Demand of Diwali greeting cards has gone down by over 70% in the last five years due to advent of e-Cards, popularity of social networking sites, use of SMS, MMS, phone calls and so on as per a survey undertaken by the ASSOCHAM-Social Development Foundation (ASDF) The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOC HAM) carried out a survey during September-October this year under the aegis of its Social Development Foundation
(ASDF) on “Diwali cards lost its shine” as majority of youngsters have taken to the modern means of communication to wish their near and dear ones with E-cards, SMSes during Diwali, New Year.
During Diwali, the Postal department is also facing the slump. There is a steep decline in the movement of Diwali post cards and greetings cards. Earlier, the department used to handle about 8,000 post cards and greeting cards per day during Diwali, but now the numbers have come down to about 500 cards per day,” the survey revealed. Around 55 per cent of the survey respondents fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed by 30-39 years (26 per cent), 40-49 years (16 per cent), 50-59 years (2 per cent) and 60-69 years (approximately 1 per cent). The survey was done in the major cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabd, Pune, Chandigarh,Dehradun and so on. A little over 200 employees were selected from each city on an average. The
survey was able to target corporate employees from 18 broad sectors, with maximum share contributed
by employees from IT/ITes and BPO sector (17 per cent).
The colourful and expressive greeting cards are fast losing their charm among citizens. A meager share of respondents spends time choosing greeting cards in shops. Majority of the card shop owners too admitted that they are witnessing thin sales over last five years. Only those having near and dear ones abroad are sending greeting cards. Also the corporate sectors and politicians prefer greeting cards to wish others these days,” added the owner of a greeting card shop. Majority of card owners also said that they have already converted their dedicated greeting card shop to gift items shops due to decline in greeting cards demand in the market.
Traditionally, it has been a medium to express love, affection, care and lot more emotions to friends, family members and well-wishers. These cards provide a gentle and emotional way to exp ress the feelings from the sender towards the receiver in the most appropriate way, adds the survey.
According to the Assocham estimates, the total size of the greeting card industry is between Rs 300 crores to Rs 400 crores in India. The Global Greeting Cards Market would reach US$30.4 billion by 2015. Consequently, publishers are beefing up their offerings to include cards for every gender, age group, occasion, ethnicity and relationship, highlights the survey. (NSS)
