You might most associate greeting cards with Christmas and birthdays, but - actually - greeting cards franchises cater for a vast array of events throughout the year.
If you’re an artist or a copywriter, starting your own greeting cards business is an obvious choice. But you can benefit from the experience and the established supply chain of greeting card franchises to give you the kickstart you’ll need to make a success of your business.
The Greeting Cards Association (GCA) valued the sector at £1.6 billion in 2018, and this increases year-on-year. Over 100,000 people are employed in the industry, including publishers, photographers, artists, copywriters, printers, paper suppliers, envelope and wrap suppliers, warehousing… The list goes on.
Nearly 879 million cards are sold each year, making greeting card franchises an exceptionally lucrative business. Card sending is a national obsession: the UK public buys and sends more greeting cards than any other nation on the planet.
It's estimated that we each send 33 cards a year; although women buy 85% of those.
Greeting cards are supplied in a wide range of outlets, including specialist card shops, supermarkets, corner shops, petrol stations, and online.
Franchising
Franchising is a unique business opportunity. It provides anyone wishing to start up in business occasion to benefit from the hard-earned reputation of established brands.
Taking on the branding of an establishing company helps initiate your place in a saturated market. The recognisable branding of an existing organisation is a particular boon for new businesses, meaning that your future customers already know and trust you.
Setting up in business from scratch is a notoriously risky business. Almost 50% of independent start-ups go into administration within three years of setting-up-shop.
Greeting cards franchises provide value due to their existing supply chain. Supermarket chains are particularly well-known for their discerning choice of suppliers - if you're a small independent, it's challenging to achieve shelf space. Greeting card franchises already have relationships with those outlets; providing a broader, mass-market for your products.
Facts About Greeting Card Franchises
The greeting cards sector is a creative industry, hiring a range of artists, writers, and manufacturers. The UK is considered the industry leader in card design - the GCA suggests that we're ten years ahead of other nations when it comes to our innovative approach to composition.
The UK loves its comedy greeting cards: the humour ranges from safe, family-friendly, gentle, well-meaning jokes to the complete other end of the spectrum with outrageous and comedically offensive content.
There are more than one-thousand greeting card publishers in the UK: most of those publishers are small businesses, employing fewer than five employees.
Around £50m is raised for good causes through charity greeting cards each Christmas.
There's a distinct science to the displaying of greeting cards in shops; representing the "circle of life". Birthdays are generally promoted on the left-hand side of the display, moving from left to right with weddings, anniversaries, age-specific cards, through to sympathy cards at the far right. This arrangement has been proven to maximise sales.
“Distress purchasing” provides a healthy market for greeting card franchises: those last-minute, belated purchases for forgotten events. Service station forecourts provide for this market and charge a premium for the convenience.
Of course, Christmas is a particularly lucrative time for greeting card franchises, although sales tend to increase by just 13%. Birthdays, congratulations, weddings and anniversary cards are popular year-round. Additionally, get-well-soon cards, Valentines Day, Mothers/Fathers Day also bring in impressive sales.
Franchising Vs Independent
Banks and moneylenders tend to favour franchises when they assess applications for start-up collateral. They consider franchise businesses less of a financial risk because they are built on robust economic foundations and have the support of experienced parent companies.
Independent companies are notoriously risky, even with smaller operations such as the greeting card market—many struggle to recoup their start-up costs.
Franchising offers the benefit of ongoing support and a ready-made supply chain, and - most importantly - greater certainty for continued growth.
Greeting card Franchises
Explore our range of greeting card franchises, and get the nation laughing, crying, and celebrating those landmark moments.
Find your brand new start with Franchise Direct.