April Is National Card and Letter-Writing Month

Greeting Card & Stationery Marketers Should Celebrate By Powering Their Marketing With New Data About Their Consumers

 

The U.S. Postal Services has named April to be National Card and Letter-Writing Month.  The USPS's goal is to boost written -- and mailed -- communications to build relationships through cards and letters:  "Touch them with a letter they can feel -- and keep."

Marketers of greeting cards and stationery products can give a boost to their business-building efforts this April, as well.  Unity Marketing has just published a new research study of the paper products market that will provide marketers with the latest information about the consumers of greeting card and stationery products.    

The new report, Greeting Card, Stationery, Gift Wrap and Party Goods and Paper Gifting Market Report, details the findings of a consumer survey conducted in November 2009 among 1,436 recent buyers of one or more paper goods products used to communicate, express oneself, celebrate, and craft. 

Marketing starts with listening to and understanding the consumer

Unity Marketing's new report is an ambitious study of the minds of the greeting card and stationery consumers.  It digs deeply into their buying behavior, needs, desires and preferences, to provide marketers with reliable, objective and projectible data that will power their marketing, communications, and strategic planning processes.

This study provides the latest market intelligence for marketers and retailers that compete in the $41 billion retail market for paper products and stationery goods. In other words, this study looks at the overall market for paper products that people use to communicate, to express oneself, to celebrate and to craft.    

Commenting on the new report, Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Shopping:  Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, said, "This new report is an important source of trend information for competitors in this category.  The report compares the latest survey results with those conducted in 2007 and 2005.  Throughout the study we see clearly the effects of the recession on the consumers active in this category, as they change the products they buy, the amount they spend and the places where they shop.  While it measures the recession's impact, the report also allows marketers to get a view of what the stationery market will look like as the recession eases through this year and into 2011-2012.  Thus it is an important tool for market and strategic planning post-recession."

This report gives a comprehensive view of the paper goods market and includes the following product categories:

• Greeting cards, specifically pre-printed greeting cards, note cards with non-preprinted greetings; boxed greeting or note cards; Christmas cards; pre-printed invitations, thank you cards; custom-printed cards, invitations, etc.;

• Stationery, such as writing paper, social stationery, business stationery, specialty paper for stationery uses, special paper for computers including photograph printing from computer, decorated paper and/or cards, such as print-your-own cards or invitations, and/or full-sized 8 1/2 x 11 paper, print-your-own banners, including special papers for computer printing, etc.

• Gifting and Party Supplies, such as paper gift wrap, gift bags, ribbons and bows, party ware and paper party supplies, etc.

• Paper Crafting and Hobby Supplies, such as scrapbooking supplies and kits, make-your-own card supplies and kits, stamps and stamp supplies, stickers, photo albums,  memory albums, like baby, wedding memory books, specialty paper

• Other Paper and Stationery Items, such as blank books and journals, decorative hanging calendars, date books, specialty pens and writing instruments, such as fountain pens, calligraphy supplies, desk accessories, etc.The prime market for stationery and greeting card marketers are young adults aged 25-to-34 years of age.  Consumers in this age group spend 41 percent more than buyers aged 35-to-44 years, making these young adults the highest spending age group across all five stationery product categories included in a new study of the greeting card and stationery market from Unity Marketing.

With a focus on consumers, their buying behavior, needs, desires and preferences, this research study includes research data and statistics about:

• Stationery Goods Market Size and Growth:  What is the size of the overall stationery goods market, as well as the six key product segments (e.g. greeting cards, social stationery, custom-printed cards and stationery, gift wrap and party goods, paper crafting products and other stationery products) and how rapidly is it growing?   How is the stationery goods market segmented by type of product?

• Demographics of the Stationery Goods Market:  What are the demographic characteristics of people who buy stationery goods products? How is stationery goods buying behavior influenced by demographic segments (e.g., gender, age, household income (HHI), size, composition, ethnicity/race, education, etc.)?

• Stationery Goods Buying Behavior:  What are the primary characteristics of the consumers' buying behavior related to stationery goods in general and the four product segments (e.g. greeting cards, social stationery, custom printed stationary and cards, gift wrap and party goods, paper crafting products and other stationery products) in particular?  Why do they buy these goods and how do consumers motivations different by product category segment?  Where do they shop for the different types of stationery products; what factors influence their decision making; how much do they spend buying each of the stationery goods product segments and across the entire stationery goods category; what is the role of brand in stationery goods product selections and shopping choices?  How do different demographic segments differ in their shopping and buying behavior?

• Psychographic Profile and Segmentation of the Greeting Card Markets:  A psychographic profile of the greeting card buyers is developed in this report.  The profiles identify four different types or personalities of consumers of greeting card.  These profiles identify different drives and motivations found among consumers in purchasing greeting cards; what factors are more or less important in driving greeting card purchasing decisions; and how can greeting card marketers and retailers better understand the hearts and minds of their consumers.  In essence, we discover 'why people buy greeting cards.'

 

About  Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing