International perspectives from Australia while enjoying a Pantone lunch
Aussies are known for doing things differently – but buying party food by colour is something new even for them!
At Simson Cards, owners John and Bindi Simson admit the studio team’s lives are governed by the Pantone colour books, so they decided to hold a lunch in its honour on Wednesday, 8 February.
“First we selected Pantone colours that could be matched with food,” John told PG Buzz. “You think you know the colour of food, but it’s not until you reference a Pantone book that you truly select the right colour.
“The sight of me in the local supermarket matching colours in my Pantone book to raw salmon, strawberries or avocados left other customers and staff in the supermarket somewhat bewildered!”
Then each team member drew out a colour that also marked the food as being savoury or sweet, and the result was delicious, although John admitted: “Competition to the closest match wasn’t necessary – a massive calorie overload was the clear winner.”
PG has been joining in the globetrotting now international travel is fully open again, checking in with some of the leading greeting card distributors and publishers in various parts of the world to find out how the card trade has been in their respective corners.
Having told PG Buzz about this week’s Pantone Lunch, John and Bindi are first up in the series featuring the UK greetings trade’s overseas pals…
The year that was
“Well, another year has passed but, at least in 2022, our lives were able to return to normal…well, the new post-Covid normal! Retail stores are now always open, apart from those that didn’t make it through the 260 days of total lockdown across 2020/21. Thank goodness lockdowns are all behind us!”
Ups and downs
“One of the joys of 2022 was travel freedom. In early June we hopped on our first plane since January 2020 and headed to London for PG Live – spending 27 hours on a plane wearing N95 masks! It had been 1,100 days since we’d last seen our UK suppliers and London-based friends, and what a joy it was to catch up with everyone face to face instead of WhatsApp or Zoom that has dominated communication over the past two years.
“The retail landscape in Australia across 2022 began to revert back to 2019 and pre-Covid levels. Across 2020/21 with lockdowns in full force, consumers spent the majority of their time working from home instead of their city-centric offices. During lockdowns small suburban stores that would normally generate annual sales of $15,000 (£8,600) were suddenly ordering $30,000 (£17,200) of stock as consumers bought locally within their 5km lockdown-enforced boundary.
“On the flip side, large retail rooftops in the city centres that pre-Covid would generate sales of $100,000-plus (£57,000) were languishing with their revenue stream from city office workers and tourists all but drying up. While the upside in sales for our small suburban customers was more than welcome, their increases were never going to make up the huge downturn in sales from our city stores, and the new hybrid-working norm of some days in the office and some time working from home is expected to continue adjusting the retail landscape across 2023.
“With our last lockdown ending in November 2021, consumers were ready to indulge in some retail therapy. Sales quickly reverted back to 2019 levels with some flat spots along the way. Across September and October 2022, Christmas sales looked like they were on steroids, with customers reporting increases of 30-40% on the previous year. Then in November, after the fourth interest rate increase hit discretionary spending, consumer sales dramatically softened and the joy of those increases quickly evaporated. It’s still way too early to fully quantify Christmas 2022 until credit returns are all in, but the feeling is we will be flat on the previous year.
“Supply of both materials and labour was challenging across most of 2022. The common thread for everyone was that both raw materials and finished goods were constantly delayed, while the cost of all components of greeting cards significantly increased.
“We’re fortunate that 90% of Simson’s single cards are made in Melbourne. Shipping costs are now half of 2021, but still much higher than 2019. Perhaps the most unusual supply issue was pallets. Australia works on a pallet on hire/off hire system with two main suppliers. Across peak months, Simson would need 20 pallets a day but across that last eight months, we received less than 200 hire pallets. As a result, we had to buy one-time-use pallets that had more than doubled in cost because of wood scarcity.”
Hopes and dreams
“Through all the challenges of the past three years, we’re still having fun, making great product that our customers love.”
Top: The Simson Cards team enjoyed a colourful meal
These views also appeared in the February edition of Progressive Greetings magazine which can be read online here, or you can subscribe here to receive the magazine by post each month.
