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Sherman A1

(38,958 posts) Thu Jul 9, 2015, 05:52 AM Jul 2015

To Survive, The Greeting Card Industry Will Have To Get Creative

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/08/420966617/to-survive-the-greeting-card-industry-will-have-to-get-creative

The greeting card industry is struggling to stay relevant in the digital age.

Hallmark has announced that it's closing its distribution center in Enfield, Conn., and cutting 570 jobs there, as it consolidates operations elsewhere.

For decades, the greeting card maker held a reputation as the type of company where good employees had a job for life.

Julie Elliott, Hallmark's PR director, says layoffs, like the ones announced this week, are especially painful.

6 replies

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To Survive, The Greeting Card Industry Will Have To Get Creative (Original Post) Sherman A1 Jul 2015 OP

Make them scratch n sniff Kalidurga Jul 2015 #1

Excellent idea. Birthday cards can smell like birthday cake. n/t PoliticAverse Jul 2015 #2

2 for a buck at the dollar store...hard to justify hallmark expense... Not talking fine literature dembotoz Jul 2015 #3

That was my initial response, dembotoz. bulloney Jul 2015 #5

My sister gets me a music/motion SamKnause Jul 2015 #4

They hit the price point that people were just unwilling to pay. Demit Jul 2015 #6

Kalidurga

(14,177 posts)

1. Make them scratch n sniff

Reply to Sherman A1 (Original post)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 05:55 AM

Jul 2015

try that on the internet.

PoliticAverse

(26,366 posts)

2. Excellent idea. Birthday cards can smell like birthday cake. n/t

Reply to Kalidurga (Reply #1)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 06:06 AM

Jul 2015

dembotoz

(16,808 posts)

3. 2 for a buck at the dollar store...hard to justify hallmark expense... Not talking fine literature

Reply to Sherman A1 (Original post)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 06:19 AM

Jul 2015

I think the real killer to the market was the make your own cards that swept the nation couple years back.
At least around here...cousin a retired 2nd grade teacher gave my mom tons of cards she made all crafty like...
Folks like my cousin are the hallmark prime market...sentimental folks with disposable cash.

The cards she supplied us with while not funny, do look lovingly handcrafted.
I inherited the supply and I do not think I will need to venture into a hallmark store for the rest of my life

bulloney

(4,113 posts)

5. That was my initial response, dembotoz.

Reply to dembotoz (Reply #3)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 06:42 AM

Jul 2015

$5 to $6 for a card that gets pitched in the waste can? Most of these cards aren't even well-written, witty or artistic.

I have better things to spend $5 to $6 on than on something like that.

SamKnause

(13,108 posts)

4. My sister gets me a music/motion

Reply to Sherman A1 (Original post)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 06:33 AM

Jul 2015

birthday card every year.

I got a dancing hamster. (I can't remember the song) It is my favorite one so far.

The battery died and it makes me sad. No more dancing hamster.

This birthday I got a spinning turntable. (Beatles; You Say It's Your Birthday)

She started doing this in the late 80's.

At that time I didn't know they made birthday cards with noise and motion.

The first one I opened scared me and I threw it across the room.

I wish their would have been video, but I was living alone at the time.

Demit

(11,238 posts)

6. They hit the price point that people were just unwilling to pay.

Reply to Sherman A1 (Original post)

Thu Jul 9, 2015, 08:30 AM

Jul 2015

It's still nice to send a card / get a card through the mail. But $6 or $7 is real money. Hallmark priced itself out of its own market.

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