Card retailers push the envelope Even after Clinton Cards" recent demise, there is one human foible that may save high street retailers of greetings cards: forgetfulness. "I just never got round to it," said Phyllis, a grandmother from south London, waiting for a Card Factory store to open so she can buy her son a birthday card before she meets him in an hour. Asked why she did not go to a newsagent, or the nearby Tesco, she replies: "You get a better card here than in the sweetie shops." Clinton went into administration on Wednesday. Like other high street retailers, it has been hit by a combination of rising competition and a large rent bill, built up through aggressive expansion during the economic boom. Clinton's demise is not the end of high street card stores, however. Card Factory, a brasher, cheaper high street rival, is not just keeping its head above water - it is rapidly expanding. Card Factory's first store opened in Wakefield in 1997, and its 500th opened in July 2010. Since then the chain has opened a further 100 outlets, taking advantage of the stagnant high street rental market to negotiate nominal rents from landlords, who want to avoid steep business rates on empty properties. The strategy seems to be working. Sportswift, which owns Card Factory, reported net profits of £40m for the full year to January 2011, up from £25m the year before. Buying cards in a store, it seems, still appeals. Cards are a very sensual object. People like to pick up a card and look at the physical object," said Sharon Little, chief executive of the Greeting Card Association, which represents about 95 per cent of the UK's 500 greetings card suppliers. British people spent nearly £1.39bn on individual greetings cards in 2010, up 3 per cent from 2009. Britain is still a card-sending nation, with adults sending on average 31 cards per year, Ms Little says. That picture is slowly changing, however. In a recent survey by YouGov for DropGifts, a social media gift service, 46 per cent of adults said they would send fewer birthday cards this year. Dwindling enthusiasm for card-buying has not stopped online card retailers from booming, however, as the recent success of Moonpig, the online card retailer, attests. Moonpig, which allows users to personalise cards online, was founded in 1999 by Nick Jenkins, with the savings from his former career as a sugar trader at Glencore. Christened Moonpig after the Mr Jenkins's nickname at school, the online card retailer was lossmaking until 2005. Since then it has grown into the UK's dominant online card retailer, sending out 12m cards in 2011, and generating sales of £38m in the process. It was bought by PhotoBox, the digital photo service, for £120m later that year. Moonpig has dominated the online card market but is coming under pressure, with WHSmith leading the charge. WHSmith recently launched Funky Pigeon, a dedicated card website, which expanded into retail stores in 2011. There are nine outlets in the UK. In October Apple also muscled into Moonpig territory with the release of its Cards app, which allows users to turn a quick snapshot on their iPad or iPhone into a physical greetings card, which is then posted to any address in the UK for £3.99. Smaller online card retailers are also benefiting from a growing audience, particularly at the upper end of the market. "We were supplying a few thousand greeting cards a couple of years ago," said Andrew Biggs, director at the Handcrafted Card Company, which sells handmade greetings cards and wedding stationery. Sales this year are on target for us to be supplying over 100,000 cards. Mr Biggs runs the company with his wife, Donna, who started the business in a spare bedroom in 2003. It now runs out of a 5000sq ft warehouse and employs 12 people. The middle ground, where Clinton was, has been eroded and undermined by the cheaper market. But people still want good quality cards and that's where we've fitted in well," said Mr Biggs. Clinton's closure is a blow for the industry, but Ms Little is bullish: "There is no way this is the end of the greetings card industry." She might well be right. According to the YouGov survey, only one in five Britons consider sending birthday wishes via Facebook, text message or email an acceptable replacement for a card.