

Read about retailers' changing approach to seasonal buying by clicking here.

Click here for details of my forthcoming talk on card & gift trends at Spring Fair 2014

We were pleased to be included in a lovely article on stitched cards celebrating British Crafts in last month's Progressive Greetings.

If you didn't get the chance to read it, here's what we said about the popularity of the embroidered look and our new Vintage range of stitched cards:

"I think there is a subconscious desire to counter the digital annihilation of all material things. Books, CD’s, photos and other items we used to actually be able to touch and feel are predominantly purchased digitally and I think we have a real need to feel handmade objects in our lives. They have so much more soul than computers and gadgets.

The recession has meant that many of us are spending more time in our homes and we have focused on saving money by recycling, mending and making our own things. Because of this interest in crafts like knitting, stitching and card making, sales of handmade products are booming.

Selecting the fabrics she wants to work with to create the designs for the Vintage card range Jo, my wife and business partner, hand cuts a variety of shapes and motifs which she then selects from to start building the artwork. They are all laid out on a linen base and then machine stitched on. Parts of the captions are free stitched by machine, which really adds to the handmade feel. After this the designs are scanned and laid up for printing and embossing. When they come back from the printers they are hand finished with jewels to complete the look.

With such a strong reputation for handmade cards we want to keep producing ranges that have that handmade feel and offer great value to our customers. I think scanning original stitched artworks is a natural progression for us. The designs are nostalgic and fun, but with the contemporary colourful look we bring to much of our work."

Sewing artwork for cards is a fast growing trend and the Progressive Greetings Magazine article features over a dozen greetings card publishers using the technique including Black Olive, Soul, Pootle, Inkdrops, Belly Button Designs, Lou Mills, Cinnamon Aitch, Stop the Clock Designs, Tanya Palmer, Open Box Designs, Carlton Cards, Design Hog and a new range called Freddie and Freya by CardMIX. The article excluded some of our favourite forerunners, of this current wave of stitched cards, who are also worth a mention: like Vicky King's sewn card ranges for Paper Rose, and seamtresses like Katy Kirkham, Claire Sowden and Abigail Mill.

Click here to order Blue Eyed Sun's Vintage designs for your shop.

Click here to read more about greeting card trends

Click here to subscribe to Progressive Greetings Magazine.