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Sometimes Caring To Send the Very
Best: Greeting Card Creation
Slumping
Among Home PC Users |
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By
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 15, 2004 |
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The age-old
tradition of the family gathering around the home PC printer during the
holidays to create unique greeting cards appears to be slipping—the
practice has been in decline for the last three years. However, families
with young children appear to be clinging to the tradition more tightly
than others. Meanwhile, the percentage of hard-core card senders—those
households for whom card-creation is the main reason for having a PC
printer—has remained about the same.
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These and other insights about the convergence of home PCs, printers,
and greeting cards were derived from 10,418 households who responded to
questionnaires submitted by MetaFacts, Inc. concerning uses of their
home PC printers. The results showed that in 2004 about a third of
American households (32.6 percent) used their home computer to make
greeting cards, down from 35.5 percent in 2003 and 39.2 percent in 2002.
Perhaps the practice of making unique cards is now so time-tested that
the results don’t seem as novel any more.
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Why is this important?
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Self-made greeting cards reflect a creative, personal and
high-involvement action on the part of the computer user. Even with the
gentle and sometimes thorough assistance of some software and sites to
design the card and compose the sentiment, it still involves
communication with friends, family and other intimates. It forms a
personal expression and statement. Therefore, it’s a key indicator of
how deeply involved home computers and printers are in the American
lifestyle.
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The presence of small children in the home appears to make it
significantly more likely that the family will devote more time to
greeting card creation. For instance, 15.1 percent of households
surveyed in 2004 said that greeting card creation was the main use of
their printer, but that figure rose to 20.6 percent for households with
PC users aged three to 12. (Yet, having teen-aged users didn’t help,
since the average for households with PCs users aged 13 to 19 was 14.9
percent—about average, in other words.)
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Households with income less than $50,000 were also more likely to make
their own cards, with 17.3 percent listing it as the main use of their
printers. Either they like to save money, or have practices favoring
personal creativity over buying ready-made solutions.
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Meanwhile, the percentage of hardcore card-makers has barely declined,
even if the practice has slipped significantly among the general
population. As stated above, 15.1 percent of households in 2004 listed
card creation as the primary use for their printers. That’s only a
slight decrease from 15.9 percent in 2003 and 16.8 percent in 2002. This
probably means we won’t see a specialized greeting-card printer in the
near future, as the market may be too small to justify it.
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On
the other hand, card-making has remained the second most
common activity for which special paper is
used—understandably, since the paper is an important
factor in making a card unique. It also helps to have
the paper pre-scored for easy and professional-looking
folding. In 2004, 40.9 percent of PC-owning households
report that card-creation was an activity that they used
special paper for, second to photo printing (68.1
percent). Letter writing was a distant third, at 18.4
percent. Here, too, prevalence has fallen during the
last three years, since the rate of using special paper
to create cards was 42.4 percent in 2003 and 46.7
percent in 2002. (However, it remained in second place
during those years, between photo printer and letter
writing.)
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Here,
too, the presence of small children among the users
meant a higher rate of usage. While 40.9 percent of the
general PC user population reported using special paper
for cards, the rate rose to 47.2 percent for those with
users aged three to 12 in the house. But in this case
the highest rate was among those households with
teenaged users, rising to 49.6 percent. Evidently,
teenagers value uniqueness—and they do so consistently.
The rate was 48.7 percent in 2003 and 49.8 percent in
2002.
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In
case you were wondering, the demographic least likely to
create their own cards were the single adults. Only 10
percent of single-adults households said that
card-making was the most common use of their printer in
2004. Here, too, the trend was downward, from 11.8
percent in 2003 and 13.8 percent in 2002.
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Use of
Home Printers for Greeting Cards
(%
of Home Printers)
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2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
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Who Use Their PC
Printer to
Make Cards |
39.2 |
35.5 |
32.6 |
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Percent of Households
Where Card-Making Is the Main Use of
the Printer |
16.8 |
15.9 |
15.1 |
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Percent of Households
That Use Special Paper to Make Cards |
46.7 |
42.4 |
40.9 |
Source: MetaFacts,
Inc. – Technology User Profile
– 2004 Annual
Edition
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Background & Methodology |
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Factual, decision-making information like this is
only found in one place, the Technology User Profile from MetaFacts. The
Technology User Profile market research information service is based on
extensive primary research selected and balanced to represent the American
population - including technology users and non-technology users. Drawn from
more than 30,000 surveys per year reporting on over 250 questions, it is the
longest-running, most comprehensive total market technology study available. TUPdates are brief
summaries of information contained in the Technology User Profile. |
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