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13 Things Your Card Store Won’t Tell You on Valentine’s Day

Yes, you can buy greeting cards practically anywhere these days. You can even craft your own Valentines, but could you make it a business? Probably not.

from Reader's Digest (UK) | February 2011
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Valentine's Day is one of my most profitable times, after Mother's Day and Christmas.

I just don't like the fact that $3 is all you're prepared to spend on a card for your beloved.

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Beware the "funny" Valentine.

You can buy an anti-Valentine's card with a message like "Love sucks", but I'd advise against it. People like a dash of realism along with romance, but which would you rather read —  "You rock" or "You'll do"?

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Your fireplace, cubicle and fridge are my lifeline.

I don't see you switching to e-cards any time soon. Only 14% of you sent e-greetings last year — and of those, only five in 100 were willing to pay. People like cards they can display.

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There's always something to celebrate.

You can congratulate your pals on their divorce, gay wedding or successful IVF, even your kids on losing their braces. And when it comes to achievement, nothing's too obscure. I can offer you cards praising your prowess in fashion, martial arts and dieting.

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I have a top shelf, too.

It's where I keep the raunchy cards unsuitable for family viewing. More than two million are bought each year. I sometimes hide them inside "modesty sleeves" marked 18, so staff won't sell them to children.

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Birthday-card sales are rising.

— 92% of you buy them. Four out of ten buy for Mother's Day, but you're getting Scrooge-like at Christmas, because one in ten have stopped sending cards then.

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There's a reason for all those teddy bears.

We call it "emotion marketing" because that's what cards are about. True, the rhymes can be icky, but your cliché may be my heartfelt sentiment.

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Women buy 85% of all cards, but not 85% of the time.

The statistics are skewed because women are in charge of buying them at Christmas.

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Fart jokes are best-sellers.

There's an insatiable appetite for toilet humor, and companies from Hallmark to Zazzle (which features 193 unsavory designs) know it.

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We're multicultural.

There are cards for Eid, Diwali and Hanukkah, but we're not multiracial. You won't find many cards featuring ethnic minorities, which can be a problem when it comes to weddings or births.

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You can buy cards everywhere,

because one in six retailers sells them. But it's more difficult to tempt you into stores now there's so much choice online.

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I sell cards for ages up to 100,

and for diamond anniversaries, too (they're not always on show). In England, you'll get a card from the Queen then, though you'll have to wait five more years for the next.

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Anyone can sell handmade cards,

 or set up a small publishing business. But do the math. At $3.50 a card, you'll have to sell 10,000 to turn over $35,000.

SOURCES: The Greeting Cards Association and Mantle

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Your Comments

  • Mjzorn

    At my local stores in Brenham TX, there are lots of cards that feature black families, etc., but not so oriental or mid-eastern.  We also have lots of cards in the Spanish language.

    • Yousddiner

      It’s “Asian” not “oriental”. It’s 2012. You should’ve learned this in school by now. If not, I feel bad for you.

      • TLE_MN

        Who cares what it is? Chill out. I feel bad for you.

      • TLE_MN

        Who cares what it is? Chill out. I feel bad for you.

      • Dann

        Oh, mellow out.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/BVCOESWSSBMSNMXXFDSYOAGLE4 imlyn

    The problem with the ecard is that you have to work to get it.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/BVCOESWSSBMSNMXXFDSYOAGLE4 imlyn

    as for the christmas cards…it isn’t scroogeness as you rudely put it, it’s that everything cost so much. sending christmas cards is less important than gifting.

  • Anonymous

    good news!  surprising~! amazing~!
    “I have already come”
    youtube search ” I have already come “

  • Anonymous

    good news!  surprising~! amazing~!
    “I have already come”
    youtube search ” I have already come “

  • Anonymous

    good news!  surprising~! amazing~!
    “I have already come”
    youtube search ” I have already come “

  • Anonymous

    14% sending e-cards (with that number rising every year) is a HUGE deal. Name ONE industry that can sustain a 14% drop in sales and survive.

  • Anonymous

    14% sending e-cards (with that number rising every year) is a HUGE deal. Name ONE industry that can sustain a 14% drop in sales and survive.

  • Alexa

    What’s with comparing a gay wedding to your kid getting their braces off. Isn’t it as legitimate as any other wedding.

  • 1124141827

    hi, I’m freashman and I want to read more complete inside this book,but I don’t know how to do ?

  • Patrick

    ”
    I just don’t like the fact that $3 is all you’re prepared to spend on a card for your beloved.”

    Maybe because it’s possibly not the only thing being bought?  It’s not your place to judge customers’ purchases, it’s your job to sell them.  

  • http://twitter.com/attikusf James C. Causey Jr.

    Oriental designates items (decorative).  Racially, Asian is correct.  Say Oriental wrongly in San Francisco and they will slap you silly !

  • Anonymous

    I knew a woman whose husband was so cheap he would not buy a greeting card.  TRUE STORY.
    He would take her to a card store and pick out a card and show her, saying:  ”If I bought cards, this is the one I’d get for you.”

  • Anonymous

    I knew a woman whose husband was so cheap he would not buy a greeting card.  TRUE STORY.
    He would take her to a card store and pick out a card and show her, saying:  ”If I bought cards, this is the one I’d get for you.”

  • Cybersleuth

    Who spends $3 on a card these days when the Dollar store has adequate cards (on good card stock) at a price of 2/$1.00? 

  • Cybersleuth

    Who spends $3 on a card these days when the Dollar store has adequate cards (on good card stock) at a price of 2/$1.00? 

  • Anonymous

    They don’t like that $3 is all I’m prepared to spend on a card? I remember when I spent less than that on the GIFT. And how about they appreciate what business I’m willing to conduct with them or I make my own card and spend $0?