Archies Limited (earlier called Archies Greetings and Gifts Ltd) is an Indian multinational retailer of

greeting cards A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays ...

and

gifts A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...

, based in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

History

Founded in 1979 by Anil Moolchandani, the company initially sold song books,

posters A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...

and leather patches. The company's main product, greeting cards, was introduced in 1980. Cards were introduced for major

Indian festivals Public Holidays in India, also known as Statutory Holidays, or colloquially Government Holidays, consist of a variety of cultural, nationalistic, and religious holidays that are legislated in India at the union or state levels. While many of t ...

such as

Holi Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

and Rakhi, apart from the usual new year, birthday and anniversary occasions. The company went public in 1995. In 1998, it was listed on the

National Stock Exchange of India National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is the leading stock exchange under the ownership of various group of domestic and global financial institutions, public and privately owned entities and individuals. It is located in Mumbai, Mah ...

and

Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange in ...

. Archies Limited is in the business of manufacturing and selling

greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...

s and other social expression products such as gifts and posters. Archies has a market share of about 50% of India's greeting cards market.

Outlets and Stores

Archies has about 250+ franchise and 230+ exclusive outlets, called Archies Galleries, spread across 120 cities and 6 countries. It has tie-ups and licensing arrangements for merchandising characters such as Dennis the Menace and Disney characters. It has arrangements with Paramount Cards Inc.,

Anne Geddes Anne Elizabeth Geddes (born 1956) is an Australian-born, New York City-based portrait photographer known primarily for her elaborately-staged photographs of infants. Geddes's books have been published in 83 countries. According to Amazon.com, ...

, and

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting ...

, for greeting card design and name use.

Expansion

Following the increasing popularity of

e-card E-card is an electronic postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being that it is created using digital media instead of paper or other traditional materials. E-cards are made available many different ways, usually on various Intern ...

s, Archies started its

online portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, Internet forum, online forums and Web search engine, search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedic ...

in 2000. The company expanded its product range to include artificial jewelry, crystal ware,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

s and

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

s, and accordingly changed its name to Archies Limited in 2002.

References

External links

*{{url, www.archiesonline.com, Official site
Giftsoverflow.com
Greeting cards Companies based in New Delhi Design companies established in 1979 Internet properties established in 2000 1979 establishments in Delhi Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange