Card business gets e-thrashing

Card business gets e-thrashing

New Delhi December 29 New Year greeting cards have found a least expected adversary in information technology (IT), with SMS greetings and e-greetings, bringing down the sales of cards in the city by more than 50 per cent this year.

Though the sale of New Year cards has been on the downslide for more than four years, it has never been so dismal. The reason, say card shop owners, is pure economics. With a card being available for anything between Rs 20 and 225, SMS, MMS or e-cards are much quicker and least expensive options. This has led to sharp fall in sale New Year greeting cards this year.

According to rough estimates, the city last year registered a sale of New Year cards worth around Rs 5 crore by the corporate sector alone. Another couple of crore was raked in through the sale of cards in the non-corporate sector.

The only solace for the greeting card dealers and retailers has been the corporate sector, which is still hooked on to this traditional form of greetings. Mr Vinod Pandey, a business executive, says for most people in the corporate sector, New Year greeting cards remain the most convenient way of being in touch with their clients/regular customers and dealers. “No modern means of communication can erode the importance of greeting cards, as these can serve to be formal or informal, as desired by the customer.”

Interestingly, the corporate sector has taken to buying cards marketed by various charitable organisations, as a part of their social responsibility. This, in spite of the fact that cards for charity are sometimes more expensive. Be it the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), Helpage, SOS and the cards printed by the Blood Bank Society, Child Relief and You (CRY), these remained the favourite picks.

However, this year it was the Christmas greeting cards that showed an upward trend in the city because of rapid globalisation and various city residents making many a friend during their frequent travels abroad or through the Internet. A gift and greeting card shopkeeper in Greater Kailash II, says, “There is a limited sale of New Year cards, which is almost half of the sales last year. But the Christmas cards sales made up for the loss.”

A gift and card gallery owner in Delhi University area said that, said majority of the customers buying New Year cards were youths. “But with information technology revolutionising the urban life, people have started preferring the e-greetings option,” he added.