SMS Disrupts the Greeting Card Business
When you care enough to send the very best... text it!
The continued popularity of SMS and text messaging in India appears to be threatening the greeting card business in that country. After stagnating for the last few years, greet card sales saw a 10% decline last year. Meanwhile, an estimated one billion text messages were exchanged among Indian mobile phone users between Christmas and New Year's last year.
Observers speculate that young people in India are simply foregoing greeting cards in favor of SMS greetings. Plus, a recent hike in postage rates there has made SMS more attractive. It's likely that this trend will spread to other countries where SMS is catching on. In the US, where SMS is not as popular as it is elsewhere, web- and IM-based greetings could similarly cut into greeting card sales, especially among young people.
Sources: Textually.org, Techdirt
The continued popularity of SMS and text messaging in India appears to be threatening the greeting card business in that country. After stagnating for the last few years, greet card sales saw a 10% decline last year. Meanwhile, an estimated one billion text messages were exchanged among Indian mobile phone users between Christmas and New Year's last year.
Observers speculate that young people in India are simply foregoing greeting cards in favor of SMS greetings. Plus, a recent hike in postage rates there has made SMS more attractive. It's likely that this trend will spread to other countries where SMS is catching on. In the US, where SMS is not as popular as it is elsewhere, web- and IM-based greetings could similarly cut into greeting card sales, especially among young people.
Sources: Textually.org, Techdirt
posted by Brian on
2/22/2005
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