Greeting card retailer Card Factory launches shopping app to boost online sales

Recently, Card Factory, a British greeting card retailer, announced that it has launched a new shopping app to promote the sales of its online products, while closing several of its stores in the UK. Glyn Williams, e-commerce director of Card Factory, said: "We are very excited to launch the new app, which is a key part of our shift to online sales."

Card Factory said the new app will provide consumers with thousands of gift cards, wrapping paper, balloons and other gifts. It will also provide service functions, including reminder services, which will accurately push consumers' favorite gifts through big data and support personalized customization.

It is reported that Card Factory is a vertical retailer selling greeting cards and gifts in the UK. Its first store opened in Wakefield in 1997. In its early days, it focused on store operations and sold at low prices, so whether it was birthday cards or Christmas gifts, consumers could buy them for less than 1 pound. However, due to the outbreak, most British people began to choose online shopping, and offline non-essential stores were forced to close, and Card Factory fell into trouble.

Moonpig, a British online greeting card retailer, announced its listing in London on Tuesday, benefiting from the popularity of online shopping. Card Factory, as its competitor, has been compared with it many times. Data shows that Moonpig's market value is about 1.2 billion pounds, and Card Factory's 118 million pounds is indeed stretched in comparison.

Card Factory recently said that in January, it suffered a pre-tax loss of £10 million and sales fell 33% year-on-year. In the 11 months to December 31, sales in Card Factory stores fell 38.1%. In contrast, its online sales increased by 137%, and its sister website getingpersonal.co.uk also increased by 10% year-on-year.

After seeing this trend, Card Factory began to reflect on its mistakes and decided to implement a digital development strategy. For example, by establishing an online system, the product cycle can be updated simply and effectively; pricing rules can be implemented to cope with the increase in retail commodity prices; high technology can be used to achieve multifunctional inventory management and achieve automatic replenishment. Recently, Card Factory launched a new mobile application to promote online sales.

Paul Moody, head of Card Factory, said: "Although there is a lot of uncertainty in 2021, I believe we have the opportunity to restore the company to sustainable profit growth, and the UK gift card market has great potential." Data shows that the size of the UK gift card market reached US$13.127 billion in 2020.

Cross-border e-commerce market

U.K.

Greeting Card Retailer