Set, Cilla & Camilla, Objectables, Hugs & Kisses and Kemps share festive take
As the new year gets underway and retailers’ buying has kicked off for 2025, how Christmas fared clearly has impact – and it certainly seems to have been a bit of a cracker all round for the indie greetings trade.
Having headed into the 2024 festive season with understandable nerves given the significant rise in first-class stamp costs and reports of a general downturn in the retail world, the full-on #Cardmitment campaign added to cardie efforts alongside the GCA’s great PR activity grabbing the public’s attention.
All in all, Christmas seems to have delivered on many levels so here PG Buzz shares the trading front news from Set, Cilla & Camilla, Kemps, Hugs & Kisses, and Objectables…

Stuart Delahoy, owner of Set, Leicester
Christmas verdict: “Immense.”
Reveal all: “Thanks to that little wobbly cat – Jellycat – our trade was beyond all expectations. By carefully managing our Jellycat account, we never ran short of stock, despite the lack of a few bestsellers. We saw growth of over 30% compared to last year and that was previously the best yet.
“Our Christmas card sales were strong, contrary to the ridiculous stories coming out of John Lewis, and continue to be the bedrock of our offering.
“The outrageous increase in stamp costs must have had an effect, but we had a lot of buyers shopping right up until December 24 for cards being delivered in person. Price did not appear to be a barrier, with a lot of the £3.50, £3.75, £3.99 price points selling through.”

Star performers: “We always major on single cards, it suits our young customer base, with humour being the best driver of sales. Naughty humour, rather than completely offensive, did particularly well, Studio Boketto, Objectables, Text From A Friend and Rosie Made A Thing starred.
“Packs from The Art File, Paper Salad and Rosie Made A Thing all did well and tended to sell early on to the more organised buyers.”
Your approach: “The shop’s demographic has changed, with a deliberate move to a younger customer, so our card buying reflected this.”
Hunch for 2025: “Very, very positive, bring it on!”

Richard Barker, director of Cilla & Camilla, Beaminster, Bridport, and Sherborne
Christmas verdict: “Satisfactory.”
Reveal all: “Card sales were, to our surprise, better than last year, up by around 10%. Our ranges were similar to the previous year and competition was, if anything, stronger so the sales uplift is encouraging. We were pleased to be able to get top-up stock, very quickly, at short notice, in mid-December.
“Both packs and singles did equally well. We only buy charity packs as this is what the majority of our customers expect. We’re more design-led with singles, where there was little price-resistance up to around £3.99.
“Certainly there was a lot of negative comment about postal charges, but there was no evidence to suggest this reduced demand.”

Star performers: “Art Angels, The Art File and Museums & Galleries.”
Your approach: “If anything, we gave slightly less space and profile to cards this year, which makes the sales uplift that much more unexpected and pleasing. The only rationale I can offer is that our overall gift business was that much more attractive to consumers than in previous years and card sales benefited as a function of that stronger overall offer. Through November and December, cards accounted for 8% of our total sales.”

Liz Kemp, owner of Kemps in Maldon and Wetherby
Christmas verdict: “Steady as you go.”
Reveal all: “We matched 2023 sales in the end, despite the weather and the economy, but it was a slightly scary slow start. We bought less seasonal card stock as we sensed card trade would be less buoyant.
“Card packs remain better sellers for us than singles. Wrap, both rolls and sheets, sold strongly.
Interestingly, our general greeting card sales this year are up and we continue to work hard at the curation of this collection and build on our reputation for choice, style and point of difference.”

Star performers: “Art Angels die-cut cards and Cambridge Imprint’s cards remained seasonal best sellers for us with Poet & Painter and Sally Scaffardi Designs being strong single card options. Artebene’s and Roger La Borde’s wrapping and bags performed strongly as we doubled our stock levels on the year previous.”
Hunch for 2025: “In August we opened a second book and gift shop in Wetherby. So far this new shop has exceeded trading expectations, but we’re acutely aware the testing time with be the first quarter to come.
“Trade remains hard so we’ll continue to look for events and promotions to encourage footfall as well as look to differentiate our offer, create a destination and optimise the spring celebration opportunities to keep the tills ringing.”

