LAHORE, Pakistan: Growing common use of mobile phone SMS texting, Whatsapp and other mobile applications have promoted E-cards culture and these have outshined traditional Eid cards’ buying/sending practices.
E-mail was a blow to the Eid card, SMS thrashed it and Whatsapp signed its death warrants, said people from various walks of life while talking to the state-run news agency.
Due to changing trends, hundreds of shopkeepers have changed their profession, as all these electronic means of communication are cheaper and time saving and the general public is not interested in visiting markets to purchase Eid cards.
Most of the shopkeepers in Anarkali, Urdu Bazaar and Shah Alam Market claimed that there was a significant reduction in sales as compared to the last few years.
Talking to the news agency, some shopkeepers of Anarkali informed that the Eid cards industry was confronting a huge downfall in a last few years. They said the SMS and internet packages and price-hike of basic commodities were the main cause of poor sale of Eid cards.
“Trend of sending Eid cards has almost come to an end now,” a shopkeeper at Anarkali commented.
Another shopkeeper of Shah Alam Market informed that he opened his stall daily from 10 am to 11 pm but his sales of Eid cards was less than Rs 1,000. Interestingly, on asking which type of cards fetch most sales, the shopkeeper said that Valentine’s Day cards are the most popular ones in March.
Three days of selling Valentine’s Day cards bring us more profit than what we earn in 30 days for selling Eid cards, he added.
