The UK greeting card industry has long been there to mark all life’s events, from major milestones to smaller moments, in celebration and support, but today’s anniversary of lockdown is something different altogether.
We have all had our own experiences of life since 23 March 2020, how the pandemic has affected us personally and workwise. Many lives have been tragically lost, livelihoods have been severely damaged and normality has been massively disrupted in all manner of ways in what has been the hardest year for the majority in a generation. It is not over yet, but at least with the astonishing progress of the vaccine rollout (full marks medical science, NHS and the Govt’s medical advisors) and the roadmap looking set to hold, things will start easing and the real re-building of our lives, our businesses, the economy and greeting card community can commence.
No doubt, like you, I remember hearing that first speech given by Boris Johnson which, while shocking, I processed it as being a temporary upheaval. Here we are 12 months later and ‘lockdown’ – a word the Government tried to dissuade journalists from using at the start – is ubiquitous in daily parlance and we are living our lives under restrictions we never imagined we would ever have to endure.
I was heartened to read the findings from our recent PG Retail Barometer, which highlighted that 76% of independent retailers firmly believe that the consumer’s appreciation of greeting cards has increased, and another 16% felt they had remained on a par. This served to further underline the incredible importance of greeting cards as a tangible communication of love, friendship and support, and the vital role our industry has played in the year of lockdown arguably more than ever before.
While I/PG joined forces with the GCA and retailers to support the campaign instigated by Cards Galore’s Rumit Shah for greeting card retailers to be deemed as ‘essential’ and therefore be allowed to trade during lockdown, testament to the importance of cards, the public still found ways of buying them. Yes, the print on demand online operators such as Moonpig, Thortful and Funky Pigeon have had a field day; the supermarkets card displays have been ransacked by eager card shoppers, garden centres enjoyed blossoming sales. And even former bricks & mortar stalwarts have been blessed with support for their investment in websites, Click & Collect or other inventive ways of getting cards to their customers.
While the card publishing calendar has been shifted somewhat there is no denying that creativity is there in abundance, with designs and ranges that are ever more appropriate to the nuances of our time – be it the humorous observations of lockdown life, depictions of our new found loves of gardening or four legged additions to our family.
We can never get back the celebrations that didn’t happen in the last 12 months, the business plans that were constantly having to be rewritten, but we can at least look forward to making the most of what looks set to be a much better period.
It has been gruelling for so many, but talking to many retailers, publishers, trade suppliers and agents, the ‘reset button’ is being pressed. For some, it has been a huge ‘back to basics’, unravelling years of historic practice to see their companies with fresh eyes. For many retailers they have taken this enforced period of closure to completely revamp their shops, some even relocating in readiness for the grand open up.
Just as we have all been craving getting together with friends and family, the greeting card industry is a true community and as such works so much better when we’re together.
With plans well underway for The Retas (July 14), PG Live (July 27-28) and confirmation yesterday that Harrogate Gift and Home is going ahead as planned in mid July means that we have some great opportunities to get ‘the greeting card band’ back together.
I will of course be showing my respects at midday today for those who have lost their lives to Covid-19 and lighting a candle this evening, but that light will also be a beacon of hope of better times to come.
Top: Lighting a candle of remembrance of lives lost, but also hope for the future.