Caroline Ranwell, Hugs & Kisses, Tettenhall
Christmas verdict: “Got there in the end!”
Reveal all: “We’ve ended up with a really good December. We did have one bad week due to the weather, but managed to pull it all back thank goodness.
“Single cards as always sold really well, we sold a huge amount of design-led/high-end cards and some ranges completely sold out. It never ceases to amaze me how many single general Christmas cards we sell, some of these retail for £5.50 and we almost sell out every year.
“My boxed card sales drop very slightly every year, but the sales of charity packs go up which is great!
“Every Christmas you hear the same things… ‘Oh I’m not sending cards this year I’m giving money to charity’ – really?! Or ‘people don’t send cards now do they?’ This is absolute rubbish! Christmas cards and cards in general are still selling really well for us – in fact we’re selling more now than ever!
“Customers were moaning about the price of stamps yet they still continued to buy their cards. The only notable change in buying habits is that we were asked for some more minor specific captions like Daughter & Fiancé, Son & Fiancée.
“We will end 2024 at least 4% up on the previous year which I’m really happy with, especially as 2023 was a really good year for us!”
Star performers: “Wendy Jones-Blackett Quicksilver cards sold extremely well as always – we completely sold out of its open Christmas even selling out of some older designs too!
“Five Dollar Shake’s open cards were extremely strong sales-wise, I order some designs in 18s, and the relations designs sell very well too. Any that are left we keep for the next year, only very old designs or damaged cards go in our sale.
“Rush Design open cards sold well, especially the bespoke Merry Christmas From Tettenhall featuring a little shop called Hugs & Kisses! Some of their relation cards totally sold out too. Jonny Javelin’s relation cards were very strong, customers just love their traditional designs with beautiful rich colours, again some captions totally sold out.

“GBCC’s relations cards also sold really well which was brilliant as this was the first time I’d ordered Christmas cards from them. Charity cards sold really well with Abacus, The Art File, Ling Design, Paperlink and Woodmansterne all performing well. And cards for the dog/cat and from the dog/cat sold quite well, I even received one myself this year!”
Your approach: “We always put our Christmas cards out in early September which works perfectly for us, giving me time to get the displays just right. Yes, some customers do moan, but many do want to start buying them. We held our annual Christmas shopping evening which our customers love.
“I tried to do more social media posts but, in December when things get crazy busy, it becomes a struggle to find the time as all our energy goes into the shop floor. I did make sure we got behind the #Cardmitment campaign as much as we possibly could as I believe it’s so important we all play our part in helping to promote card sending.”
Hunch for 2025: “I’m feeling pretty positive about 2025, I think it’s going to be a challenge with costs and wages going up, but I’m still planning on an even better year!”

Tim Gould, co-owner of Objectables, Folkestone
Christmas verdict: “Best Christmas yet… just.”
Reveal all: “Trade as a whole was pretty good. We matched the 1-24 December, 2023, sales at about 4pm on Christmas Eve. So, all in all, very happy.
“We bought about twice as many nice single cards as last year and we nearly sold out of them. A few people mentioned the price of stamps, but finding that special card right for an individual is much more what our customers were looking for.
“We’ve always had a lot of people buying two or three cards for the people close to them or work colleagues so the postage issue wasn’t too painful for us.”

Star performers: “Our own range cards are always our best sellers but Alljoy’s Christmas Message In A Bottle and Buddy Fernandez’s Christmas Naughtivity range both sold out within days of going on our shelves. Boxes aren’t massive for us, but Stop The Clock did really well.”
“One of our bestselling Objectables’ cards was probably a new licensed Joypolloi card entitled Apocalypse Brian which I think sums up the present global climate in a Christmassy way!”
Your approach: “We put Christmas cards out a little earlier but our window display out a little later. We gave people a free card on Festive Friday to encourage people to send their cards early. We also did another collaboration with Community Art Kent and its Folke Art group and produced a Christmas pack of four of the group’s artists’ work with all profits going back to this brilliant free art group bringing art classes to those in the community that find it more difficult to access the arts.”
Hunch for 2025: “Very positive. I feel absolutely shattered, but that’s the joy of running a shop and a publishing company under one roof. Whose stupid idea was that?!
“Our first full calendar year in our new shop and it’s gone brilliantly. We’re very grateful to all our amazing staff, customers and suppliers, all in all we couldn’t be happier and are looking forward to 2025.”