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Greeting cards on the offensive: The Economic Times
New Delhi, Nov 20: The infocom revolution in the country with affordable mobile telephony and internet not only spelled technological obsolescence for snail mails, it also paralysed the greeting card industry.
New Delhi, Nov 20: The infocom revolution in the country with affordable mobile telephony and internet not only spelled technological obsolescence for snail mails, it also paralysed the greeting card industry.
After three years of de-growth the fledgling industry witnessed some optimism this year, with sales just about flat.
In the intervening period the impact of online greeting tools faded off to a large extent but SMS which has become a part of everyday life, especially with youngsters, is proving to be a major roadblock for the greeting card business to get back on the growth path. (Would you prefer to send greetings by SMS rather than by cards?)
Teenagers who used to account for 70% of card sales earlier are said to be turning their back and their contribution has come down sharply to just about half of the total. So much so that industry players are now planning an anti SMS campaign to make people switch the way they greet and express their feelings.
Says Anil Moolchandani, chairman and managing director of Archies, who pioneered the organised greeting cards business in the country, “The teenager’s mind is not in the card these days and this is what we need to tackle. We are strategising ad campaigns to counter SMS and will spread the message how in USA and UK it is considered an insult to greet through an SMS.”
In the intervening period the impact of online greeting tools faded off to a large extent but SMS which has become a part of everyday life, especially with youngsters, is proving to be a major roadblock for the greeting card business to get back on the growth path. (Would you prefer to send greetings by SMS rather than by cards?)
Teenagers who used to account for 70% of card sales earlier are said to be turning their back and their contribution has come down sharply to just about half of the total. So much so that industry players are now planning an anti SMS campaign to make people switch the way they greet and express their feelings.
Says Anil Moolchandani, chairman and managing director of Archies, who pioneered the organised greeting cards business in the country, “The teenager’s mind is not in the card these days and this is what we need to tackle. We are strategising ad campaigns to counter SMS and will spread the message how in USA and UK it is considered an insult to greet through an SMS.”