Yippee… it’s here! The February 2022 edition of Progressive Greetings and its sibling, Progressive Calendars 2022 have landed with gusto while the digital versions are now available to read online. So what are you waiting for?…dive into the gorgeousness!
While there are still challenges out there, the year has most definitely started in buoyant mood – and with two trade shows on the horizon with Spring Fair starting this Sunday and Top Drawer in a couple of weeks’ time, the greeting card community will be back in force.
PG’s News pages are crammed full of industry happenings from the retailing, publishing and trade supplier fronts. (Click to pages 8-9)
With Christmas trade representing such a significant chunk of business for retailers and publishers alike, the festive reports in the Viewpoints Santa Shopped Local section make for positive reading. (Click to pages 28-29)
And we also relive the wonderful Inside the Factory programme that aired on BBC just before Christmas showing the journey of a Woodmansterne Christmas card. (Click to pages 52-53)
There is also a deeper drill down into how the trade and consumer drive for greater sustainability is voiced in the A Christmas Without Sparkle? article. (Click to pages 54-55)
The continuing importance of sustainability is just one of many incredible insights covered in the findings of the PG Retail Barometer, the only annual quantitative and qualitative survey into the how trade has been for the independent retailer and their current feelings and plans for 2022. (Click to pages 36-37)
Meanwhile, A Spoonful Of Cautious Optimism is the heading of a broader ‘state of the nation’ piece which highlights that while things could be better (eg cost rises, paper shortages), they could also be a whole lot worse. (Click to pages 34-35)
More food for thought is also being spooned out by PG columnists. While Scottish retailer David Robertson’s missive, No Business Like Show Business shares his thoughts about heading off to the Spring Fair and the inherent decision making that will bring (Click to pages 24-25), Cardsharp’s Factory Farming piece muses on the recent results released by Card Factory into the health and wealth of the UK’s largest card retailer. (Click to pages 26-27)
With sales agents being the eyes and ears for many retailers (and the publishers they represent), using a film analogy these ‘stars’ share their reports from out on the road. (Click to pages 46-47)
The ever popular What’s Hot? section reveals the top sellers for four leading greeting card retailers. (Click to pages 102-103)
Painting an even bigger picture, leading greeting card distributors share what trade is like in their corners of the world (with more insights to follow in the March edition). (Click to pages 60-61)
However, with this being the start of the year, there is a great abundance of new inspiring launches from publishers debuting at Spring Fair, Top Drawer and generally. (Click to pages 78-79)
One product area that has shown growth, literally is that of seed cards. PG digs deep into this fertile ground. (Click to pages 68-69)
While leading picture libraries share what they see are the aesthetic trends for the coming year, providing their artistic impressions, following on from Part One in last month’s PG, freelance creatives (who are members of the Creative Card Collective) reveal how welcoming their feel the industry is as well as possible ideas for improvement. (Click to pages 74-75)
One artist who made enjoying nature her life’s work was Beatrix Potter. A woman ahead of her time, greeting cards were the first product she even licensed her designs onto. With this being the 120th anniversary of Peter Rabbit, PG hops up and down in excitement! (Click to pages 92-93)
Someone who was a very happy bunny on Christmas Day was NHS worker Roe Walsh, who thanks to a thoughtful gesture from Simon Elvin, took a family tradition around the receiving the same card from her son for three decades on to an extra level. (Click to pages 96-97)
And if this was not enough, accompanying Progressive Greetings is Progressive Calendars, an annual look into the developments in the calendar and Advent calendar sector, (click here).
All this and more in the pages of two lovely magazines. Wouldn’t you like to hold it in your hands so you can flick through and read it wherever it takes your fancy?
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However, if you can’t wait, to read the whole PG February 2022 edition, you can click here.
And to read Progressive Calendars, click here.
