Greetings Cards Research

Hallmark Cards;

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At Hallmark, we strive to make our products as relevant to as many people as possible. With one of the world's largest creative staffs – around 625 artists, designers, stylists, writers, editors, web designers, and photographers – and the best researchers in the industry, we provide a year-round greeting card selection of more than 18,000 designs.
For consumers who want Hallmark quality but with customizable options, Hallmark.com offers the ability to create one-of-a-kind greeting cards with personal sentiments, photos and sound clips. Cards can be chosen online and personalized at any time. Hallmark professionally prints the cards, and can even address, stamp and mail them. There's also a free app for iPhone® called Hallmark Go Cards that makes the "perfect" card available anytime, from anywhere.
Hallmark.com also provides a variety of ecards to enable consumers to connect digitally. Some ecards feature popular music, TV and movie clips, and animation. Hallmark Card Studio software provides the tools to create greeting cards on a home printer.
In addition, people can compete to have their creations featured in Hallmark cards through a series of Your Greeting Card competitions at HallmarkContests.com. Contestants submit a cover image and message for a chance to be chosen as a winner and have their creation made into a real Hallmark card.

Moonpig.com;

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Moonpig.com is a business based in Guernsey and London which sells personalised greeting cards. The website was launched in July 2000, and in 2007 the company was responsible for 90 percent of the online greeting card market in the United Kingdom, with nearly six million cards shipped.
 According to founder Nick Jenkins, 'Moonpig' was his nickname at school, hence the name of the brand.
Customers who visit the website can choose from a large selection of basic card designs and enter their own text to personalise them. In addition to cards, the company offers customisable spoof magazine covers and invitations, where customers can upload their own photos for printing.
The original launch of Moonpig.com in 2000 coincided with the collapse of the dot-com bubble which meant progress was difficult at first, but Jenkins raised further investment from private investors and venture capital, and the advent of broadband and digital cameras together with news spreading by word-of-mouth meant sales steadily increased, with the first profits being made in 2005. A television advertising campaign began in the United Kingdom in November 2006, and in February 2008 Moonpig.com received more internet traffic than other flower and gift companies in the UK. By Summer 2009, the company had 2.57 million customers and its profit record was seen by The Times as "a typical curve for a successful start-up — a big, £1 million loss establishing it in its first year, negligible losses edging into negligible earnings over the next six years, and thereafter a seven-figure profit".
The company was initially based in Chelsea, but moved to Guernsey in 2006, maintaining a small office in London to deal with marketing and IT software. Along with the other Channel Islands, Guernsey has a VAT exemption on UK-bound goods costing less than £18. The business expanded into the Australian market in 2004, and in late 2009, the business expanded its offering to include a range of flowers and custom mug designs. In spring 2010, Moonpig launched in the United States.
In July 2011, Moonpig was bought by PhotoBox.

My preference;
In my opinion after looking for personalised cards for a friends birthday on moonpig.com, I found that I didn't like any of the cards, I thought that they were all very generic and very samey.

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I didn't find one card which I thought was appropriate or good enough for my friend, I personally wouldn't buy a card which I didn't like therefore wouldn't use Moonpig, or Funkypigeon. I prefer homemade cards or screen printed cards, or just really well designed cards, rather than just mass produced ones. As well as homemade cards in shops, there are websites which sell them too, and think that's a good idea, but most of the website I ave found, are very children based for example, Spoonful.com.

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This is a website I found which sell handmade cards, and gives people ideas to make their own handmade cards, I think that I will refer to this website a lot if I was making cards, it not only shows you what you can do, but also shows the techniques on how to make them.

When I a designing my website I need to bare in mine my audience, as Hallmark and Funky Pigeon and Moonpig are trying to sell to the masses. Where as my website will be selling bespoke cards for special occasions or just trying to show a loved one how much they mean to you. I want to make my website more elegant and simple, not really buy and covered in adverts.