Greeting cards feature prominently in WH Smith’s recently announced preliminary results. The retail group fanfared a “record performance” from its Funkypigeon online platform as well as highlighting how it has expanded the greeting card selection in some of its high street stores and still sees potential growth opportunities on the greeting card front.
Impacted by Covid, overall the retail group reported a £104 million pre-tax loss for the 12-month period to 31 August 2021 (which is an improvement on the £226 million loss for the previous year) but Carl Cowling, group chief executive has stated the company is “well positioned to return to meaningful profit in 2022.”
Turnover of the group was £886 million (13% lower than the previous 12-month period), however sales from its high street business were actually up by 4%.
“The market has changed significantly during the pandemic, resulting in a shift in consumer behaviour over the past 18 months. High street footfall is down 25% versus 2019 levels with internet retailing growing,” explained Carl. “The speed of this change has accelerated during the pandemic.” He elaborated that as a consequence, it has reacted to this changing market in a number of ways, including in its greeting card selection.
“We have reviewed our categories and extended them where appropriate to ensure we have greater relevance in this market and where competitors have closed,” said Carl, citing how it is catering for the surge in those working from home as an example.
He also highlighted how WHSmith has increased its ranges of cards “where competition has weakened”.
The group’s trio of online platforms – whsmith.co.uk, funkypigeon.com and cultpens.com – have all received considerable investment and have shown “significant growth”.
Of these, Funkypigeon receives a special mention, revealing that is generated £54 million in sales for the year. As well as championing the record performance for Funkypigeon, the results announcement also banged the drum for greeting cards generally, describing the market as “substantial” and “stable”. Referencing research company OC&C’s forecasts, Carl predicts that online penetration in the single greeting card market will grow from 15% to 20% by 2024.
“We therefore see significant growth opportunities with funkypigeon.com,” said Carl.
As well as investing in the Funkypigeon site, the last year has seen the development of the funkypigeon.com app; an extension of the fulfilment capability to support the significant increase in new customers over the past 18 months; introduce next day delivery service seven days a week and has added a new production facility in Swindon.
Top: WHSmith’s high street sales actually grew by 4% year on year (up until 31 August).
