BES Blog

Twofour Broadcast are looking for family run businesses to take part in the next season of the successful BBC Two series ‘The Fixer’ with Alex Polizzi. If you are a family run business and are happy to share your experiences, including any problems and dilemmas, read on.

There are over three million family run businesses in the UK but only 30% make it to the second generation of family ownership. The reality is that 30,000 family businesses are at risk of disappearing. With the help of leading business expert Alex Polizzi, the third series of this popular programme will include a special episode focused on a gift shop.

The purpose of the show is to guide and advise family businesses through some of the trials and tribulations a family run company can face – whether it’s how best to plan for the future and preserve the legacy of previous generations, or looking at ways to improve profitability and diversification while developing the business to make sure it’s a success for years to come. I am a big fan of this program and know two businesses that have benefited from being on the show.

The programme producers have spoken to all of the businesses that took part in the last series and all have reported rises in profits and customers. This may have resulted from the increased exposure received. Alex Polizzi is a wonderful expert that really adds value to any business she works with on the show. She recently spoke at Autumn Fair International to a packed crowd of retailers.

Twofour want to hear from struggling family businesses who are finding it tough in the current economic climate and who are uncertain about the future of their business. To find out more please contact Naomi at Twofour on 0207 438 1812 or email familybusinesses@twofour.co.uk by no later than the end of November 2013.

Click here to read business tips for retailers

Watch the trailer with Alex Polizzi as The Fixer on BBC2:

The Ladder Club is an annual seminar to support new and aspiring greeting card publishers to climb the ladder up the card industry. It's organised by Lynn Tait and has been a fantastic support to many publishers for over a decade, helping them to avoid the pitfalls that can cost time, money and a whole lot of heartache.

I have been the keynote speaker at the event for the past nine years of it's fourteen year history and have had the privilege of meeting and helping many fantastic new businesses during that time. Often the seminar has been regarded by attendees as a success even when they have decided not to become a publishers. For £48 and a day of their time some artists and photographers have realised that their passion is creating beautiful things and they choose to find other ways of generating income including licensing their work, partnering with businesses or simply selling their work in other mediums instead of on cards.

We had a fantastic turn out for the first day of the seminar this year which is all about helping the delegates to take their first step onto the Ladder. Jakki Brown, the co-founder of the Ladder Club, compered the day in the absence of Lynn Tait who organises it with the help of her two stars Trudy and Pauline. The day started with an introduction to the Greeting Card Association with CEO Sharon Little. Warren Lomax from Max Publishing spoke about PG Live, the Henries Awards and how to make the most of Progressive Greetings magazine's free editorial section.

 

Simon King and Nicky Marshall from Sherwood Litho Press showed everyone how to prepare for and print litho on B1 presses and the technical issues involved with doing so.

Bob Short from The Imaging Centre took us all through the Digital Printing process which most card publishers these days use for short runs to test the market with their products. Both printers ran through the costs of getting started and the Ladder Club delegates were given some useful information packs.

Everyone got to learn about the different substrates and boards they could print on in an entertaining talk from Mark at paper merchants GF Smith. Julie from Enveco Envelopes Plus talked about how envelopes are made, what prices they start at and how to save money by using standard off-the-shelf sizes for your first greeting card ranges. Simon Boyd from Progressive Greetings Live talked us through the important things to consider when exhibiting at trade shows for the first time and how to get the most out of your trade shows.

One of my favourite talks was from Ian Bradley, a Midlands greeting card agent, who helped everyone to gain an insight into how working with freelance sales agents can benefit their greeting card business. Karen and Claire from

Paper Salad spoke about their adventures in greeting card publishing and the things that new publishers must keep an eye out for before rushing into big deals with large multiple card retailers. Retail expert Henri Davis spoke on the second day about how to approach large retailers in a very informative talk drawing on her experience of buying at large chains like the National Trust and WH Smiths. I found it incredibly useful

to gain an understanding of what buyers of large multiples need and want from publishers. I also had a few things to so say about my experience in the card business running Blue Eyed Sun.

It seems that everyone had a great time and all of those attending found the Ladder Club extremely useful and well worth their time. Thanks to the Ladder Club delegates and sponsors I have raised almost £500 towards my £1000 goal for the Anthony Nolan Trust, who I am running the Berlin Marthon for next year. I was inspired to do this by Lynn Tait, the organiser and founder of the Ladder Club, who was in hospital undergoing a stem cell transplant on the same day.

