The first few months of the year are filled with some of the greeting card industry’s busiest seasonal occasions, and every year they follow straight after Christmas, the busiest of them all. This year the very early Mother’s Day and Easter certainly kept us on our toes at Kate’s.
Valentine’s Day on 14th February fell on a Sunday this year, and Kate thinks we all tend to be more romantic when celebrating St Valentine’s at the weekend. Of course, because we are an online shop our customers start buying their Valentine’s cards and gifts in January, often at the same time as taking advantage of Kate’s New Year Sale bargains.
Boofle was a top customer favourite for Valentine’s. Love Kate’s are official Boofle stockists and the cute-cuddly-knitted-dog is growing in popularity, with many customers buying Boofle Valentine’s cards, gifts and wrap together. The Boofle ‘Horny Devil’ was new for 2016 and virtually sold out. Besides Boofle there are hundreds of different cards to choose from, because Kate knows that customers demand a great choice when they are looking for that perfect card. Many go for a little light-hearted humour for their loved one, and cards featuring ‘chimpanzees’ for the men were booming again this year.
No sooner than the rush of last-minute orders was over, the sales of cards for Mum started to pick up. Mothering Sunday was on March 6th, just 3 weeks after Valentine’s Day. Mother’s Day’s is the second busiest time for Kate and the team, with many customers ordering more than one Mother’s Day card. Of course there’s a bit of work to add all the new stock to the Love Kate’s website so everyone’s super busy updating the website with the newest cards and gift ideas as quickly as possible. Kate likes to feature the newest products on the shop front and feature them on social media too on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ to help customers find them.
Mother's Day in the UK is on Sunday 26th March in 2017
So at the end of another busy 3 weeks, what were the Mother’s Day winners for 2016? Pop-ups are always a favourite card at Kate’s, and this year was no different, with the best-selling lines selling out again, even though Kate bought hundreds of each design. Talking Pictures were a range customers liked; their ‘More Than Words’ cards are simply fantastic. Other top cards included certain designs from Quentin Blake and Kirstie Allsopp ranges and Kate’s Second Nature embellished handmade cards were popular across the board. Titles customers were looking for included Mum, Mummy, and all the different Grandmother variations (Grandma, Granny, Nan, Nana etc.) and Someone Special, Step-Mum and Mother-To-Be cards were again in demand.
Whatever your choice in greeting card, Kate’s confident there’s a card in the shop for you.
Mothers were treated to some lovely gifts this year too, with plenty of Boofle presents on offer again, some mums were clearly very spoilt, with bears, gift sets, mugs, socks and choccy bars literally flying out. Kate’s gift range included much more than Boofle of course, with a great choice in sentimental plaques, photo frames (including light-up frames), keyrings and mugs, all proving a big hit too.
Love Kate’s offer the same day dispatch on a working day, so many customers ordered as late as Friday 4th March at lunch time, and by upgrading their delivery at the checkout, still received their order in time for Mum. Kate always makes sure the team do everything possible to ensure orders received after the official 1pm cut off are dispatched on the same day, something that as an independent card shop, Love Kate’s are able to offer. Kate’s customers come first, and with cards and gifts Kate knows how important it is to make sure they arrive in time to be written, wrapped and given to the recipient.
Kate personally monitors the Love Kate’s ‘Trusted Shops’ reviews to ensure customers are satisfied with their shopping experience.
“It’s great to read all the lovely positive comments, especially after a busy occasion like Mother’s Day, and know that our customers are happy.” says Kate.
Easter’s hot on the heels of Mother’s Day, with another gap of just 3 weeks again. The giving of chocolate eggs remains popular and with the supermarkets all battling to sell them cheap, Kate stocks mainly cards for Easter. Card buying started as soon as the pancakes were tossed to mark the start of lent this year and with Kate’s biggest choice of Easter cards ever, Easter was busier than ever before.
Easter Sunday is on 16th April in 2017
Traditional cards are always very much in demand at Easter, so Kate always tries to ensure there’s a nice selection of religious themed cards available as well as all the cute chicks and bunny cards that are popular with customers too. There’s been an increase in sales of gift cards this year, perhaps for Grandparents to enclose a little money as an alternative to sweet egg treats, as we all try to avoid sugar a bit more?
So, a busy start to 2016, but a nice long weekend to enjoy now, as we wish all Love Kate’s customers a very Happy Easter!
