Taking A Look At Greeting Cards And Its Future
Have you seen greeting cards lately? Competing with florists, e-cards and other specialty gifts, the greeting card industry has been pushed to modernize. While some card companies like Hallmark have taken their stock online by offering subscriptions or standard purchasing options, many companies are thinking outside the box to create superior products that can do all the things that animated e-cards can do and more!
Audio greeting card choices have been around for decades, but they’re starting to catch on even more now. “We sold more cards with higher content-related costs, such as music, lights, and embellishments this year,” said American Greetings Chief Executive Zev Weiss. This past April, Hallmark released a line of audio greeting cards that combined the traditional greeting card with an embedded computer chip good for a 10-second message that can be listened to 220 times and can also be re-recorded. The cards also play a 15-second music clip following the message. “It’s an emotional value,” said Sarah Gronberg, Hallmark publicity manager. “We found the strongest reaction from parents. When they see this sort of thing exists, it (resonates) because if you can capture your kid’s voice when they’re little or when they’re not around you, that’s when you see the largest emotional connection.”
Of course gadgets and gizmos aren’t for everyone. Some consumers reject e-cards in favor of the stylishness that paper greeting cards have. “Because e-cards are informal, quick and fun, they’re often chosen for spur-of-the moment gestures and messages to casual friends and acquaintances,” explains the Greeting Card Association. “By comparison, traditional cards have a keepsake quality. They’re typically more personal, express a greater depth of sentiment, and are preferred for celebrating an important occasion or marking a milestone event in someone’s life.” For this crowd, the cards they prefer incorporate masterful artistry, upscale design, varying textures, embossing and a superior quality of paper. Sophistication is still a healthy niche market, card makers say. For the environmentalism crowd interested in making eco-friendly choices, Cards Direct offers cards and envelopes made from 100% recycled paper for just $1.
Greeting cards have been traded since the 1400s, so they’re not likely to disappear entirely, despite burgeoning specialty gifts and e-card sales. Most people will confess that there is just nothing like a real letter or a real card in the mail. “Innovative technology is allowing greeting card publishers to be much more creative and is allowing card senders to become more involved in developing exactly the card they imagined,” says Valerie Cooper, executive vice president of the Greeting Card Association. “What hasn’t changed is the special me-to-you connection of cards and their continued popularity with Americans of all ages.”
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Tags: florists, greeting cards, specialty gifts, the cards
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