Click here to help me raise £1,000 for the Anthony Nolan Trust.

Click here to join the Ladder Club Facebook Group

Click here for the Ladder Club LinkedIn Group

For those that attended the Ladder Club and want to know more. Here are some links to useful content on my blog:

Looking Back from Perfect - How to achieve your goals

10 Business Basics to get right before using social media

Social Media Tips on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

 

I am so pleased to announce the launch of Festive Friday, a new card sending day for the greeting card industry, which will take place on Friday 29th November 2013.

Festive Friday is a day for the whole greeting card industry to write their Christmas cards and send them out to their friends, family and loved ones to start the Christmas card sending season with a bang.

There are an estimated 100,000 people working directly and indirectly within the greeting card industry and the idea is to create a ripple effect from this initial action.

This is a project that I have been personally involved with during my time on the GCA Council and last Christmas our business encouraged our staff to send Christmas cards as part of our marketing efforts for the card industry. It was really fun and had a great effect. Read more about it in this post: Have you sent your Christmas cards yet?

We hope that the cards and loving messages to young and old will inspire and excite and remind everyone of the importance of the festive season for keeping in touch and staying more connected with your friends, family and loved ones. Scientific research has proven that sending and receiving greeting cards makes people feel cared for and happier and can even help fend off depression. Read more about this study in our post Scientists prove greeting cards are good for your Mother.

So remember to set aside some time on Festive Friday the 29th November, for an hour or two, to write cards with your staff and send Christmas cards out to your friends and family. You can even save money by sending them second class post and they will still arrive in plenty of time for Christmas. Plus the more cards you send earlier the more you should receive in return. See the Royal Mail table below for last sending dates to various parts of the world and in the UK.

Please share this post and spread this message far and wide within the card industry. 

You can find out more about Blue Eyed Sun's Christmas cards for 2013 which were nominated for a Henries Award this year and are available at all good gift shops and card retailers.

Brighton based greeting card publisher, Blue Eyed Sun, won their first ever Henries award at the 2013 ceremony which took place in the glittering surroundings of the prestigious Lancaster Hotel on Thursday 10th October.

Blue Eyed Sun have been finalists nine times and owner, Jeremy Corner, was delighted to accept the Henries Award for Best Cute range, beating industry heavyweights Carte Blanche Greetings famous Me To You (Tatty Teddy) cards who were also finalists. Blue Eyed Sun's winning handmade card range, Gorgeous, is an industry favourite amongst retailers.

The Henries Awards are the Oscars of the greeting card industry and celebrate the creativity in the thriving UK card market which leads the world and is worth over £1.6 billion.

Over 14,000 greeting cards were entered into The Henries year, judged by a panel of 40 prestigious retailers, including buyers from John Lewis, Paperchase, Clintons, Tesco, Waterstones and a host of leading independents.

600 greeting card industry publishers and retailers attended the event to honour the industry’s best greeting card ranges.

It's been quite a year for Brighton based Blue Eyed Sun. Jeremy Corner was runner up for Managing Director of the Year at the Brighton & Hove Business Awards, where Blue Eyed Sun were Highly Commended in the Business Beyond the City category for their successful international expansion into eight countries this year. The company's designs were short listed for Gift of the Year with their licensing partner Widdop Bingham and their Gorgeous Christmas range made the finals for the Best Christmas Counter Henries Award.

Blue Eyed Sun's wedding stationery brand, Ivy Ellen, won Best Wedding Stationery at the 2013 Wedding Ideas Awards.

See all of the Henries Awards Winners for 2013 here

Click here for the latest news on the Henries Awards

To stock our award winning Gorgeous range in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or you can recommend a shop to us by clicking here. You can also visit our stockists page to find a store near you that may be selling them.

The Henries Awards 2013 Winners have been announced. Here is a complete list of the Henries winners and runners up for this year.

A very special congratulations to Matt and Beth Genower from Five Dollar Shake who won the Honourary Achievement Award and also to Warren Lomax and Jakki Brown from Max Publishing who were surprised with a Special Award for Contribution to the Card Industry which was organised by Stephen Haines from Carte Blanche Greetings.

We were delighted to announce that Blue Eyed Sun reached the finals of The Henries 2013 in two categories: with Gorgeous Christmas for the Best Christmas Counter Range and with Gorgeous Everyday in the best Cute Range which we won.

