SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Minted, an online design marketplace that connects consumers with independent artists, today released findings that the presidential election has noticeably impacted the types of holiday cards consumers are sending this year.
Minted takes a data-driven approach to designing products and identifying consumer trends. The company crowdsources stationery, art, and home decor from 10,000 independent artists through monthly competitions and analyzes millions of consumer votes using proprietary algorithms to determine which products to sell.
“Cheer” is Down and “Hope” and “Peace” Up in Post-Election Holiday Cards
Use of the word “cheer” decreased in 2016 holiday cards after the election:
- Prior to the election: down 2 percent compared to 2015
- Post-election: down 14 percent compared to 2015
Use of the word “peace” increased in 2016 holiday cards after the election:
- Prior to the election: up 8 percent compared to 2015
- Post-election: up 14 percent compared to 2015
Use of the word “hope” increased in 2016 holiday cards increased from the prior year, but did not change after the election:
- Prior to the election: up 9 percent compared to 2015
- Post-election: remained up 9 percent compared to 2015
The shift is nationwide and not specific to any geographic region.
“The intensity of the election seems to have prompted some customers to choose a more contemplative tone, knowing that some of their recipients are feeling celebratory and some are not,” said Mariam Naficy, Minted Founder and CEO. “Minted is respectful of our diverse customer base, offering them custom solutions that allow everyone to send love in their own way.”
Minted Labs — the Company’s research and analytics arm — investigated the greeting trend when customers contacted the company after the election to ask if they could change the message on their recent orders to be more sensitive to the feelings of friends and family. One customer wrote that she was concerned that her original “Be Joyful” message “was a little tone deaf to what's going on for many of my recipients.” That customer changed her holiday card greeting to “Love is Love is Love.”
The company also developed a special product page featuring holiday cards with “peace” messages.
Holiday Card Consumer Survey Results: Who Sends Cards and Why?
Minted surveyed more than 1,000 American women between the ages of 18 and 70 to explore attitudes about sending and receiving holiday cards.
Millennials are More Traditional Than One Might Suspect
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Millennials and Baby Boomers prefer “Merry Christmas.” Gen Xers prefer
“Happy Holidays.”
- 49 percent of Millennials surveyed prefer a "Merry Christmas" greeting over a “Happy Holidays” or “Happy New Year” message.
- Similarly, 48 percent of Baby Boomers prefer “Merry Christmas” over “Happy Holidays” or “Happy New Year.”
- Conversely, 48 percent of Gen Xers prefer "Happy Holidays" over “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year.”
- Millennials (38 percent) are more likely to include a handwritten note than any other generation, including Baby Boomers (26 percent).
- Millennials, however, put their own youthful spin on tradition, being two times more likely than older generations to send a holiday card to a celebrity they don’t personally know.
Teachers and Hairdressers Top the List of Non-Family Holiday Card Recipients
At the top of the holiday card mailing list are immediate family members (49 percent) and extended family members (33 percent). Survey respondents also send holiday cards to:
- A child's teacher (28 percent)
- A hairdresser (24 percent)
- Active military (23 percent)
- Clergy (20 percent)
- Doctors (18 percent)
- A children's hospital (17 percent)
- A pet (12 percent)
- Santa (11 percent)
- An “ex” (10 percent)
Holiday Cards and Work: Keeping the Boss Happy
Survey respondents are more likely to send a card to their boss (12 percent) than to employees who work for them (8 percent).
Emotional Impact of Receiving Holiday Cards
Respondents said that receiving holiday cards made them feel loved (70 percent), grateful (56 percent), and sentimental (50 percent).
That’s probably why 84 percent display the holiday cards they receive:
- Until Christmas (11 percent)
- Until the New Year (43 percent)
- Into January or February (23 percent)
- A full year or longer (7 percent)
Almost half of respondents said they save the holiday cards they receive.
*Source: Minted Analytics team, based on holiday card customer orders from Oct. 17, 2016 to Nov. 19, 2016 versus the same period in 2015.
About Minted
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Minted is a design marketplace that connects you to the world’s best independent artists to create something one-of-a-kind. Minted’s unique crowdsourced model represents a modern marketplace – one where the community decides what goods are showcased and sold. This model ensures fresh, on-trend designs are continuously being added to Minted. Minted enables artists, designers and photographers around the world to create original work, then provides them with an operations platform that handles all fulfillment and customer service. This leaves creatives to do what they do best, while letting Minted do the rest. The company – which began in stationery, has expanded its crowdsourcing model into wall art (2012), textiles (2014), digital content (2015) and most recently home decor (2015). Minted has raised $90M since launching in 2007 and is funded by Benchmark Capital, IDG Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures as well as angel investors. www.minted.com.
