Development of the greeting card industry

Overseas greeting card culture and development history The oldest blessing method in the world is paper greeting cards. The production of greeting cards stems from the needs of human society. Around the 6th century BC, the New Year gifts exchanged by ancient Egyptians were accompanied by a written message of "good luck", which can be regarded as the prototype of a greeting card.

In the 2nd century AD, the ancient Roman commemorative medal with the inscription "The Roman Senate and the people wish the Father Augustus a happy new year and all the best" is regarded as another origin of the greeting card.

The origin of European greeting card culture mainly has two ends: Valentine's Day card and Christmas card. Valentine's Day card is the oldest greeting card in European history. The earliest existing paper greeting card is the Valentine's Day card from the 15th century, which is now preserved in the British Museum.

Among all European countries, the largest number of greeting cards sent is the Netherlands. For Christmas cards alone, on average, each Dutch family sends 40 cards, which is far more than Britain, Denmark, Finland and France, which are ranked second. In Britain, greeting cards are called greeting cards. The sales of daily greeting cards are the highest, accounting for 70%; followed by Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Easter, Father's Day and other special holiday cards. In terms of importance, Christmas cards and birthday cards are the most important to the British.

In 1840, American businessman Esther Holland began mass production of Valentine's Day cards as commodities. Now, the United States has a wide variety of greeting cards, forming a diversified greeting card culture. In addition to Christmas cards, Halloween cards and Easter cards, there are also wedding cards and thank you cards. In addition, Americans like to make their own greeting cards, which is closely related to the American national culture that advocates individuality.

In Japan, the custom of mailing New Year's cards has a long history. When Japan established a modern postal system in 1871, there were only New Year letters, and the number was very small. After the postcard was issued in 1873, someone wrote a short congratulatory message for the New Year and mailed it, so the earliest New Year card appeared.

At present in Europe, the French Post is constantly meeting people's changing needs, allowing people to conveniently use modern communication tools to select and make personalized postcards, and then send them in kind through the post office, such as: users make postcards online on mobile phones, and post them. In the Netherlands, people can customize personalized postcards online through a company called greetz. Users only need to choose a postcard on the Internet, enter the address and message, and then submit the payment.

Grettz will print postcards for users and customize stamps on TNT, which will then be delivered by TNT. TNT also launched a 3D direct mail postcard business. Users only need to hand over the design to TNT, and TNT can design and modify the layout, produce sample images, and issue them within three weeks. There are more than 800 card manufacturing companies in the UK, and the greeting card design and manufacturing industry has been leading the world for 10 years. It can be regarded as one of the creative industries in the UK.