Card companies believe technology will bring a smile to special occasions
MOTHER’S DAY, which this year falls on May 9th in many countries, is a time to give thanks and count blessings—not least for greeting-card companies. Americans alone will spend $671m on cards for this Sunday, according to the National Retail Federation. John Beeder of American Greetings, a card company, claims that his industry is “somewhat recession-proof”. The thinking is that people spend more on cards when they don’t have much cash to splash on gifts.
Maybe. Card companies have fared better than some other makers of consumer products in the downturn, but they have not been unscathed. American Greetings’ revenue fell by 3% in the year to February, to $1.6 billion. Hallmark, America’s largest greeting-card company, saw sales tumble by 8% last year, to $4 billion. Crane & Co, a privately held firm that sells classy stationery, suffered a double-digit decline in sales in the recession. Its second-bestselling item in 2009 (after notecards) was, unusually, high-quality paper for resumes. …