For that personal touch

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IT is the thought that counts, and Ahamed Thinoon is living up to this adage especially during the Christmas season.

While many shops have stopped selling Christmas cards due to the poor demand for them in recent years; the 65-year-old bookshop owner does otherwise for the sake of his older customers who still prefer to send greeting cards by post than using emails or SMS.

“I can hardly sell 200 Christmas cards each festive season, and there is not much profit from it,” Ahamed, who has been running his bookshop in Canning Garden for the last 42 years, told MetroPerak.

Still of value: Ahamed stacking a few Christmas cards for sale at his shop.

He recalled selling at least 8,000 Christmas cards each year back in the 1970s and 1980s.

Ahamed said the sales of all types of greeting cards had plunged drastically in the last five years, with that of Christmas cards being the worst hit.

A survey by MetroPerak in Ipoh city also showed that many shops had stopped selling Christmas cards.

SS Mubarak & Bro’s Sdn Bhd store manager N. Maliga said the sales of greeting cards, which was on the decline in the last five years, took another dip following the increase in postage some two years ago.

“We saw an 80% drop in sales in the last three years. We only have limited stock now, Maliga added.

Like Ahamed, she said her customers for Christmas cards were mostly from the older generation.

The owner of Eva Enterprise, a stationary shop in Taman Ipoh, Michelle Chong said the sales of greeting cards had plunged by 50% in the last 10 years.

“We sell by the hundreds nowadays, and no longer by the thousands as in the good old days,” she recalled.

Chong pointed out that some in the older generation still preferred to send greeting cards by post as they felt this would give it (the greetings) a more personal touch.

“It is not that they (the older generation) are not technology savvy or do not know how to send email or SMS,” she pointed out.