Card Factory To Supply 400 Aldi Stores With Cards, Matalan Trial Extended To 15 Stores

Card Factory is extending its reach through upping its brand’s presence in other retailers’ stores.

From November, Card Factory cards will be on sale in 440 Aldi stores in the UK. This follows a trial that has been running in 130 Aldi stores. The expanded arrangement sees Card Factory dedicated displays of single price cards, being installed in half Aldi’s store estate. (The other half of Aldi’s stores are being supplied by IG Design Group https://www.pgbuzz.net/ig-design-group-to-supply-over-400-aldi-stores-with-greeting-cards/).

Above: From next month, Card Factory cards will be on sale in half of all Aldi stores in the UK.
Above: From next month, Card Factory cards will be on sale in half of all Aldi stores in the UK.

Additionally, Card Factory branded concessions are now being trialled in 15 Matalan stores in the UK, while over in Australia, the trial with The Reject Shop value chain is to be rolled out in January 2020 to all of its 360 stores.

Two new franchise stores opened in Guernsey and Gibraltar, adding to one in Jersey.

Card Factory’s ceo Karen Hubbard reveals that the group is in discussion with a number of other potential retail partners in the UK and overseas.

Above: Card Factory first started supplying Aldi a year ago with a card display in just 12 stores.
Above: Card Factory first started supplying Aldi a year ago with a card display in just 12 stores.

These developments were shared as the UK’s largest specialist card retailer revealed its interim results (covering the six months to 31 July) which show how, bucking the general retail trend, its like-for-like store sales were up 1.2% while overall turnover increased 5.5% to £195.6 million. However pre-tax profit took a bit of a battering, (down 14.4%) coming in at £24.3 million.

Above: From the start of next year, Card Factory cards will be on sale in all 360 of The Reject Shop stores in Australia.
Above: From the start of next year, Card Factory cards will be on sale in all 360 of The Reject Shop stores in Australia.

Describing it as a “satisfactory sales performance” for the first half of the year, Karen highlighted strong seasonal performance for both Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day achieved against the backdrop of an increasingly challenging UK high street environment and consequent weaker footfall.”

Card Factory swelled its own UK store estate by an additional 26 stores and says it has a ‘strong pipeline of new store opportunities’. These include being on track to deliver approximately 50 net new UK and Republic of 
Ireland openings by the year end.

Above: Having recently opened its 1,000th store, Card Factory is fast approaching its goal of 1,200 UK stores.

Karen said remains confident about the Christmas trading period ahead. “Although the current economic uncertainty continues to impact consumer confidence, we remain positive about the resilience of the card market, the strength of the Card Factory business model, and our growth opportunities for the business over the medium term.”

Top: Card Factory outperformed other retailer in achieving 1.2% increase in like-for-like instore sales.

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