American Greeting

AU15 EDUTL 5902

2nd Language Advance Writing

Case Study Analysis

Shao, Ta-Yu

American Greetings Corporation

Executive Summary

In this case analysis, I provide a brief introduction of American Greetings Corporation and discuss the threat to the traditional card since people nowadays are using mobile devices and computers frequently, and can easily send a e-card through internet. Beside convenience, people are laying more concerns on the environment issue, which cause e-cards to become popular. So, under so many threats, what is the proper strategy the company can use to keep the traditional card department in a competitive position?

In order to come up with a proper strategy, I analyze the elements of the traditional cards that the e-card cannot replace, and the strategy is to exploit them to the best.

Introduction

American Greetings Corporation (AGC) is a manufacturer and distributer of greeting cards and other social expression products, which includes gift wrap, party goods, stationery and gifts. AGC was founded by Polish immigrant Jacob in 1906. AGC has been expanded steadily. In 1999, AGC bought rival Gibson Greetings and united the second and third largest U.S. greeting card market. Today, the American Greetings Corporation has become the world’s largest greeting card company. The company sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, and party products. In addition, the company owns the Carton Cards, Tender thought, Just for you, and Gibson brands.

The products are sold in mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, supermarkets, card and gift shops, department stores, military post exchanges, variety stores, combo stores, and independent third-party distributors, as well as through Cardstore.com. As of February 28, 2015, it operated 412 card and gift retail stores in the United Kingdom. (Bloomberg Business)

Issues faced by the company

The company was founded in the early 20th century when everyone was still used to writing letters to send...