The physical and digital editions are all ready for you to read
Progressive Greetings’ January 2023 edition has landed with a thud – and the digital version is now available to read online now too!
Full of gorgeous newness and news, the first PG issue of 2023 is crammed full of industry happenings, product launches and views galore.
The news pages share the pain of the Christmas crunch time, with the postal strikes putting a dent into festive box sales as well as costing online operators dearly.
But there’s plenty of positive news in there too, such as how Noel Tatt has reached its £2million fundraising milestone with Help 32 Charities, Scribbler’s kiosk roll out and that Cardies of Stevenage won the Most Dog-Friendly shop award – woof woof to that! To read about all this and much more click here.
PG columnist and indie retailer David Robertson kicks off the new year by revisiting Nostradamus’ famous book Les Prophéties, first published in 1555, and wonders how many of the philosopher’s predictions will ring true in 2023, he did predict a great war after all!
“So, should we all stay in, lock the doors and not come out? The problem with that is we did that during Covid and life was pretty dull. Indie retailers and card publishers have never really laid down and admitted defeat,” writes David in his New Beginnings article. To read more about what he has to say click here.
Staying in the indie camp, PG made a trip to the coastal town of Felixstowe to visit one of the industry’s longest-established greeting card shops, The Card Centre, which is co-owned by John Barratt and is still very much loved by its customers, who come from far and wide. To read about this retail gem click here.
Meanwhile, in this month’s What’s Hot? feature, a trio of independent retailers share what products have been among their top sellers. To see which ranges came out tops click here.
Moving into multiple territory, Tesco has enjoyed a great year on the cards front – in keeping with its own brand you could say it’s the “finest” – with more plans to further develop its innovative Introducing… collection. To find out more click here.
And, talking of Innovations, publishers have been pulling out the stops with their launches, some of which will be unveiling at the upcoming Top Drawer show, which starts this Sunday, 15 January, and runs until Tuesday. To see these new product delights, click here.
Among those sharing a whole smorgasbord of delicious new card, wrappings and gift launches at Top Drawer, will be Belly Button Designs – founder and creative maestro Rachel Hare reveals how she owes a lot to King Charles III. Intrigued? Find out more by clicking here.
Hot on the heels of her recent appearance in Radio 4’s You & Yours programme, another card publishing star Jo Wilson, founder of Dandelion Stationery, shares what the company has been doing to further support its independent retail stockists. To read all about her life as a poster girl click here.
With a turnover of £25million and a membership spanning almost 1,000 independent retailer rooftops, Cardgains buying group has some clout. As joint md Chris Dyson retires and Penny Shaw takes on the role of managing director, PG catches up with the pair to find out how the buying group has changed and its plans for the future. To read all about it click here.
The UK GCA is well blessed with a strong roster of council members whose collective experience and differing perspectives help protect and further nurture greeting card sending in the UK. In the Viewpoints section of the January edition, council members share what they feel are the opportunities and challenges for the industry. To see what they have to say click here.
Someone who always has something to say is PG columnist Cardsharp, and this month he puts forward the view that the UK greeting card industry came in for unfair criticism for its Far Eastern production. To read all about it click here.
With the focus now on 2023, to coincide with the launch of the new Christmas card ranges, PG talks to publishers about some of the design trends and considerations when creating their latest clutch of festive gorgeousness. To read all about it click here.
And, staying on the design trend front, Art Source sees a collection of artist agents share what they feel will be the drivers of our aesthetic tastes in the coming months. To feast in the glory click here.
All this and more in the pages of our lovely magazine – wouldn’t you like to hold it in your hands so you can flick through and read it wherever it takes your fancy? To SUBSCRIBE NOW go to www.max-subscriptions.net. However, if you can’t wait, to read the whole PG January 2023 edition online you can click here.
