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    Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores: How to Find and Work with Sales Reps
    Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores: How to Find and Work with Sales Reps
    Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores: How to Find and Work with Sales Reps
    Ebook92 pages1 hour

    Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores: How to Find and Work with Sales Reps

    By Kate Harper

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    About this ebook

    If you like to make greeting cards, this book explains how to get your cards into stores and sell them nationwide. Learn about changing trends in the indie card market and niche opportunities available for artists. Book includes detailed guidelines on pricing cards for a profit, getting professional feedback on your designs, finding sales representatives, pitching your card line to them, approaching stores, and the industry standards you should follow. Information is also applicable to gift items, such as magnets, journals and calendars.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKate Harper
    Release dateJan 23, 2017
    ISBN9781370063598
    Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores: How to Find and Work with Sales Reps
    Author

    Kate Harper

    Kate Harper is a designer in Berkeley, California who is inspired by the intersection of art and technology. She is active in the new media, art licensing and DIY arts communities in the San Francisco Bay area.

    Read more from Kate Harper

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      Book preview

      Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores - Kate Harper

      GET YOUR GREETING CARDS INTO STORES

      How to Find and Work with Sales Reps

      By Kate Harper

      Introduction

      1. Getting Feedback

      2. Getting Your First Account

      3. Pricing and Profits

      4. Sales Reps 101

      5. Where to Find Reps

      6. Rep Readiness Checklist

      7. Pitching Your Line to a Rep

      8. Working with Reps

      9. Conclusion

      Resources

      All Rights Reserved © 2017 Kate Harper

      INTRODUCTION

      For fifteen years, I published and sold my handmade greeting cards to over 2,000 accounts, including national chains, bookstores, grocery stores, airport gift shops, and even car washes.

      From all my experience, I continue to believe the greeting card business is still one of the few businesses a person can start at home on the kitchen table. Even though today more people communicate through digital media rather than mailing letters, I still see new indie artists entering the business and succeeding, especially ‘handmade’ card designers.

      If you publish your own cards, there are some positive trends leaning your way. Since most sales statistics for the greeting card industry are based on figures from large corporations, it is hard to know what is really going on in the smaller, independent greeting card market.

      To find out what is happening I interviewed several independently owned gift stores. I asked them what trends they see in card market and I was surprised that they all reported an increase in sales.

      When I asked them to respond to negative news articles I'd seen about national greeting card sales, they mostly felt those statistics did not apply to them.

      They reported that cards are a popular item. They do the best with more artistic, handmade and local artist's cards and attribute it to the fact that people want to touch paper again.

      One store reported that it was common for a customer to come to the register with $35-$40 worth of cards, and they buy cards because they like a particular art style or theme (and not necessarily because they need greeting cards).

      All stores said they served a completely different market than chain stores that carry greeting cards. One manager reported, People who buy cards in our store, take time to evaluate them. People who are just running errands or need to buy a card out of an obligation, tend to buy cards in drugstore chains.

      Here are some trends they reported:

      • Customers are willing to spend over $5 per card.

      • Younger hipster buyers are coming into the market.

      • Customers will buy cards to keep, and frame for inspiration.

      • Customers often ask for help when selecting a card and they want to know the story behind the publisher or the artist.

      • Cards are not always mailed, but are instead given by hand, person to person.

      Almost every store emphasized their customers buy cards for the imagery, and not for text. Trends are shifting to thought-provoking imagery that make the customer ask, what is this about? An example that was shown to me was a picture of a moose riding a bicycle. Surprisingly, all the top selling cards in all of the stores I interviewed did not have text on them.

      I asked store managers what artists should do if they want to succeed in the card business today. Here are their suggestions:

      • Pay special attention to your image. It is more important than it used to be.

      • Witty text isn't necessary. Leaving it blank or just saying happy birthday is good enough.

      • Create more cards that can be bought any day of the year, and not limit them to one occasion.

      • Make cards that are curious and unpredictable.

      • If you are just starting out, create Birthday, Thank You, Valentine's Day and blank cards (no words).

      While my informal interviews were limited to Northern California, some of the responses were also consistent with the National Procurement Report of the greeting card industry. This report stated that overall corporate card sales were down, but that ...areas of growth are likely small geographic locations, and niches in the market.

      This is all good news for card designers in the age of technology. Rather than rely on news reports or business analysts, the most accurate information is from the source: The retail store. I encourage all designers to not be shy. Ask your local independent gift retailer the same questions that I did.

      ~

      When I started making my own cards, I didn't know how to get them into retail stores, nor did I understand how the greeting card business worked. I spent time learning about the industry, sought out advice, welcomed criticism and went back to the drawing board several times to solve problems and create new designs.

      Because of my years of experience, I often get emails from artists who want advice. The most common question they ask me is How can I get my cards into stores? In this book, I will answer that question and more.

      Even though this book is about greeting cards, the information is also applicable to all gift items, including magnets, journals, calendars, collectibles, etc. This is because the gift industry and greeting card industry are similar. Stores who buy cards, often buy gifts.

      My suggestions in this book are a result of my personal experience as an artist. For every piece of advice I offer, another artist or publisher might do things very differently, which points to the fact that there is no one right way to run a card business. This is why I like this business. There is lot of flexibility to do it things your own way.

      For example, some people believe it

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