About Greeting Cards - General Facts

• Americans purchase 7 billion greeting cards every year. Annual retail sales of greeting cards are estimated at more than $7.5 billion.
   
• The average person receives more than 20 greeting cards in a year, about one-third of which are birthday cards.
   
• The exchange of greeting cards is one of the most popular and widely accepted customs in the United States. There are cards for virtually any occasion or relationship.
   
• Nine out of 10 U.S. households buy greeting cards, with the average household purchasing 30 individual cards in a year.
   
• Women purchase an estimated 80% of all greeting cards. Women spend more time choosing a card than men, and are more likely to buy several cards at once and to pay attention to the price. Men generally focus on buying one card for a specific occasion, and are unlikely to consider cost a key purchasing factor.
   
• Greeting card prices can vary from 50 cents to $10. The cost of a typical counter card, however, is between $2 and $4. Cards featuring special techniques, intricate designs and new technologies are at the top of the price scale.
   
• There are more than 3,000 greeting card publishers in the United States, ranging from individual studios and small family-run companies to major corporations.
   
• There are two categories of greeting cards – Seasonal and Everyday.
   
• Total card sales are split approximately 50-50 between the Seasonal and Everyday categories.
   
• The most popular Everyday cards are birthday cards, which account for more than half of all Everyday card sales, followed by wedding/anniversary, get well/sympathy, and friendship/encouragement cards.
   
• The most popular Seasonal cards are Christmas and holiday cards, which account for more than 60% of all Seasonal card sales, followed by Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Graduation cards.
   
• Electronic greeting cards (e-cards) are popular with Americans of all ages because they are casual, fun and spontaneous. Worldwide, an estimated 500 million e-cards are sent each year.
   
• More than 2 billion boxed and individual Christmas cards were sold in the U.S. last year.
   
• The card publishers belonging to the Greeting Card Association account for nearly 95 percent of U.S. industry sales.
   
• Greeting cards can be purchased almost anywhere. Approximately 100,000 retail outlets around the country sell greeting cards.
   
• Giving a greeting card creates a lasting impression and emotional bond between sender and receiver. In a national survey for the Greeting Card Association, nearly one-third of respondents said they keep the special cards they receive “forever.”
   
• E-cards often supplement traditional card sending, and are frequently sent as a spur-of-the-moment gesture or for an occasion too informal for a traditional card. Because consumers rarely send e-cards in place of a traditional card, the availability of e-cards has expanded overall card-sending.
  
  * All statistics exclude e-cards unless otherwise noted.