Monday, June 20, 2005

David vs. Goliath in the Greeting Card industry !

USA today had an interesting article about the impact that "the small guys" are having on the Greeting Card industry. See link below:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2005-06-16-greeting-cards-usat_x.htm

The one thing that was missing in that article was the parallels between the book publishing industry and the greeting card industry. Books are the typical example for the creation of "The Long Tail" where small, low volume books are able to be offered via online retailers like Amazon.com while the traditional retailers are limited by their overhead to "high volume", "best selling" "successful" books.

When will the big guys in the greeting card industry realize that their market is fragmenting at a dramatic rate? If the book publishing industry is any example, probably NEVER or at least not until it is too late.

What does this mean? It means a super opportunity for card designers, especially card designers who make UNIQUE cards that appeal strongly to particular, specialized audiences.

Enter NoteWordy.com. (Hopefully) we will fill that void and be part of the next USA Today article about the demise of HallMark and the rise of the independent greeting card designers.

Write On!

Dave Wheeler

No comments: