Seasonal musings and 2023 hunches from a trio of leading retailers
In what was most definitely a Christmas trading period like no other, with the postal strikes having a dampening effect on many retailers’ boxed card sales though single cards held up well, there was a frenzied flurry in the final run up to save the season.
In the first of a series, PG Buzz shares some of the festive feelings of a trio of greeting card retailers and their hunches as they start the new year. First up are Scribbler, Postmark and Hugs & Kisses.
John Procter, co-owner of Scribbler
What’s your verdict?
“Frustration and incomprehension.”
Spill the beans…
“A little below forecasts, but not by much which was gratifying bearing in mind the headwinds we had to deal with. We are almost at 2019 numbers but, mainly, as a direct result of third party and homegrown gift ranges. By definition margin suffered somewhat as card sales were below 2019.”
What impact do you think the Royal Mail strikes had on your sales?
“Definitely negative, but this could well have been ameliorated if customers were able to actually take a train in the Christmas week – unbelievable! And the government expects retail and hospitality to take this on board – don’t get me started!”
Did you do anything differently this year with your approach to Christmas trade?
“We had more gifts, which were very successful, and offered fewer Christmas card packs.”
What changing consumer buying patterns did you track?
“Consumer buying patterns were driven by outside factors, such as interest rates, electricity prices, postal strikes and an inability to access shops as a result of the train strikes but bizarrely we traded only a little below our forecasts. The latter was in part due to shoppers returning to the High Street as they could not trust online deliveries.”
What were your top performers?
“As always with us – humour and the edgier the better!”
Did environmental issues play a part, eg in customers’ comments regarding packaging, glitter, etc?
“These issues did not have the momentum of a year ago.”
What’s your hunch and approach for 2023?
“Quite confident actually – like a selection of businesses in our sector who have managed to survive the extraordinary headwinds of the past couple of years and, critically, unlike one or two others, we have paid all of our suppliers in full. We therefore look forward to supporting each other next year and hopefully succeeding.”
Mark Janson-Smith, managing director of Postmark, six shops in South and West London
What’s your verdict?
“Incredibly pleased.”
Spill the beans…
“Considering the unprecedented amount of headwinds, we were incredibly pleased with our final Christmas numbers, but the journey to December 24 was definitely not one for the faint hearted!
“In all my years of retail I’ve never known a year like it and it’s one I hope isn’t repeated anytime soon. With postage sales removed we actually finished 2.4% up for November and December, helped by a bumper last week and some strong everyday and non-card sales figures.
“The most obvious and dramatic factor for us were the postal strikes, with our stamp sales alone being 32% down which had an obvious knock-on effect on our Christmas card pack sales, which finished 16% down. We were trading very strongly before the strikes began and then things just fell off a cliff with many friends and family not bothering to send Christmas cards as they were not sure they would get there.”
What changing consumer buying patterns did you track?
“Our single card sales were pretty flat, but we did see a big increase in relations cards which we put down to a far better offering along with many people buying more cards for the people they would actually be seeing in person.”
What were your top performers?
“For packs the strong performers were, as always, from Museums & Galleries, Woodmansterne and The Art File, but we also saw some strong sales from Stop The Clock and, a new one for us, Ling Design.
“In singles the outright winners came from The Art File, but we also saw some very good sales from Portfolio and Bewilderbeest – one of our new favourites. In relations, Belly Button came in strong with its very in-depth offering.”
What’s your hunch and approach for 2023?
“We’ll probably stick to our buying patterns of 2022 and just put the sales patterns down to a blip, while crossing our fingers that Royal Mail and the unions can sort themselves out and not hold the country to ransom again.”
Caroline Ranwell, owner of Hugs & Kisses, Tettenhall
What’s your verdict?
“Just wow!”
Spill the beans…
“We had the best Christmas yet at Hugs & Kisses which has really surprised me! I expected to be considerably down this year for two reasons – firstly, the dreadful postal strikes and secondly the fact that, having opened my new clothing boutique, we now don’t have as many clothes or handbags in the shop as we did in 2021, but our sales were considerably up.
“Even though we saw brilliant Christmas trading overall, the Royal Mail strikes still affected us, I was horrified to have a huge amount of boxes of Christmas cards left, I do usually get this spot on. Fingers crossed that my post-Christmas sale will move most of them. The postal strikes also really affected my online sales, but I also think they drove customers to shop local and so helped counter card and gift sales in the shop.”
Did you do anything differently this year with your approach to Christmas trade?
“The only difference to our 2021 approach was that we had a lot more Christmas cards available online, something that I’m determined to keep growing!”
What changes in consumer buying patterns did you track?
“Customers just weren’t buying the same amount of boxed cards as normal and, when they did, it seemed to be the charity packs they wanted rather than boxes. Some of our customers did start buying a little earlier but, as usual, it was a completely crazy December with a shop full of men on Christmas Eve, which always makes us smile.”
What were your top performers?
“We did really well with our counter cards, in particular Wendy Jones-Blackett (Cloud Nine and Quicksilver), Rush Design (a magical Christmas range, the best one yet), Five Dollar Shake (the large cards in female relations in this year’s Christmas Glow range sold like crazy), White Cotton Cards (the large cards), Hammond Gower (its Midsummer’s Dream Christmas designs were outstanding), and Belly Button Designs all sold extremely well in titles and open titles.”
What’s your hunch and approach for 2023?
“After such a great Christmas I am feeling really positive about 2023. I don’t think it will be easy, but if we put enough effort in and make sure we have the right stock I think we will be fine. One good thing to come out of the Covid nightmare is that customers really do want to support small businesses and they do want to shop local. The only difference in my buying for 2023 Christmas will be that I will order a few less Christmas card boxes.”
Top: No need to feel sheepish about Christmas trade, it did happen!
