There was a time when no love story was complete without pouring your heart out via greeting cards with a belief that this is the start of the most special phase of your life. This was the time when we used to stroll through physical stores of Archies and Hallmark to find that one moving message that could depict your true feelings, either seriously or humorously.
Over the years and like every other trend, this beautiful way of expression has also seen a transformation as people have resorted to sending e-cards on social networking platforms.
For Youhan Darrab Aria, Head – Corp Comm of Archies Ltd, the existence of greeting cards has definitely witnessed the change over the years but for good.
“There was a time when the consumption of greetings cards fell drastically with e-cards and it happened like 20 years back but in the last 10 odd years, they have stabilized their low level. It’s much lower than what they used to be but they have by and large stabilized,” he told Opoyi.
He says that greeting cards continue to be a great option to express affection, goodwill, gratitude, sympathy, or other sentiments but only for special occasions.
“What has happened is cards have globally fallen off when it comes to mass situations for example there was a time when people used to send Christmas cards to the whole address book or in India, people used to send new year’s cards to the whole address book so these kinds of cards have stopped. People continue to send Valentine’s or New Year Christmas cards amongst close friends and family,” said Aria and added that what has gone out of the market are “a lot of in your face stuff, reds and lots of hearts.”
“Today people are more subtle in their taste so the cards have also toned down. There is no large size card,” he said.
For brands like Ferns N Petals that help customers celebrate their special moments by delivering fresh flowers and gifts to your loved ones, greetings cards as a solo gifting option is no more in vogue.
“There is an uptake in the demand for greeting cards and during this valentine’s season, 50 percent of our order volume contains greeting cards. Fundamentally, customers prefer to buy combos with cards or choose as an ad-on while placing the order to amplify feelings in a message to loved ones. Having said that, greetings as a solo gifting option is no more in demand.
“Therefore, this Valentine we are offering various combos like wish tree with Card, hollow candle and love umbrella greeting card, chocolates and card combos and various other beautiful gifting options to express love,” Paritosh Bindra, AVP, Category, Ferns N Petals, told Opoyi.
One of the most sought-after trends in the greetings cards segment currently is the handmade one that many romantic couples are exploring.
Amit Pandey, Sr. Script Writer at Cosmos Maya, is one such name who thinks that “handmade greetings have their own importance and relevance regardless of time.”
“Technology can definitely make things easier but when it comes to making someone feel special, a handmade greeting card or anything else adds to make someone feel Important and that moment is priceless. I always prefer gifting something handmade to special ones because it’s not just about how good you are with your art but what matters is you put your efforts and time into them. That’s the special part and is irreplaceable that an online greeting can never overshadow,” he told Opoyi.
And he rightly said so and the emergence of many handmade greeting card brands is an example of that.
Niraj Kumar Gupta has established #artstreet in 2017 under which he sells handmade greeting cards & handmade gifts through social media & E-commerce marketplace and will launch his own E-Commerce www.artstreet.co.in this year.
He says that till date available e-commerce marketplace failed to include such type of category. Talking about trends, he says that the “greeting cards (mass-produced) industry is declining now because most of the people using digital media to send wishes to their near and dear ones”
“I have also worked for national and international big brands for their e-commerce growth in the past and one company has more than 60 percent market in gifting category alone and have found out that greeting card demands are declining. However, it is also noteworthy to see that there is attraction towards handmade greetings cards because it gave them the customized option as per their need.
“If we create something special which gave emotional touch with unique creative art like quilling along with calligraphy customer will buy it,” said Gupta, whose brand has also been recognized StartUp by Government of India and Government of Jharkhand.
