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Greeting card/gifting major Archies Ltd has a new look. In the first makeover since its inception in 1979, Archies has got a new logo and an all-red interior, which the company hopes will give its brand a more vibrant and young look.
The BSE-listed company, which leads the Rs 300-crore greeting cards market, said the makeover would attract more business both in terms of volume and value across categories such as cards, silver jewellery, chocolates and perfumes.
“We are targeting youngsters and corporate clients. We wanted to look and feel young. This is reflected in our logo as well as our products. We see more value-led growth in our cards business moving ahead,” Mr Pramod Arora, Joint Managing Director, said.
New logo
The company, which has about 225 stores across the country, has now got a large red-colour heart as its logo, along with the changed store décor and retail experience. However, the brand’s tagline remains unchanged, Mr Arora said, and added that the card business has been seeing a big shift from low-ticket and volume-led game, to value-led growth. According to industry watchers, the greeting cards business is more or less stagnant at Rs 300 crore, but the USP is that the recall value of a card is far higher than an SMS or e-mail. Besides Hallmark and Vintage, there are several smaller players mostly in the unorganised sector.
“People buy cards these days for occasion such as Valentines’ day, mother’s day, birthday, father’s day and rakhi. We have noticed a slump during certain festival seasons such as Diwali or Christmas, where people tend to call up or text/SMS their loved ones,” the official said.
He noted that though the overall cards segment was growing at 8-10 per cent, the overall growth for Archies has been 15-20 per cent.
The company expects a 20 per cent growth in its topline this fiscal compared to Rs 200 crore in FY12, on the back of greater innovation, new product and service offerings and institutional sales. The scope of growth from the gifting business is high, said Mr Arora. The overall gifting business segment is worth around Rs 2,000 crore.
The company is looking at doubling the Archies outlets (all are company-owned) to 500 by 2015, said Mr Arora. This fiscal, the company plans to open 12 stores. The firm has the exclusive franchise for the US-based Hallmark cards.
The company is also giving a big push to its e-commerce venture, Archies Online, which has seen 30-40 per cent growth in the last two-three years, according to Mr Arora. The service was launched in 2000, but revenues are pegged at a mere one per cent.
> Priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in
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