Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection has today announced that Alun Mort, franchisee for South West Wales has grown his business by 7% in the past year. Alun who joined Card Connection in 1995 has recently taken on a new merchandiser who has been helping grow the franchise.

Former petrol station manager Alun, supplies more than 200 retailers with Card Connection’s extensive range of top quality greeting cards and accessories.

He said: “I am already seeing the benefit of working with my new merchandiser, Gail. She has been able to build relationships with our customers quickly and the retailers really like her; she’s proving to be my ace card! I have invested in an additional delivery van so Gail is now spending time merchandising on her own too.

“Between us, we can now offer an even better service,” continues Alun. “I can spend more time with the retail managers to see how we can optimise sales and work out how to run the franchise more efficiently too. This approach is already having a positive impact on sales which is great for both me and my retail customers!

“Alun is showing some solid growth in an established franchise territory,” confirms Michael Johnson, managing director, Card Connection. “He is always enthusiastic and hardworking and his approach is certainly paying off. We have some really exciting new product launches planned for the New Year and in combination with our striking new point of sale, Alun and our other franchisees really will have a winning hand in 2015!”

Card Connection franchisees supply greeting cards and accessories in retail outlets on a ‘consignment’ basis, also supplying the display equipment free on loan if appropriate, minimising the retailers’ costs and maximising their profits. This is one step beyond ‘sale or return’ as retail customers don’t have to buy the stock initially; they only pay for what they sell. Card Connection’s award winning merchandising service provided to retailers has proved popular all over the UK and Ireland.

Card Connection is one of the UK’s largest card publishers and is the market leader in the franchised distribution of greeting cards. The business’ unique model of consignment sales has resulted in a strong brand and established reputation which has been proven over many years. Through its franchisees Card Connection supplies about 12,000 retailers throughout the UK.

Card Connection is part of UK Greetings, which is a subsidiary of American Greetings Inc., one of the largest greeting card publishers in the world and has limited vacancies for franchisees that are keen to run an expanding business. Since the franchise network in the UK is complete, the available opportunities now consist of acquiring an already-established territory from an existing franchisee. These vary in price according to their level of development, but start at £7k + Stock + Card Connection fee with earnings potential in excess of £50k per annum.