Snow drives 300% increase in charity e-card purchases
Howard Lake | 23 December 2010 | News
Charity greetings card company Charity Greetings reports that the recent harsh winter conditions have generated a 297% rise in the sale of charity e-cards.
Last week, before the snow hit, sales of cards sent electronically from its site were slightly down from the same period in 2009. Yet on the first day of snow, sales beat last year’s figure by 460%.
Charity Greetings founder Craig Hartzel attributed the sudden rise in e-card sales to the public’s awareness of the delays experienced by Royal Mail and other services in delivering cards and parcels due to adverse weather conditions. People wanted to ensure that their cards would received by loved ones in time for Christmas.
Charity Greetings raises funds for more than 100 charities of all sizes including Help for Heroes, the Alzheimer’s Society and Diabetes UK.
Founder Craig Hartzel said: “We recently carried out some market research and found consumers often prefer to send physical cards over e-cards, depending upon their recipient and circumstances. However, this current heavy snow has shown that e-cards clearly continue to have a place.
“People are desperate to make sure that their friends and relatives receive a card, and when the post lets them down it’s good to know that they can send an electronic card while supporting their favourite charity.”
Each e-card sold on Charity Greetings raises £1 for charity, and supporters can also make a voluntary donation as a gift to their recipient when they buy an e-card.
According to recent Mintel research, UK consumers spend £1.47 billion on greeting cards, representing an average of 31 cards each a year.
www.joincharitygreetings.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.