Subhash Mohanti
KOLKATA 22 NOVEMBER
RECESSION HAS hit corporate gifts this
year. And because the bottomlines are bludgeoned by rising costs, their friends and
associates will have to be satisfied with just greeting cards this Christmas and New Year.
Like they say, one man’s food is
another man’s poison. For the greeting cards industry, the business recession may
have come as a boon.
Greeting card manufacturers are pitching
strongly to get a piece of the corporate cake as their executives and managers set about
planning the manner in which they hope to send their appreciation to friends and business
associates.
ITC, which is the latest entrant to this
market for such sentimental accessories, is turning its charm on fellow corporates for
edging past competitors in the greeting cards market.
Chand Das, CEO of ITC’s greeting card
business, said : "While it is true that we are new in the retail segment and
therefore need to gradually build our strengths, we are also aggressively pursuing
corporates. These companies are either associated with us business-wise or we simply know
them. It is certainly yielding good results."
For making inroads into the corporate
sector, ITC is leveraging its new association with the SOS Children’s village.
"Often, companies want to fulfil their social responsibility by offering assistance
to non-governmental organisations involved in different kinds of services to the
society," Mr Das said.
ITC chose to tie up with SOS
Children’s Village because this was a good opportunity to do its bit for the children
of a lesser god. "And there are quite a few corporate entities which are attracted by
issues pertaining to children,"Mr Das said.
The tie-up means ITC will completely take
over the job of printing greeting cards and marketing them from SOS. The NGO will be given
a lump sum fund as well as a royalty on the cards.
ITC’s greeting card business has also
decided to leverage the group’s core skills in paper and paperboard, printing and
packaging and distribution. "We are also planning to enter the business of office as
well as education stationery, which has a very good market in the country," Mr Das
said.
Plans are also afoot to enter ethnic
greeting cards in a big way. "We are hoping to capitalise on the opportunity which is
beginning to present itself in a big way," Mr Das said.
He felt that greeting cards in different
Indian languages for different events, including religious events, is becoming
increasingly popular. This promises to become big business in the future.