The Henries Awards Winners for 2013 are:

Helen John of Hotchpotch won Most Promising Young Designer or Artist 2013

• Claire Louise Hill of Claire Louise
• Jessica Hogarth of Jessica Hogarth Designs
• Cameron Pitcairn of Urban Twist
• Jo Rose of Deer Little Forest
• Anna Wise of Rachel Ellen Designs

 

Wobbly Eyed from Stripey Cat Cards Won Best Children’s Range

• Belle & Boo Playtime from Nineteen Seventy Three
• Glitter Ball from Five Dollar Shake
• Hug Cards from Pango Productions
• Jellybomb from Urban Graphic
• World of Fairies from GBCC

 

Starlight and Snowfall from Five Dollar Shake won Best Christmas Counter Range

• Christmas from ArtPress
• Christmas 2013 from The Art Group
• Gorgeous Christmas from Blue Eyed Sun
• Marmalade from Belly Button Designs
• Sparkle Sheep from Cherry Moon

 

Waitrose Christmas luxury Christmas cards from UKG won Best Christmas Box Or Pack

• Drama Queen from Cardmix
• Help Cards Christmas Pack from Noel Tatt
• Madeleine Floyd Wallet Cards from GBBC
• Quentin Blake from Woodmansterne Publications
• Snow Stories from Five Dollar Shake

 

Therese Sennerholt from Lagom Design won Best Words & Sentiments Range

• Field Study Eye Test from Portfolio
• Happy Jackson from Pigment
• Scrawl from Urban Graphic
• Sentiments from Sarah Ray
• Tranquility from UK Greetings

 

Piano - The Keys of Life from Hammond Gower won Best Contemporary Trend Range

• Alice Scott from Pigment
• Crafty from bric-a-brac
• Debbie Powell from Lagom Design
• Portfolio from Bug Art
• Sasparilla from Think of Me Designs

 

Gorgeous from Blue Eyed Sun won Best Cute Range

• Feltipips from The Art Group
• Me to You 3D Photo Finish from Carte Blanche Greetings
• Moggies & Doggies from Fourth Wall Brands
• Valentine’s or Anytime from Laura Skilbeck
• Wobbly Eyed from Stripey Cat Cards

 

Handstamped from Emmeline Webb won Best Handmade or Hand-Finished Range

• Countryside from The Red Corvid
• Paloma from Belly Button Designs
• Pretty In Love from Stop The Clock
• Say It With Lace from Image Plus
• The Fitzgerald Collection from Five Dollar Shake

 

1000 Words from Urban Graphic won Best Photographic Range

• Aspects from Abacus Cards
• Dante from Odey Publications
• Loose Leashes from Woodmansterne Publications
• Minimiam from Holy Mackerel
• Norman Parkinson from ArtPress

 

Genius from Woodmansterne Publications won Best Humorous Card Range

• Drama Queen from Cardmix
• Fleet Street from Pigment
• Frankie Dog from Frankie Whistle
• Good Things from Redback Cards
• Reincarnation Is Cool from Splimple

 

The Country Set from Wrendale Design won Best Art Range

• Alice Scott from Pigment
• Billy Showell from Glebe Cottage
• Letterpress from Archivist
• Sonia Marialuce Possentini from Signature Studios
• Toasted from Urban Graphic

 

Laser Cut Cards from Danilo won Best Licensed Range

• Janet Hill from Hallmark
• Julie Dodsworth from Tracks
• Kirstie Allsopp from Cardmix
• Moomin from Hype Associates
• Mr. Men and Little Miss from Gemma

 

Special Occasions from Hambledon Studios won Best Wholesale Range

• Dazzle from Hambledon Studios
• Glitz from Simon Elvin
• Isabel's Garden from Simon Elvin
• Mixed Favourites from Gemma
• Trendy Pops from Xpress Yourself Cards

 

Happy Jackson from Penny Kennedy won Best Giftwrappings Collection

• Dixie from Think of Me Designs
• Kelly Hyatt Collection from Lagom Design
• Tea & Roses from Hallmark
• Toasted from Urban Graphic
• Vintage Romance from Hallmark

 

