What you need to know
The market for greetings cards has held up well, despite the potential for digital communications to displace some card giving activity. In 2018 we estimate that sales of greetings cards grew by 1.3% to reach £1.87 billion. This includes 1% growth in value sales for cards bought as single items, 0.9% growth in spending on boxed or packaged Christmas cards and 5.5% growth in spending on print-on-demand cards such as those from Moonpig. By 2018 print-on-demand companies had achieved a market share of the greetings card market of 6.9% by value. Card Factory is the largest greetings card chain and has continued to grow market share, driven by opening new outlets. In the five years from 2018-23, consumer spending on greetings cards is forecast to grow by 2.7% to reach £1.9 billion, as digital greetings gradually replace the use of physical cards.
Meanwhile fashion and style have been the key drivers for the market for personal stationery, encouraging people to buy from a wider range of items and to treat personal stationery as a gift item. But, as more sales have migrated online, retailers are struggling to find ways of generating sufficient profits from their physical outlets. Consumer spending rose by 13% between 2013 and 2018, to reach £2.96 billion, but in the five years to 2023 growth will slow to just 1%, because of intense price competition between retailers as Amazon, eBay and value chains grow their market share.
Products covered in this Report
This Report covers the UK market for greetings cards and personal stationery.
The greetings card market includes greetings cards for birthdays, seasonal occasions (ie Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Easter) and other everyday occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, good luck and blank cards etc). It includes cards from print-on-demand companies as well as conventional paper greetings cards.
Personal stationery covers anything that people use for writing, including paper, envelopes, journals, diaries, notepads, pencil cases, pens and pencils. But we exclude stationery for home office consumption as well as other home office supplies. Art and craft supplies are also excluded.
