GM, PBC categories meet in aromatherapy card launch

Drug Store News, May 20, 2002 by Liz Parks

Essence of Vali, a company more familiar to the personal care space, is trying to take its aromatherapy business into the greeting card aisle. The Essence's new atraditional, aromatherapy greeting card line was a finalist last month in the best new product competition at Ex-Tracts, a semi-annual trade show for the aromatherapy, fragrance and personal care industries in its sixth year of operation.

The line of cards--designed by Anne Gibbons, a former winner of the National Cartoonist's Society's greeting card award for her work with Recycled Paper Greetings--is targeted to the female consumer. The cards are not necessarily positioned to face-off against the likes of category captains Hallmark and American Greetings, rather, they play more in the gift space, coupling a vial of aromaterapy oil along with the card. The recommended retail price is $5.99 and $7, margins for the new card line are also atypical of the greeting card category.

Currently, the line includes two cards, sleep and passion. Sleep, for instance, is suitable for birthdays, as well as everyday occasions, featuring a vial of a mixture of essential oils, including lavender, marjoram, cedar and ylang-ylang, and a caption that reads: "The older we get, the more we appreciate the finer things in life ... like a good night's sleep! Sweet dreams!"