Trinkets & Trumpets from The Art File won Best Male Range

• Collaboration from UK Greetings
• Jubilee from Hotchpotch
• Just My Type from The Great British Card Company
• Mustard from Cinnamon Aitch
• Stamped from Allihopa

 

Platinum from Belly Button Designs won Best Relations & Occasions Range

• Occasions from Roger la Borde
• Pizazz Baby Boutique from Nigel Quiney Publications
• Sooshi Occasions from Sooshichacha
• txt msg from Urban Twist
• Uppercase from Hotchpotch Publishing

 

StardustMother’s Day from Janie Wilson won Best Spring Seasons Range

• Carlton Contemporary Father’s Day Collection from UK Greetings
• Decoupage Collection Easter from Laura Darrington Design
• Jardin De Roses Mother’s Day from Five Dollar Shake
• Sweet Tooth Valentine’s Day from Fay’s Studio
• The Perfect Match Valentine’s Day from Megan Claire

 

Second Nature Pop Ups from Second Nature won The Henry Cole Classic Award

(This award is for ranges that have stood the test of time. The winner will join the Henry Cole Classic Hall of Fame with the previous winners which are Bestie from Paperlink, Eric the Penguin from GBCC, Forever Friends from Hallmark, On The Ceiling from Emotional Rescue, Me to You from CBG, Medici Cards Blue Label from GBCC)

• Quicksilver from Wendy Jones-Blackett
• Ribticklers from Pigment
• Spring Chicken from Peartree Heybridge
• The Funny Side Of Life from Rainbow (Ling Design)
• Woodmansterne Fine Art from Woodmansterne Publications

 

Best Service To The Independent Retailer Award

• UK Greetings won Gold
• Noel Tatt won Silver
• Nigel Quiney won Bronze
• Abacus Cards
• Carte Blanche Greetings Group
• Hallmark
• International Cards and Gifts
• Jonny Javelin
• Paperlink
• Second Nature
• The Great British Card Company
• Woodmansterne Publications

The winners of all the Henries Awards for 2013 were revealed by comedian Tom Stade and the Henries sponsors at a spectacular Calypso Carnival-themed Henries Ball on Thursday 10 October at the Lancaster London Hotel, overlooking HydePark.

Over 14,000 cards were entered into this year’s Henries and these were judged by an impressive Judging Panel, made up of 40 top retailers (including buyers fromJohn Lewis, WHSmith, Tesco, Paperchase, Scribbler, Card Bar, Joy, Asda, Squires Garden Centres, Waterstones, Funky Pigeon as well as many leading independents). Congratulations to all of the winners and everyone who made it through to the finals.

See the Henries Awards winners and finalists for 2012 by clicking here.

Read some award winning advice for the Henries and other awards here.

I recently met up with Chris Houfe, Sales Director at the Great British Card Company and incoming GCA President, to discuss how retailers could improve their greeting card sales in this current challenging environment. Here's what he said:

Whether you’re a specialist greeting card retailer or cards just form part of your business, you’ll understand how important their profitability is to your business. Unfortunately too many retailers become complacent with their business, rather than going that extra mile to seek on-going improvements. Is this because some people just become stuck in a rut or perhaps they see it as a sign of weakness in asking for advice? (A bit like a man asking for directions!)

As with any business, a good understanding of what’s working is so important. Take a step back and review your business with a fresh pair of eyes. For starters, have you got the right mix of cards, gift wrap, gifts, chocolates, jewellery etc? Don’t just think about turnover, think about your profit. Ask many retailers ‘what’s working’ they often say everything! This can’t be true as every product group has best sellers and poorer sellers.

Here are Chris Houfe's Top Tips for improving greeting card sales…

1. Presentation is a key factor. Take a leaf from fashion retailers who are always updating their displays, giving their customer something different to look at on a regular basis. This doesn’t have to be always new, move things around.

2. Are your fixtures looking tired? Remember less can be more and there are many innovative alternatives to standard card racks.

3. Buy what your customers will want to buy, not just what you like. Engage your customers for regular feedback but filter their comments.

4. Have you got the correct product mix and caption balance across your display? Why not ask a few Account Managers or Sales Agents for their advice.

5. Try planning your birthday and blank ranges in quads (6’s, 9’s, 12’s, 16’s, etc), rather than in columns. You will be able to increase the number of ranges in your display.

