It’s Already 1992 for Card Companies

As the Christmas season--the greeting card industry’s biggest moneymaker--approaches its climax, major retail card makers are busily planning for Valentine’s Day, 1991, and Christmas, 1992.

“We normally work about 18 months to two years in advance of the holiday lines,” said Barbara Miller, products spokeswoman for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Mo. She said planners are researching and planning 1991 Valentine’s Day cards, which are second to Christmas cards in total sales and volume.

Each year, 900 million sweetheart cards and 2.2 billion Christmas cards are exchanged in the United States, said Nancy Riviere, director of communications for the Greeting Card Assn. in Washington. She added that the card industry makes $4 billion in U.S. sales annually.

American Greetings Corp., based in Cleveland, has already begun creative development for Christmas, 1992, said John A. Hernandis, director of corporate communications.

“The activity doesn’t parallel the event,” Hernandis said. “Our work for this Christmas season ended many, many months ago.”

It takes months for the card makers to design, produce, write and finally distribute the cards. After assignments are given to artists, writers and editors, their proposals are checked by a review committee. Finally, after being printed, boxed and packaged, the cards are shipped to warehouses and retailers.

Hallmark, the nation’s largest card maker with about 44% of the market, will design about 2,000 different Valentine’s Day cards for 1991, Miller said.

Doug Westen, manager of the Card Factory at the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills, said his store will not have to put away any unsold Christmas items to make room for the next major holiday, because this year’s Christmas sales have been “wonderful. We have nothing left.”

Westen plans to display Valentine’s Day cards beginning in mid-January.

Easter and Mother’s Day are the third- and fourth-largest card-selling holidays, with U.S. sales of 185 million and 145 million cards, respectively, Miller said.

Holiday cards usually remain available for sale for four to six weeks.