Clinton Cards to go into Administration

[TW]Fox;21871259 said:
They have exactly the same problem as Game had, far too many stores. Even some small towns have multiple branches of Clintons often within sight of each other. I suspect this will mirror Game, into administration, bin all the duplicate stores and emerge again a far leaner organisation.
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This.

Not to mention FunkyPigeon/Moonpig.

Before Clintons had a large range of cards and stuff, but with the internet and customisation they just can't compete.

kd
 
i thnk that Facebook is a factor also. There are only a handful of people that i physically go out and buy a card for nowadays (mum, sister etc), most of the time i follow the herd and post something on FB.
 
King Damager said:
This.

Not to mention FunkyPigeon/Moonpig.

Before Clintons had a large range of cards and stuff, but with the internet and customisation they just can't compete.

kd
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Indeed. I think they have tried to with expanding their stock. i.e. fancy dress, candles (**** I know, but people want them!). But with the internet, as it's been said many times before - companies like this just can't compete. They have staff to pay, rent to pay and other bits to pay...
 
It is interesting to note that Barclays and RBS sold the Clinton debt to American Greetings - who, as well as being a major supplier to Clintons, also have Carlton Cards.

one way to get rid of a major competitor, even though they are also a retailer of your product.

So they close down all the expensive shops but later on be seen as a knight in shiny white armour when they save the best, rebrand as Carlton and make extra margin
 
Moonpig

Custom desiged, personalised cards which actually mean something to who you are giving them to. And delivered to your/their door.
 
[TW]Fox;21871259 said:
They have exactly the same problem as Game had, far too many stores. Even some small towns have multiple branches of Clintons often within sight of each other. I suspect this will mirror Game, into administration, bin all the duplicate stores and emerge again a far leaner organisation.
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There are many, many businesses like this who simply way over-expanded. I could never work out how they thought they would sustain the business. Whittard were probably the first of these to go, keeping just a few of their shops but, amazingly, they are opening all the other ones up again, selling the same toot and simply making the same mistakes again. Unbelievable.

The same goes for a lot of fashion brands. They have a sudden popularity boom and open shops everywhere, then when their popularity drops off they go bankrupt because they can't afford to keep the shops open. What were they thinking was going to happen? Even Ray Ban are doing it now; I'd have thought they have been around long enough to know better.
 
King Damager said:
Before Clintons had a large range of cards and stuff, but with the internet and customisation they just can't compete.
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Surely this just shows that the people at the top were unable to come up with and implement a proper business plan to keep up with the times. Very sad really as it'll mean lots of job losses. :(
 
Very sad for the store employees.

I don't think it is a case of over expansion. The problem is that over the last 30 years there has been a creeping expansion of what Supermarkets have to offer.

If you went into Tesco in say the late 70's they sold food. Nowadays they're a multiproduct store - food, electronics, clothing, Insurance, give it a few years and I suspect you might be able to buy cars off them.

As a result when joe public goes shopping, everything is under one roof. Far easier to shop for everything and pay for it at one till rather than walking down the high street of a typical British town.

Add in the convienience of Internet shopping and the fact that the big Supermarkets are opening 'small' satellite branches all over the place vying for the custom of the traditional corner shop and you can see why the High Steet is failing.

Sadly I don't think this is the last of the administrations, in a recession people will cut back on non-essential goods.

The problem for the Government is that traditionally the High Street employed vast quantities of people and often gave young people their first jobs. Britain lost a massive amount of its heavy industial jobs in the 70's and 80's. The Government concentrated on creating jobs in the 'service' sector and to be fair they were by and large successful. The problem is the recession is now biting into those in the service sector jobs and there is no backup plan.
 
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Like many have already said, it's terrible to think 8,000 people are about to become unemployed.
However it's not surprising, in fact I'm amazed to see some high street names still in existence with the online presence of just about every corner of the consumer market. HMV being the obvious one to mention although their sales have been boosted thanks to the collapse of Game.
I wonder what the average town or even city high streets will look like in 10 years time. Even Oxfam has an online shop selling second hand items! Our high street is seemingly restricted to estate agents, banks and charity shops!
 
Domo said:
HMV being the obvious one to mention although their sales have been boosted thanks to the collapse of Game
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GAME have not collapsed - they've simply had the un-neccesary stores trimmed so its about the size it should have been now and is still trading.
 
They charge far to much for cards, the price of a card was starting to become 30 percent of the price of a small gift.

Card Factory is destroying them on price, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the quality of Card Factory either. In fact I bought 7 Birthday cards for £1 in Card Factory last week.

Clinton Cards cannot compete!
 
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Domo said:
I wonder what the average town or even city high streets will look like in 10 years time. Even Oxfam has an online shop selling second hand items! Our high street is seemingly restricted to estate agents, banks and charity shops!
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And these....

starbucks_one_of_270_in_nyc.jpg
 
ColdAsIce said:
They charge far to much for cards, the price of a card was starting to become 30 percent of the price of a small gift.

Card Factory is destroying them on price, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the quality of Card Factory either. In fact I bought 7 Birthday cards for £1 in Card Factory last week.

Clinton Cards cannot compete!
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Card Factory is always my first port of call simply because they are so cheap and I find the whole card thing annoying so wish to spend as little as possible on it. However there is no denying that the quality of card from Card Factory does reflect the lower price. They are less well made, the materials feel cheaper and the designs are far more generic. This doesn't bother me because the fact its 89p not £3.89 makes up for it but I do sometimes find myself in Clintons buying a card thats just, well, better when I come up short at Card Factory.
 
Shame for jobs to go, but as mentioned, they were total and utter ****takers when it came to prices.

Do agree that the high street is getting leaner and leaner. I mean, even supermarkets do most things nowadays. Only things that will never go are:

Clothes shops
Undertakers
Barbers (you can't get your hair cut online)
Fast food outlets
Newsagents

Everything else is expendable in this online era.
 
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