10,000 greetings cards given away free

A NEW print-on-demand greetings card service launches this week undercutting the market-leader by two thirds. eCards Media, the greetings specialist behind the hugely successful ‘Postcards App’, unveils its new service today – offering 10,000 free greetings cards for the public to test the systems before the Christmas cards rush. To access the range of free personalised cards, visit www.ecards.co.uk using the voucher code OneFreeCard.

MD, Sam Heaton said, ‘We see no need to charge more than 99p for a personalised greetings card. We’re shaking things up and going head-to-head with Moonpig. Our print quality and dedication to our customers is proven by ‘Postcards’, which quickly became one of the Apple store’s top downloads.’

‘Giving away 10,000 free cards will stress-test our system in time for Christmas and help introduce the public to our quality greetings cards. We’re putting the smile back into sending cards.’

eCards Media’s unique system allows users to personalise any type of digital image onto the front of glossy A5 cards, which are then sent the same day via the UK post. The company’s wholly owned system uses daily FTP bursts (File Transfer Protocol) to transmit images to a state-of-the-art digital printers at 2pm each day; by 3.50pm the high-quality cards are ready for Royal Mail dispatch.

eCards Media are confident their affordable, flash-based user-interface and 200+ range of cards will be a massive hit with the public, they will massively undercut the market.

The current prices charged by greetings card operators in the UK are:

Web Site Ex VAT Inc VAT @ 17.5%
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www.ecards.co.uk 0.99 1.16
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Snapfish 1.69 1.99
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GettingPersonal 2.51 2.95
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Funky Pigeon 2.54 2.99
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Marks & Spencer 2.54 2.99
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TouchNote 2.54 2.99
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Hallmark 2.55 3.00
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Moonpig 3.00 3.00
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Printed eCards are traditional physical greeting A5 Cards which customers design online using pictures from webcams, camera-phones and picture storage libraries. Cards from eCards Media can be highly personalised with text and pictures easily changed. Each card is printed individually and sent back to customers (with a spare envelope) or directly to the intended card recipient.

eCards Media is the UK’s largest virtual-greetings card company. The business has 3.5 million customers and an advertising client base of major high street brands. Current clients include firms such as Gap, Optical Express and Ladbrokes.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The free give-away runs from 8 November to the 22 November. To see the range of highly personable greetings cards available and to send your own card from the 10,000 free cards available, please visit: www.ecards.co.uk

About Postcards

About Postcards

· eCards Media Postcards app was launched in May 2010. The global travel phenomenon quickly became one of Apple’s top 30 apps. The free ‘Postcards’ download lets users take a photo or upload from their library and input text to family and friends. It costs 99p to send second-class and £1.49 to send first class postcards anywhere in the world, processed via PayPal.

· Recently the company has unveiled an Android version with the same user interface. The app is available across a wide range of next generation smartphones designed by manufacturers such as Google, Samsung, HTC and Sony.

For more information www.ecards.co.uk , or to arrange interviews, please contact James Fenton at Watershed PR on 01308-420785, email james@watershedpr.co.uk