Clinton has its cards marked

For years before, newspapers had run stories about the likelihood of a takeover and when it happened it almost seemed like an old story.

Most people thought it made sense. Clinton Cards founder and chairman Don Lewin certainly did. He expected the takeover to be earnings enhancing within two years. But last week Birthdays was put into administration, never having made a penny.

Lewin and his family are old school retailers. He opened his first shop in 1968, built the business up and floated it. Acquisitions have been key to growth and store deals such as Hallmark and Carlton allowed the business to become a high street force.

But while the demise of Birthdays may not be the result of the integration botch-up that frequently follows takeovers, it was probably a deal too far.

The claim that Clinton had a “premium” positioning compared with Birthdays’ “value” stance always stretched credibility a little, but surely one of the fundamental causes of Birthdays’ problems must be massive changes in society and retailing?

The ubiquity of mobile phones, social networking and similar innovations has transformed how people communicate. Cards are no longer the only choice – and frequently not the first choice – for special occasion messages.

So Clinton’s huge high street presence and limited e-tail offer look increasingly out-of-step with consumer behaviour. Birthdays is now defunct. In the longer term, surely there is a threat too to the original Clintons chain?

Clinton has successfully extended its offer beyond cards and has added all sorts of red letter days to its card calendar. But more will be needed. The retailer must either find a way to restore the magic once conjured up by envelopes falling on the door mat by convincing consumers that a card really makes an occasion special or recast itself to deliver greetings in more modern ways.