Clinton Cards is changing its management and stores, but there is much to be done.

Clinton Cards is changing its management and stores, but there is much to be done.

In Lakeside last Thursday on the trail of a new indie, it was hard not cop a look at Clintons. Normally, you might pass this one by as the fascia would probably look a little careworn and if you did glance through the door, the chances are good that the interior would also be pretty uninspiring.

This one however is different. The fascia is shiny and orange and there’s a highly patterned carpet inside. It was late night shopping at Lakeside and people were certainly looking at Clintons – it was hard not to. There is, sadly, some difference between looking at a store and heading indoors and the look-at-me colour scheme seemed, if anything, to be acting as a mild shopper deterrent.

This new(er) Clintons that does invite a mild degree of head-scratching about the direction of travel. Clintons has just appointed a new marketing director, Tim Fairs, formerly of Dixons, and he would appear to have his work cut out. Not only, by his own admission, is there a shopper tendency to regard Clintons as expensive, but as he also notes, “the look and feel of the brand is quite tired”.

The problem it faces is that there are many retailers that seem to occupy the same space as Clintons and do so in a way that appears more appealing. The question therefore is what might you do to improve things? Start with the stores perhaps – as these are the places where shoppers will form their judgements and the answer is probably not to go all interactive with the customer, but to create an environment with mass market appeal that does not look garish.

There is a maxim that does the rounds in retailing that you can sell good product from a poor environment, but no matter how good the environment, if the product doesn’t measure up, then things will be tricky. This may not apply quite as much to greetings card retailers as the products are frequently very similar, so what may tip the scales is the store itself. Clintons could do worse than taking a walk around a few branches of Scribbler, Paperchase or any museum shop that sells gifts and greetings cards. All appeal to a well-heeled demographic, but they do provide a response to the shopper demand – ‘give me a reason to come into your shop’. At the moment, Clintons does not and needs to do so soon.