Clintons has confidently shown its hand both on the Christmas front as well as how the changing pattern of milestone birthday markers are reflected in greeting card purchasing habits.
The specialist card retailer has stated that it fully expects to account for an 18% market share of the Christmas card market, double that of the 9% chunk it has for the rest of the year.
Commenting, Tim Fairs, vp marketing and ecommerce of Clintons said: “Our market share invariably doubles at Christmas as this is the special time of year when customers are really happy to spend a bit more to get what they want. We have always done very well for ‘inner circle’ sales when customers buy for their nearest and dearest and at Christmas this really comes to the fore.”
Clintons expects to serve 8 million customers this festive run up through its 380 stores and online presence, with high hopes that this year’s Christmas product portfolio will nudge the Clintons’ ‘average basket spend’ beyond the current £5.00+ (which is up from the £4.50 mark three years ago).
While Clintons’ full Christmas offering will not be in stores until beginning of November, it has presented its Christmas selection to a myriad of newspaper and magazine journalists. Its card offering this year comprises 400 different Christmas card boxes and packs and 2,500 different single card designs (ranging in price from 40p up to £20).
Tim Fairs confirmed that Clintons is well prepared to cater for the ever evolving social landscape “with captions like ‘Dad and his girlfriend’, ‘mum and mum’, ‘mum and stepdad’,” as well as through different design styles provided both by UKG (which accounts for 70% of the cards) as well as other brands, with Belly Button, Laura Syson, Hammond Gower, Rosie Made a Thing, Sooschichacha, Five Dollar Shake and Anzu being among those to make up the other 30%.
“Now more than ever greeting cards have a strong role to play in our many different relationships. We need be there with the captions and designs to match consumer needs,” said Tim summing up one of the main thrusts of Clintons’ ongoing consumer PR campaign it is instigating with the support from London PR company Houston PR.
Clintons’ latest tranche of consumer PR activity revolves around how our milestone celebrations have nudged up the age range. According to its sales data suggests that 50th birthdays are now being more of an event than reaching 18 or 21.
Sales of cards designed specifically to mark 50th birthdays now account for more than 15% of the milestone cards sold on the High Street, according to Clintons’ research.
However, while 50th birthdays now top the birthday league table, 21st (14.1%) and 18th (13.8%) follow closely behind.
Reflecting the UK’s ageing population, milestone cards (combined) for the over 70’s (including cards for those reaching their first century) now account for almost 20% of sales.
