16 March 2016: Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection has extended its popular square Santé card format to complement its normal seasonal offering. New Mother’s Day and Easter 2016 designs have been introduced and Card Connection’s in-house design team are also creating a similar Santé offering to supplement the Christmas 2016 range.
“Being able to offer our network of franchisees and their valued retail customers fresh designs of greetings cards on a regular basis is essential to optimise sales,” confirms Michael Johnson, managing director, Card Connection. “Key dates in the calendar, like Valentine’s, Mother’s Day, Easter and Christmas offer further seasonal opportunities and our latest introductions aim to capitalise on these.
“Five new Mother’s Day square Santé cards to support our existing selection have been launched and so far, feedback on sales has been excellent,” continues Johnson. “The mini-range was specifically created for a five card strip display option, helpful for outlets that are tight for space as this offers a viable, alternative way to display seasonal product alongside other linked sale items.
“The separate Easter mini-range features five new blank cards, all with general spring based designs,” explains Johnson. “While none are Easter specific, they could all easily be sent as Easter cards. The designs will all then happily carry over after Easter to provide extra everyday sales too.”
Card Connection franchisees place the card ranges in retail outlets on a ‘consignment’ basis which is one step beyond sale or return, as the retailer never has to buy the stock initially, only paying for what they sell. This creates a win-win situation for both retailer and franchisee and the concept has proved particularly popular for more than two decades and Card Connection has helped hundreds of franchisees become self-employed, running their own successful businesses. As well as independent stores, franchisees supply national accounts including such as Costcutter, WH Smiths Motorway Services, NISA, BP and Spar. Last year Card Connection was a finalist for the British Franchisor of the Year award. .
Card Connection is
part of UK Greetings, which is a subsidiary of American Greetings
Inc., one of the largest greeting card publishers in the world and
has limited vacancies for franchisees that are keen to run an
expanding business. Since the franchise network in the UK is
complete, the available opportunities now consist of acquiring an
already-established territory from an existing
franchisee. These vary in price according to their
level of development, but start at £7k + Stock + Card Connection
fee with earnings potential in excess of £50k per
annum
Franchise territories currently available include: Leicester, Bath, Coventry, Northampton, Plymouth, Windsor, Brighton Liverpool, Ayr, Edinburgh and Ireland South.