6. Plan like genres together, e.g. humour, photographic, art, etc rather than by publisher.

7. Change is a good thing, so try something new, but ensure you deal with Publishers who’s Account Managers actually manage your business rather than just sell you cards.

8. Maximise all seasons and promotions and support your sales with appropriate gifts. This should include exam good luck, thank you teacher, exam congrats, wedding and anniversary, etc.

9. Review your competition to ensure you offer something different. Also visit the retailers who have won a recent Reta Award in your area. Many retailers will share information as long as you’re not a direct competitor.

Click here to see the latest Retas Award winners.

Read more:

10 Things to do in the next 10 days to grow your business

6 Ways to track Gift, Stationery and Greeting Card Trends

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

The Seasonal Buying Report has been released by i2i Events, the organisers of Autumn Fair. It contains insights into retailers' changing approach to seasonal buying and shows what is needed from suppliers going forward. Here are some of the key take away points from the report:

The Changing Retail Landscape With changes in consumer behaviour, selling channels, technology and even weather patterns, 'change' has become the main constant in the last five years for retailers. This has had effects on in the card and gift market and affects both buyers and suppliers. Incidentally, the respondents to the survey were mostly independents with up to 4 shops and 43% sell greeting cards.

Retailers' Changing Approach to buying Retailers are reducing their forward ordering commitment and buying closer to seasons like Christmas and Spring occasions. Up to 24% of retailers in the survey are holding back more than 50% of their budget to buy closer to the season. This is being driven by tougher economic conditions and changing consumer behaviour. Retailers are looking for flexibility and speed which means suppliers are having to supply from closer to home. Buyers are also waiting to see what their customers are buying before repeating orders. According to the Seasonal Buying Report, the main reason to continue forward ordering is to guarantee supply of key products.

The importance of Christmas Christmas has become a make or break event for many retailers with a third of respondents saying that Christmas accounted for up to 50% of their annual turnover. For 18% surveyed, Christmas is worth up to an incredible 75% of total sales. November and December account for 21% of all retail sales in the UK across all sectors. The later ordering of stock by retailers appears to be driven by consumers themselves buying later and later which makes it harder to predict sales trends.

The Importance of Retail Events For most independent retailers, Mother's Day is the most important event after Christmas. Halloween continues to grow in the UK, with Tesco rating it more important than Valentines and Mother's Day. These key events offer growth opportunities for retailers.

What Retailers are Looking at from Suppliers The retailer/supplier relationship is crucial and buyers are prepared to change suppliers to be assured of the service they require to meet these new buying patterns. That means suppliers will need to increase stock lines and manage their stock control well. Innovative, fresh new products that are well stocked will be the way forward for successful suppliers at the moment.

There's an interesting section at the end of the seasonal report, by Professor Joshua Bamfield of the Centre for Retail Research. He says that Halloween and the needs of children are dominating seasonal spending and this trend is set to continue. Baby showers and pregnancy related events are also growing and present opportunities for retailers. There is also a Q&A case study with a good customer of ours: House of Fraser.

It's an interesting read and rather timely for us as we revamp our warehouse in order to reduce delivery times from an average of 4.3 days turnaround. We also have a gorgeous new selection of children's cards which we launched at Harrogate and showed at Autumn Fair as well as a new Baby Shower design in our best selling Vintage range.

To download The Seasonal Buying Report click here.

To see more on Greeting Card, Stationery and Gift trends click here.

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

Father's Day is on Sunday 15th June 2014. Many of our retailers are ordering these designs now for delivery with their Spring greeting cards order in January. Here are Blue Eyed Sun's latest Fathers Day cards for 2014...

Pictured above are our new range of Fathers Day cards called Razzle, which are individually hand glittered based on beautiful FSC board. These gorgeous cards are 160mm square and blank inside.

We also have a special trade only offer on our Moments Father's Day cards (pictured below) printed and hand mounted on beautiful watercolour board in our Brighton workshops. Retailers can log into the trade section of our website to see this exclusive online offer.

Sold in sixes to trade buyers only, both ranges of Fathers Day cards are barcoded and cello-wrapped with a matching envelope. Interested in other Spring Occasions? Read about our new Valentines cards and our new Mothers Day cards.

Click here to see these Fathers Day cards in person at Autumn Fair 2013 - Stand 4D15

To stock these ranges in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of  www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or you can recommend a shop to us by clicking here. You can also visit our stockists page to find a store near you that may be selling them.