Morrisons
Being a supermarket, Morrisons had a range of different styles of anniversary cards, from funny to photographic, also glittery and cheesy, and then the traditional papercut, floral ornate type as well. This is to cater for the wide variety of customers it serves, and reflects the supermarket's wide target audience. One thing to note was that there were no real arty cards, as Morrison's is a supermarket, and won't attract people looking for artistic cards as it sells food.
Clinton's
Similarly to Morrison's Clinton's has a wide range of anniversary cards on offer, although they have a lot more cards with more text on the front and insides, either in a funny way or in a poem kind of way. They also had more cards which were aimed at a specific person, for example wife, mum and dad, or on your anniversary. There were also a lot more cards for wedding anniversary rather than just anniversary, which may suggest that these cards are aimed at a slightly older audience. Out of all the cards they supplied, only a handful would appeal to unmarried couples. Also, bears and teddies seem to be a common form of imagery across these cards, which automatically creates a very 'cutesy' appearance, one which may not appeal to a lot of people, especially men.
Sainsbury's
It's interesting to see how Sainsbury's fared in comparison to Morrison's, both being supermarkets. Overall, the two stock quite similar style of cards, and Sainsbury's continues to stock a range of different styles to suit their wide target audience. One thing I noticed between the two is that Sainsbury's cards seemed to be a little more minimal, a little less bright and bold, perhaps suggesting to the supermarket being slightly more upmarket, or at least slightly more expensive, than Morrison's.
JOY
JOY always surprises me when I walk in, as they sell interesting, in fashion clothes, gifts, cards, books, homeware, a bit of everything, whilst still managing to be slightly arty and stylish too. This is definitely reflected in the style of cards they stock, which are all aimed at the young, arty kind. A lot of JOY's cards are humorous or puns, and often take on an illustrative, cartoon style. They also make use of bold, bright colours making them appear really fun and happy. This is definitely the style of cards that I am thinking about creating, with a lot of them being gender neutral choosing to use objects and foods as people instead of going with the traditional male and female characters. This is great to see what is already out there that would appeal to the target audience I am thinking of. However, with the puns and occasional swearing involved in some of these cards, perhaps they wouldn't appeal to the older end of my target audience, who want something a little less silly or rude.
Paperchase
The cards Paperchase stock are really similar tot hat of JOY, which was something I hadn't realised until this primary research. Paperchase have a great range of contemporary cards for both regular anniversaries, wedding anniversaries, and for the wedding day itself. However a lot of their cards are aimed at the wedding day itself, which is unusual. The style of cards range from text based, traditional gold silver bronze colours, photographic, puns, characters, and even ones with glitter in them. These mean they will appeal to a wide range of contemporary people, young and old. This is definitely something to consider when designing for my target audience, to reflect how young and old people would respond to the designs.
Card Factory
Card Factory is a budget card shop, often selling cards for under £1, which is so cheap compared to other card shops. Because of this, you'd expect this to be reflected in the cards on sale. However, this is only marginally true. A lot of their cards are very contemporary, often featuring simple illustrations or being text based. A couple of them are more artsy, using photographs and illustrative patterns, however I get the feeling these cards are aimed at working class people who don't necessarily have an eye for style, but yet want something contemporary.
W H Smith
W H Smith definitely surprised me, as they had such a wide variety of anniversary cards, from traditional sparkly lovey dovey designs, to photographic, to funny, and also text based. W H Smith's target audience is so broad it is great to see that their anniversary card selection reflects this broad target audience.
Evaluation
This primary research has been so helpful to see what is exactly out there already, and what different kinds of shops already stock. It was also really helpful to see what kinds of cards shops stock based on their target audience, especially if they're not solely a card shop like Sainsbury's and W H Smith. I think I will definitely have to do some research into what shops UK Greetings cards are stocked in and perhaps select a few shops with similar target audiences to aim my card designs at.
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