sound money
27 Mar 2018
Re: Less Cards? Think you will find that Card are buying market share during the downturn. Patience needed price rises will come and go straight too the bottom line.M
Gooffy
27 Mar 2018
Re: Less Cards? Probably coming to my store will wait with bated breath!
Vern S
26 Mar 2018
Re: Less Cards? I notice that my local CF is stocking a "boutique" range of cards at (I think) £1.79. The shop assistant told me they were selling very well.
zip00
26 Mar 2018
Re: Less Cards? the-mongproblem is that Clintons may have far fewer people in the shop, but when they do buy a card it is approx. 4x the price of a similar one in Card, and remember that extra 75% goes to the bottom line.I am certain Card is trapped by its history, and I only hope they will one day they will have the courage to try, within a small region, to move their price up by say 10% . They effectively have no competition at their present price, and even a 10% raise over time would still leave them as the best value card company in UK.BOD please stop telling us conditions are difficult and try some innovative moves, that is what we pay you for.dedes
the-mong
26 Mar 2018
Re: Less Cards? I was in Bishops Stortford on Saturday. About 920am.Didn't see any 10 cards for £1. They were doing 8 for £1I bought two nice cards, one for anniversary and a birthday card. TBH I think CF are too cheap. Anyway there were 11 people at the tills buying and 3 till staff. 25 yards away Clintons had 5 customers. 1 at the till the rest browsing. Saw 2 staff. The Clinton's store dwarfs the CF store. Must be 5 or 6 times bigger and they are never as busy as CF
valeite
26 Mar 2018
1st class stamps up again 65 to 67 p. at the margins of our business another price increase must put some people off of sending cards . this is a strange world to me ......letter writing has gone ....nobody answers the phone.....not a fan of social media .....i'm turning into Victor Meldrew
Gooffy
26 Mar 2018
Less Cards? Did a visit today and noticed one card stand less replaced by 3 merchandise buckets, I am guessing not everyone has time to chose 10 cards so just buy one at 59p.Was very busy in store.Next did ok the other day but lots of retailers posting it's hard in retail, think this is more than priced in, update on 10th April I believe.Thoughts anyone, Bill123 are you about???
frusset
16 Mar 2018
Re: News "Yes I asked the question and got an answer below, 10 for one still seems too cheap for me ..."Found it - "Our multi-buy offers are carefully managed in line with customer insights and demand, at an acceptable margin. We also find that many customers who visit our stores in search of cards, are often attracted by the other products on offer such as dressings, balloons and gifts, which generally increases the average basket size of most customers." (just part of the reply)There was a stand facing customers as they walked in, a few feet past the tills, with a sign saying 10 birthday cards for £1, or an individual price a lot more than 10p but I can't remember with certainty. It wasn't conditional on buying anything else. The only other thing I bought was a book of six postage stamps. I don't suppose there's much margin on stamps. I looked on the Royal Mail site and a page with info for retailers didn't give any clue to the margin that I could see. I've never bought anything other than cards and stamps at Card Factory, and obviously some people do buy the other stuff.I think the stand was about 10 cards wide by 6 deep, but I'm not sure and I wish I'd counted.I only noticed two other customers, old ladies who didn't move from the 10 for £1 stand while I was there. It was about 9.15 am, and I'm sure it would have got busier.I thought, if there was a sign at the front, and the cheap cards were at the back, customers might see Easter cards or something else they might want to buy, instead of going in, grabbing 10 cheap cards, and going to the till, as I did. But, the shop gets congested when it's busy. Two people browsing opposite sides of an aisle can block the aisle when they're close. The customers are well behaved and no-one's punched my nose when I 'scused past them, but I still prefer to go early.
Gooffy
16 Mar 2018
Re: News Yes I asked the question and got an answer below, 10 for one still seems too cheap for me, reckoned it was to do with basket size perhaps you bought some other goodies????Not long now to results agree slowiy going in right direction.
frusset
16 Mar 2018
Re: News It might be something to do with the effect of MiFID II regulations, which are causing changes including brokers specialising. Institutional investors are getting research from a smaller number of brokers (or maybe "sell-side houses" is the proper term). I don't know if that's anything to do with CARD and Investec Bank. Maybe someone could ask IR. I've already asked Wandisco's IR about their extra broker, and while I've no complaints about the response, I've spent as much time as I want to on researching the extra broker question.BTW I got 10 cards for £1 at Card Factory this morning. I hope they make some profit on it.
Bill1703
16 Mar 2018
Re: News "I don't like broker changes myself do you see this as positive."This started as a somewhat cryptic thread, and isn't getting any less esoteric...There is no broker "change" here... Investec have merely been added, alongside exisiting broker UBS. They are small/midcap specialists, so probably appropriate for CARD... their research stance has always been generally supportive too, I generally don't think that's a great reason for formal brokership appointments, though it tends to help. All in all, no big deal, either way.And the other announcement saw Artemis selling down their holding - by around 200,000 shares. They've still got some 34 million of 'em... a very significant overweight position. Again.. neither here nor there.So overall, it's a case of, as you were. CARD creeping up slowly - but surely?
Gooffy
16 Mar 2018
Re: News Are you implying takeoverI don't like broker changes myself do you see this as positive.Perhaps better making a comment than asking questions.
the-mong
16 Mar 2018
Re: News Any significance in the new broker appointment?
Gooffy
16 Mar 2018
Re: News Re holdings and appointment of new broker.Yes is the answer!
the-mong
15 Mar 2018
News Anyone seen the last two RNS re Card Factory
