Fashion and Style

E-Cards Are Back, Thanks to the Pandemic


Nearly a generation after the electronic postcard was introduced, demand for digital greeting cards surged last year as the pandemic isolated people from their social circles.

With in-person interactions reduced and stores closed, people seeking to connect with family, friends and co-workers embraced e-cards, a gimmick that had a heyday in an earlier internet era but had largely faded away.

Alexandra Suazo, a digital marketing professional in Madison, Wis., said she started using e-cards in March last year to add a personal touch at a time when remote working and so many other aspects of life felt impersonal.

“It was one of the easiest ways to keep up team morale,” she said. “I’ll sometimes send them as one-offs, especially if they’re cute and will make someone’s day.”

American Greetings, one of the behemoths of the greeting card world, would not disclose exact sales figures. But Rob Matousek, the executive director for the company’s digital business, said it had seen record growth since the beginning of coronavirus restrictions, with demand around Easter last year reaching close to what the publisher would usually expect for a Christmas holiday.

“If they weren’t physically getting together with friends and loved ones, people wanted to do something that was personal,” said Kelly Ricker, chief creative officer at American Greetings, which owns the Blue Mountain e-card website. “It was a nice way to let them know you’re thinking about them.”

With many stores closed for long periods of 2020, the greeting card industry’s revenue from sales of paper products in the United States declined by 13 percent last year, according to IBISWorld, an industry research company.

It was a different story for e-cards and online orders of paper cards, IBISWorld said in a report.

Revenue increased 23.9 percent from 2019 to 2020, almost doubling the previous year’s revenue growth. Some companies operating in the $1.3 billion online card market even reported triple-digit growth, the research firm said.

While some might think e-cards are a blast from the past, industry professionals predict that it’s paper cards that younger generations will covet for their sense of nostalgia.

As people enter what Ms. Ricker at American Greetings called their “card-sending years” — their 20s and 30s, when friends start getting engaged and having children — she said “the paper card really stands out as something special to them,” in part because it’s a bit of a novelty for generations who spend so much time on their cellphones. “It’s a sort of retro feeling to it.”



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