• According to the United States Postal Service, the number of greeting cards mailed within the U.S. has declined by 24 percent from 2002 to 2010, and continues to drop today.
• Traditional sales have fallen by 60 percent over the last decade, to $5 billion a year.
• American Greetings stock was valued at 65 percent less than it was in 1998.
• Hallmark’s card sales dropped to 5 billion cards a year in 2012, down from 6 billion in 2011.
Some bright spots:
• Digital greeting cards continue to rise, up to $4 billion in sales in 2013, a 20-percent increase from 2012.
• The statistics were based on "traditional" cards, and not independent designers.
• The report said barriers to enter the industry are not difficult and possible areas of growth are likely small geographic areas and niches in the market.
Unfortunately these stats only reflect traditional cards sold through corporate publishers. It is unclear how all this reflects on card publishers who services boutique shops (see more confirmation on this here) . Also, what about the imprintable industry? Is that a growth area?
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| Book on creating wedding invitations. |
1 comment:
I was starting to see the decline myself. Personally, I do handmade and digital illustration greeting cards. For months now, I see that no one is buying.
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