13 facts about the greeting card market. Last November I began working in a card/gift shop. It's located round the corner from my home and while I always enjoyed looking around, I never bought much. It's cheaper to get cards and gift bags at the dollar store.
But the stuff in the store is high quality and there are consumers who are discerning about their wrapping and cards and willing to really spend on them. God bless them, because I enjoy being surrounded by such pretty things. Also, it touches me to watch how much care people put into choosing their cards. I love watching people browse. It's rare that someone just comes in and grabs the first card that catches their eye.
I based this TT on a study of today's greeting market, along with my own personal observations.
1. Every year, Americans buy more than 6.5 million greeting cards.
2. Gen Xers (born 1965-80) aren't that big into buying cards.
3. Baby Boomers (born 1946-64) buy cards the most (but they don't necessarily spend the most).
4. Millennials (born 1981-96) buy more, and more expensive, cards than Xers.
5. Consumer appreciate eco-friendly cards and wrapping paper and have noticed that our paper shopping bags made of recycled materials.
6. Thank you cards are popular, more popular than I thought.
7. Birthday cards are still most often purchased card.
8. Boxed Christmas cards outsell individual ("Merry Christmas, Grandma!") ones.
9. Weddings are big business. In addition to "Congrats to the Bride and Groom," there are engagement cards, bridal shower cards, and "Will you be my Bridesmaid?" cards.
10. Once all the the rage, greeting cards with a pocket to hold a gift card have fallen out of favor. Consumers are very comfortable just slipping a gift card into a "regular" greeting card that more perfectly expresses the sentiment. There's also a surge in popularity of small boxes designed specifically for gifts cards, so you have something to tie a ribbon around when you present the gift card.
11. Mother's Day outsells Father's Day ... by a lot. Theories abound -- men don't enjoy receiving cards as much as women do, there are more fatherless households, etc. -- but I have nothing solid to back any particular reason.
12. While there are approximately 55,000 shops like mine that specialize in cards paper, gifts and stationery, most people buy their cards at the grocery or drug stores. Location is tied to population -- California is the state with most people and it is home to more than 7,000 card shops.
13. Covid did not do serious, lasting harm to the greeting card industry. Examining data, the number of card shops/retail workers has remained steady from before (2017) to after (2023) the pandemic.
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I especially liked Hallmark stores, but so many have closed. I worked at a "Drug store" when I was 17 and it had a nice card section. It was like a small Rite Aid. My oldest son always gets me the nicest cards and they are expensive ones. My middle son remembers to get me a card because he knows I like them. My daughter is not into cards but will go to the Dollar Tree to get some. All my kids are Millennial. I like to make cards when I can, but only for the person I know will appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteAs a Gen Xer, I can attest to not purchasing many cards, even though my Boomer friends are diligent card senders. I just am not. Glad to know it's a Gen X thing.
ReplyDeleteHello! I'm new to Thursday Thirteen. 😊 I really found the statistics regarding the generations interesting. I used to send a lot more cards in the past than I do now. (I'm a Gen Xer, too.) If I buy them, I tend to do the Dollar Tree or Family Dollar. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWe don't have any stationary stores where I live. We used to, but they have all closed. Even Hallmark. Barnes & Nobles has some of the better cards here. I send cards to my great niece and nephew for nearly every holiday. And I still send Christmas cards. At one time, I received back over 200 Christmas cards, but now I'm lucky if I get 20 back out of the 60+ I still send out.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. I am a late boomer. I send cards, but I am also pretty cheap so I get cards at Dollar Tree. I love to browse Hallmark stores, or at least I used to. I honestly don't know where there is a Hallmark Store near my home. We used to buy the Hallmark Christmas Ornaments every year. Now they are all packed away in a box that we haven't opened for years. I always learn something from these Thursday 13 posts!
ReplyDeleteI now buy my nephews gift cards for their Playstation for birthdays and Christmas, and they no longer come in that handy credit card size. They're bigger, so they don't fit in the gift card sized greeting cards. That might be another reason why those kinds of cards are falling out of favor.
ReplyDelete