UK's leading greeting cards business is publicly guaranteeing a "20 per cent sales uplift for convenience retailers" as it moves to challenge what it describes as outdated supply models that have suppressed greeting card category performance across tens of thousands of UK stores for years.
Riverside Greetings launched the initiative publicly at the Bestway/Costcutter Showcase in partnership with one of the UK’s largest symbol group operators.
The business believes UK convenience retailers are collectively losing at least £20 million in retail sales annually through stale stock, inconsistent ranging, poor merchandising, and a lack of meaningful category management.
Andrew Glen, Managing Director of Riverside Greetings, said: “For too long, the convenience greetings category has accepted mediocrity as normal.
"Across large parts of the market, categories are either poorly managed or simply left to drift. Retailers are left carrying the burden while shoppers are presented with tired ranges, inconsistent availability and a poor overall experience.
"The category has simply not delivered the retail performance it is capable of, and the idea that this is just ‘how the category works’ is wrong.”
Riverside points to its partnership with Kash Retail as evidence that professionally managed categories can materially outperform traditional supply structures.
Andrew Glen
Since Riverside took over the category, greeting card sales within the group have increased by nearly 40%, alongside retailer profit growth of 50%.
Kevin Polley, Operations Manager at Kash Retail, said: “We hadn’t fully appreciated how under-managed the category had become until Riverside took it over.
"The difference has been significant. Better ranging, fresher stock, active support and genuine accountability have all translated into stronger sales and improved profitability.
"It’s a completely different approach from the traditional supply model.”
Riverside operates a fully vendor-managed model built around full consignment supply, employed field merchandising teams, monthly range refreshes and data-led category management.
Unlike many traditional convenience greeting card suppliers, Riverside does not operate through franchised territories, which the company says allows for significantly greater consistency, accountability and operational control across a retail estate.
The business says its 20% sales uplift guarantee has been intentionally positioned as a minimum performance commitment rather than an aspirational target.
“In reality, we would expect to outperform the guarantee comfortably in many cases,” Glen added. “If we genuinely believe the category should perform better, we should be prepared to stand behind that financially.
"This industry has spent too long accepting underperformance as normal. We don’t.”
Bestway Retail said: “Greeting cards remain a significant, high-margin opportunity within convenience retail when managed actively.
"Riverside has developed a genuinely different model focused on merchandising, category performance and retailer profitability, and the 20% sales uplift commitment reflects real confidence in that approach.
"We believe this represents a compelling opportunity for Bestway and Costcutter retailers.”
Riverside says the initiative has been designed to challenge long-held assumptions around convenience greeting card retailing and raise expectations around what the category should deliver for retailers.
“We’re not interested in making noise,” Glen said. “We’re interested in changing expectations and delivering measurable results for retailers.”