Indies’ increased sales show Mother’s Day is still the biggest date
It was all about the mums at the weekend and the strength of card and gift sales across the country showed why Mother’s Day is definitely the biggest date in the spring seasons calendar.
Increased sales and selling out of stock made the news for the big day on Sunday, 10 March, as A Stone’s Throw co-owner Rob Sampson laughed: “The Saturday before Mother’s Day was absolute bedlam – in a good way! – for us, and we came very close to selling out of cards completely.
“I think the early date caught people out so they came out in droves that last day to make sure they had a lovely card and gift to give.”
Rob saw a 20% rise in card sales compared to last year at the Sherwood indie, with gift sales also up by 15%, especially in jewellery and fashion accessories, helped by fresh deliveries following his Spring Fair ordering, and particular bestsellers were by Louise Mulgrew, Alljoy Design’s laser-cut cards, and Mothering Sunday cards by Sarah Kelleher.
He added: “A simple Happy Mother’s Day is by far our best caption, with various Mum cards coming in second place. Our biggest caption growth was for Mothering Sunday cards so we’ve made a note to stock up on those next year. Niche captions such as Like A Mum and from the dog or cat made up a very small portion of our sales, but it’s always worth having a few in stock.
“Our window display was specifically calling it Mothering Sunday and we had multiple positive comments on doing so, which we thought was interesting.”
At Presentation in Barrowford owner Andrea Pinder was determined to be proactive this year, so had two initiatives aimed at helping others, with the first being an expansion of the giftwrapping service with donations going to the Rosemere Cancer Foundation.
“And we supplied local charity Colne Open Door with a card stand full of several different Mother’s Day cards for the less fortunate to send or give free,” Andrea explained.
“This has been with help not only from Presentation, but publishers Second Nature, Paperlink and Pigment all helped towards making this event special – and I’ll be doing the same for Easter cards at the charity which helps families and homeless people by providing a safe haven, support and advice.”
In her store, Andrea saw a 13% increase in sales of Mother’s Day cards, with the best sellers coming from Five Dollar Shake, Belly Button Designs, Pigment, Paperlink and Wendy Jones-Blackett.
Mum was the top caption at Market Harborough’s In Heaven At Home card and gift store, but owner Anne Barber revealed she also sold a lot more grandma, granny, nan, nana, and nanny cards this year for the event.
Anne felt many customers had been caught out by the early date, adding: “They didn’t realise until the few days before. Social media played a big part in raising awareness of the date and Saturday was like a Christmas Saturday – we were really busy with dads and children buying cards and gifts which was so lovely to see. We pretty much sold out of cards this year although I’d bought about 10% more, so it was a great season.”
As for buying habits, Anne said: “Children chose funny cards, including cheeky ones from Objectables while adults were a little bit more traditional, choosing pretty floral cards.
“It was also noticeable that we sold a lot more gifts. Most people chose their cards first then selected a present. Our faux flower posies and bouquets were very popular, as were soft toys, soaps and hand creams and candles.”
Gifts were also the big thing at Highworth Emporium where co-owner Aga Marsden has been crunching the numbers to reveal just a 1.5% rise in cards “but almost 20% in gifts – and we didn’t expect that”!
Aga added: “It was clear gifts were more desired than cards this year and the budget was higher, especially noticeable among young customers. Chocolates were extremely popular and we sold out of Mother’s Day balloons!
“When it comes to cards, we sell all sort of captions but, of course, the most popular are Mum, Wife, and general Mother’s Day. Step Mum, Like A Mum, from a dog, from the bump, etc, are nice cards to have just to please some customers, but they don’t make a massive difference in overall sales.
“The most popular publisher this year was Ling Design. And my personal favourites were the pop up cards from Second Nature and our personalised card from Dandelion Stationery.”
Having seen their Mother’s Day sales rise by a magnificent 25%, Kayleigh and Sinan Hisim will still be expanding their selection at Milford Cards & Gifts next year after realising they had no designs to satisfy the demand for cards from the dog.
“We’ll definitely be sourcing some for next year,” Kayleigh said. “We’re looking to stock more humour cards next year as well, and wife cards also sell well within our village.
“We did really well this Mother’s Day especially in the last few days. On Saturday we were super busy with last-minute purchases – people were buying up to four cards. We did well with the traditional captions with Mothering Sunday cards being a big hit.
“We like special days like Mother’s Day as it brings new customers and age ranges into the shop. Throughout the year we mainly have an elderly customer base but over the past year we’re definitely opening up to new age ranges. It’s nice to see that, despite people saying greeting cards are dying out for the new generation, they still take the time to come and choose a card for days like Mother’s Day.”
IC&G, Pigment, Tracks, Paperlink and Woodmansterne were the most popular publishers in Welshpool where The Celtic Company’s Rachel Bates saw consistent trade, with her gift sales ending slightly up.
Rachel said: “We’ve had a fantastic response to our cards this year – sales have been a good mixture of the versed cards that IC&G do so well at and modern ranges like Emma Bridgwater from Woodmansterne selling out.
“We’ve welcomed Tracks’ Welsh cards into our collection this year which has been our best new addition and Pigment has bought a fresh design to the traditional nan, grandma and granny cards which our customers loved!”
At Mantons Cards in Port Erin, on the Isle of Man, owner Chris Beards enthused: “We had a fantastic Mother’s Day selling out of most captions. Surprisingly, with Mother’s Day being early we had steady sales for a couple of weeks rather than a last-minute rush.
“We are especially happy to have had a successful event given our local retail is being so difficult, which has resulted in many local shops closing.”
Saving the best till last, there was a massive 43% increase in sales from last year at &Quirky in Berkhamsted, with Ohh Deer, Raspberry Blossom, and Studio Boketto the most popular, as Buddy Fernandez and Dean Morris Cards cornered the cheeky end of the market.
Partner Paul Cheshire covered a range of mum, mother, and mama captions, with mum proving the most sought-after, and he also increased the number of grandma, grandmother, granny, nanny and nan designs.
He said: “For the final week we moved the cards with Mother’s Day on to be closer to the till area and so easy impulse buy for customers – which worked.
“There were only a few cards for step-mums, but we had cards from local designers which had words such as Legend, Like A Mum To Me or Favourite Person In The World which helped cover these buyers.
“We focused more with cards not saying Happy Mother’s Day, so the cards could then be sold year-long as birthday cards, and included a couple of from the dog or cat cards for all those pet mothers – these again were more generic so we could then sell year long.
“Sales were steady throughout February as we introduced different ranges but the most sales happened in the final four days in the lead up to Sunday, with Saturday being so busy in store.
“The cheekier and ruder cards were also up on sales this year and made a lot of people chuckle as they looked through – some then would buy a cheeky card but also a nicer card which helped double our sales!”
