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The story of Archies greeting cards

Posted on June 7, 2014

Exchanging greetings on special occasions today no doubt is preferred via text messages on mobile phones,emails and also by means of the social networking sites but that has definitely not put greeting card companies

out of business. A glaring example in front of us is that of Archies. Here is the interesting history of this card

and gifting company which has achieved a remarkable milestone at each step of its journey.

The countrys social expression industry is valued at about Rs. 500 crores with the greeting card market

estimated to be around Rs. 300 crores at retail value. Of this, the organized sector accounts for approximately

Rs. 150 crores and Archies share is close to 50 per cent. Keeping this in mind, by all means the brand today

deserves to be called a leader in its category and also a pioneer in introducing the concept of celebrating

different days like mothers day, fathers day, friendship day, sisters day, brothers day, doctors day etc.

Brand Recall

Having evolved from a cards only outfit to a complete social expressions company, Archies is a brainchild of

Anil Moolchandani. Though the family business for the Moolchandanis was selling sarees, it was Anil who

tapped an opportunity in hand to launch Archies. The story goes as As Anil Moolchandani was at his saree

shop in Kamla Nagar, Delhi, one of his customers presented him with two posters that he had brought back

from the United States. Moolchandani displayed these posters in the shop and was amazed when visitors

inquired whether the posters were for sale. Sensing a good business opportunity out of the inquiries,

Moolchandani started putting up additional posters for sale at the saree shop and in 1979, he set up the brand

Archies; as a mail order poster shop, and started operating from a mezzanine office measuring 200 sq.ft.The other products on offer included song books and leather patches. Proudly recollecting the first mail order

bagged by Archies, Youhan says, Archies received its first mail order worth Rs. 12 from a customer in

Lucknow. Talking further about its journey, A major turning point in Archies life came 1980 when the

company introduced its first line of Greeting Cards, called the Poster Series (P Series), by means of reducing

posters to smaller sizes. The success story of the P-Series, which continuous till date, led to Archies setting up a

distribution channel. The market response generated was overwhelming and the network of distributors grew

rapidly. Says Youhan, In 1981, we held out first distributors meet in New Delhi.

Citing the challenges faced, Youhan reveals, When we set up Archies Gallery in 1987, there was nothing like it

in India. It was a first. Over the years every innovation and extension of product line has always been a first.

The initial challenge was to sell the concept, which was not so tough as we were filling a vacuum. The current

challenge in an evolved market is finding good locations at viable costs, as the cost good retail real estate is

today literally gone through the roof.

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Growing market demand and interest led Moolchandani to expand and enhance the product portfolio. The

company procured its first ever foreign license from Walt Disney, U.S.A., in 1984. This enabled the company to

offer to its patrons greeting cards with Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck etc. Adding

innovations to its existing line of offering, Archies products acquired international gloss and appeal.

Around five years after its launch, Archies launched its first advertising campaign in 1884 and gradually this

brand became synonym with exchanging of greeting cards for various occasions. Strategic t ie-ups with global

players, including Portal Publications, Gobson Greetings and American Gretings Inc. (the worlds largestpublicly held Greeting Card Company) of the U.S. and Paramount Cards enabled the company to offer its

consumers a range of special-occasion cards like Thank-you, Miss-you etc.

Taking a step ahead to meet its customers face-to-face, the company set up its first shop Archies Gallery.

This first of its kind concept-store opened its doors in Kamla Nagar, Delhi in 1987 and this led to the opening

of many more stores as well. A thirst for expansion led the company to opt for the franchise route and the year

1993 saw the opening of the 100 Archies store. Mid 1990s was when the company decided to become a public

limited company. According to Youhan, the companys public issue was oversubscribed four times and three

years post that the companys shareprice with an original offering of Rs. 70 zoomed to a meteoric Rs. 1400.

Keeping Pace with Market Dynamics

Not loosing sleep over the growing popularity of internet, Moolchandani took the challenge head on and

converted it into an opportunity by introducing e-cards and offering online gifting opportunities through its e-

commerce portal www.archiesonline.com. This portal has to its credit being amongst the first Indian portals

worldwide to offer consumers paid for e-cards. The popularity of the brand led to the spreading of its wings

outside India as well with Archies Gallery being present in 6 countries across the globe India, Bahrain, Sri-

Lanka, Nepal, UAE and Bangladesh.

Apart from offering greeting cards in English, the brand also offered options of greeting cards in Indianlanguages Hindi, Marathi etc. According to Youhan, the company prints close to about 65 million greeting

cards in a year and it also exports greeting cards to Russia and Western Europe.

Bringing in an emotional connect in all the activities undertaken, Archies has well designed all its marketing

and promotional activities adding a human touch. In the early years, promotion for Archies was restricted to

mail order advertising. Its first press advertisement was in 1984, for the Great Archies Explosion, an

exposition held in a five-star hotel. The brands first radio spot was aired on All India Radio in 1989 and its

first television commercial was broadcast the following year, being one of the first to use Cable and Satellite

Channels for advertising. Next came in movie tie-ups where one cannot miss mentioning the association with

the Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar starrer Waqt; the most successful tie-up a brand can ever have with

film.

From making days like mother, father, sister, brother, daughter and friendship days popular; the brand also

has a niche programme in the Archies product portfolio Gift of the Month. In this marketing initiative, a

product is chosen and sold at Rs. 99 well below its normal printed price for the entire month. According to

Youhan, an average Archies store stocks close to about 5,000 items at any given point of time.

Extending its portfolio to serve its corporate clients, the brand under the Giftworks brand, has custom-made a

wide selection of merchandize like wine boxes, chess sets, candle stands etc. Establishing a connect with the

youth, the brand also had a tie-up with one of the most popular show on television MTV Roadies where they

even had a range of MTV Roadies merchandize available at the store from boldly designed bags, sipppers,

caps, mugs, photo-frames, wallets and key rings. In terms of CSR activities, the brand has a tie-up with CRY

and Help Age.

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About indiaretailreviewBeen a part of the retail industry in India since almost a decade now writing about it for top retail magazines in India - earlier as a

Senior Correspondent for the Images Group for their magazines Images Retail, Images Business of Fashion, Progressive Grocer

and indiaretailing.com and then as the Editor for STOrai magazine from the house of The Retailers Association of India.

Currently penning a book for an industry veteran!

View all posts by indiaretailreview

Zainab Morbiwala -

As penned for STOrai magazine in 2011

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