![]() ![]() Millennials represent nearly 20% of the dollars spent on greeting cards, and are growing their spending faster than any other generational segment in the category.” Life of the Partyįor Phil Cowley, chief marketing officer of Design Design Inc. “ research shows that millennials believe in the power of a greeting card. Stacey Howe, VP and general manager of national accounts for Kansas City, Mo.-based Hallmark Cards, agrees. ![]() ![]() “The emergence of digital greetings in the late ’90s, followed by social media, did have an initial negative impact on physical card sales, and I think a long-term depressive impact on physical card sales to Generation X, but as millennials are aging into traditional card-buying life stages, they are returning to greeting cards.” “Greeting cards are an interesting phenomenon in the digital age,” says White. What they are doing is buying more unique cards that speak to them personally and reflect the sensibilities of the recipient. “Millennials like to give different cards depending on the recipient, so they aren’t buying the boxed cards,” he says. Millennials Moved by MailĪnother reason for Schnucks’ successful fourth-quarter holiday card sales, says Schrader, is that the retailer opted not to carry boxed holiday cards. Whether that’s creating a one-stop shop for Valentine’s Day or offering special light-up birthday cards and balloons in the floral department, Schnucks is making connecting in the modern age more convenient for its customers. “We’re always asking ourselves: How can we make it easier for our customers?” Schrader says. “The key to leveraging seasonal opportunities is to not only sell more greeting cards but other seasonal gift items as well,” says George White, president and chief operating officer of Up With Paper. “It is also important to have the seasonal products in main-drive aisles, rather than tucked away in a greeting card section, to maximize incremental sales.įor Valentine’s Day, Schnucks cross-merchandises items, including baked goods, chocolate-dipped strawberries, floral, greeting cards and liquor, to create an eye-popping destination for shoppers. With Valentine’s Day approaching and a year of everyday and holiday occasions on the calendar, Schnucks’ floral department is working with Up With Paper to implement free-standing cardboard displays that can be moved around to optimal merchandising locations during each of the seven seasonal periods, as well as everyday Up With Paper pop-up cards in a permanent fixture in the floral department. “Greeting cards are a guaranteed sale with no shrink, in many cases for the same price as a low-end bouquet,” says Schrader, who looks for ways to increase card sales all year long. ![]() If a particular location wasn’t selling well, the display was moved to a new location in the store. Store leadership also reviewed its floral department greeting card sales each week in relation to the location of the display units. “We had tremendous sell through,” says Schrader of the placement. In one store, two of the cardboard greeting card displays were placed side by side in the vestibule of the store alongside the shopping carts. Schnucks also took a strategic approach to the location of the movable card displays. “We realized that we were giving up greeting card sales in our highest volume stores as they waited to receive reorders,” says Schrader. For example, while in past years stores could reorder holiday cards as needed, ordering was consolidated this year and stores received multiples of the free-standing, prefilled card display units. “We also adjusted how we do things in our top-volume stores, and engaged in stronger communication with store leadership,” Schrader says. Schnucks worked with the Mason, Ohio-based Up With Paper to implement the free-standing cardboard greeting card displays in its floral departments and other areas of its stores. ![]()
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