Did you know 92% of UK households buy greeting cards whereas only 87% purchase deodorant? That was just one of the many industry insights that attendees at last week’s GCA Conference and AGM learned during the day
The event at Manchester Hall brought together GCA members from across the UK and Ireland, including retailers, publishers and specialist suppliers, who discovered more about consumer habits, and how the greetings industry is facing current challenges.
Rachel Green, co-owner of publisher Raspberry Blossom, launched Card Club, a new GCA initiative that aims to engage the next generation of card senders, through toolkits for school teachers.
Sustainability was one hot topic – with Fiona Pitt from Hallmark sharing that 78% of GCA members have reduced or removed plastic and a further 10% are planning to do so in the next two years.
Diversity and Inclusion is also a key subject, and the GCA’s subcommittee, led by Mark Callaby, has worked on strengthening GCA policies, as well as working with retailers to highlight the range of greeting cards available, sponsoring the inaugural D&I awards at the Henries, bringing together nearly 1,000 Black designers through a Sainsbury’s Black History Month project, and working with children’s bereavement charity Winston’s Wish. Sarah-Jane Porter, global design & licensing director at Moonpig, is now taking over leadership of this subcommittee, while Mark takes on the role of vice president at the GCA.
Other highlights included the lobbying work of the GCA concerning Royal Mail, Ofcom and Temu.
Seth Woodmansterne shared highlights from the GCA’s annual market report – the market value is now £1.53bn, slightly up on the previous year.
Other speakers included Kantor’s Jon Hendy, thortful MD Pip Heywood, Hazel Walker, buying manager at Waterstones, and Raja Arora at Nettl and Kelly Hudson from McDaniels Law, who looked to the future with a focus on AI.
Finally, GCA president Karen Wilson, owner of Paper Salad, shared some of the key business decisions she had made that had made Paper Salad the success it is today.GCA CEO Amanda Fergusson closed the conference by encouraging everyone to use the free GCA toolkits and take part in Cardmitment initiatives for Christmas 2025.
