American Greetings
American Greetings is a privately held, 100+ year-old greeting card company offering a digital ecard subscription platform with 4,000+ cards, personalized SmashUps video greetings, and Creatacard customization, serving individual consumers seeking relationship-maintenance and occasion-based greetings.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1906
- HeadquartersCleveland, United States
- Headcount5,001–10,000
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What American Greetings does
American Greetings Corporation is a 1906-founded, privately held greeting card company headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, operating at the intersection of traditional paper greeting cards and digital ecard services. The company serves individual consumers (its primary segment) and, to a lesser extent, corporate/business customers with greeting, reminder, and relationship-maintenance use cases spanning birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, sympathy, and everyday occasions.
The digital platform is built on a content catalog of 4,000+ ecards and is delivered through americangreetings.com, iOS and Android mobile apps, and integrations with social/messaging platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat). Proprietary product lines include SmashUps (personalized video greetings with celebrity shout-outs and animated characters), Creatacard (a customizable card maker supporting photos, video, signatures, and print-at-home output), and JustWink, Our Voices, Kathy Davis, and Bluemountain.com sub-brands. Technology differentiators include an AI Messaging assistant for generating card copy, a personalization/recommendation engine, and a calendar/address-book system enabling prescheduled ecard delivery up to a year in advance. Celebrity and character licensing partnerships (Kevin Bacon, Rob Lowe, Christina Aguilera, Lainey Wilson, Cookie Monster, Peanuts) anchor content exclusivity.
The business model centers on a subscription membership ($7.99/month, $35.99/year, or $49.99/two years) layered with a freemium tier and a 7-day free trial. Revenue is supplemented by attached digital gift cards (Sephora, Target, Starbucks, Nike, Fandango) and digital gift integrations (Songfinch custom songs, Virgin Gifts, Gipht), plus affiliate/transaction fees on non-member purchases. Marketing relies on celebrity influencer partnerships, social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest), YouTube branded content, SEO-organized occasion taxonomy, and email newsletters. The physical card business continues to anchor the company through retail distribution, supported by an in-house fixture manufacturing capability acquired in June 2024, while the digital subscription business drives recurring engagement and serves as the primary growth and reinvestment surface. Capital structure was refinanced in June 2026 via a $400 million term loan B arranged by Bank of America.
American Greetings firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- American Greetings
- Legal name
- American Greetings Corporation
- Website
- http://americangreetings.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1906
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 5,001–10,000 employees
- Short description
- American Greetings is a privately held, 100+ year-old greeting card company offering a digital ecard subscription platform with 4,000+ cards, personalized SmashUps video greetings, and Creatacard customization, serving individual consumers seeking relationship-maintenance and occasion-based greetings.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
American Greetings industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Greeting Cards
- NAICS
- Greeting Card Publishers (513191)
- SIC
- Greeting Cards (2771)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Greeting Cards, Wrap & Party Supplies Retail (CRALAJAE)
Keywords
Where American Greetings is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cleveland
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
American Greetings business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription Revenue: Primary revenue stream from monthly, annual, and multi-year subscription memberships offering unlimited ecard sends, access to premium SmashUps and Creatacards, and member benefits.
- Digital Gift Cards: Revenue from attaching and selling digital gift cards from partner retailers (Sephora, Target, Starbucks, Nike, Fandango) to ecards. Members pay face value; non-members pay face value plus $1.99 checkout fee.
- Digital Gift Partnerships: Revenue sharing from integrated digital gift partners including Songfinch (custom songs), Virgin Gifts, and Gipht, providing additional gifting options alongside cards.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Monthly subscription at $7.99/month with full access to all ecards, SmashUps, Creatacards, and member benefits. |
| Subscription | Annual | Annual subscription at $2.99/month, billed as $35.99 yearly - most popular tier. |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Two-year subscription at $2.08/month, billed as $49.99 every two years - best value tier. |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free limited ecard access for non-members with free tier selection. |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
American Greetings product offering
Product offeringCore offering
American Greetings operates a digital greeting card platform that delivers 4,000+ animated and musical ecards, personalized video greetings (SmashUps featuring celebrities and animated characters), and a customizable card-maker (Creatacard) supporting photos, video, signatures, music, and print-at-home output. The company monetizes these primarily through a subscription membership ($7.99/month, $35.99/year, or $49.99/two years) and complements them with attachable digital gift cards from major retailers and partner-branded digital gifts such as custom songs.
Product overview
American Greetings is a digital greeting card platform offering a suite of products centered around electronic greetings and personalized messaging. The core products are Ecards (animated and musical digital greetings), SmashUps (personalized video greeting cards featuring celebrities and animated characters), and Creatacard (a customizable card maker allowing users to add photos, video, and music, with print-at-home capability). These are complemented by add-on digital gift products including Gift Cards (from major retailers), Songfinch (custom songs), Virgin Gifts, and Gipht. The platform is available via a subscription membership (monthly at $7.99/month or annual at $2.99/month) and a free tier with limited selections. Member tools include AI Messaging for text generation, Calendar Reminders, Address Book, and prescheduled ecard delivery. The platform also offers a mobile app for sending ecards on the go.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- SmashUps: Fun, personalized digital greetings that call out friends and family by their first name through video and animation, including celebrity shout-outs
- Creatacard
- JustWink
- Our Voices
- Kathy Davis
- Bluemountain.com
Products and services
- American Greetings Ecards Digital greeting cards with motion, sound, and thousands of images and messages sent via email, text, or social media. The primary product offering covering birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, congratulations, thank-you notes, sympathy, and everyday occasions, available through subscription membership or a limited free tier.
- SmashUps Personalized digital video greeting cards where celebrities, animated characters, or singers call out the recipient's name through video and animation. Includes Original, Celebrity, Talking, and Selfie variants, with custom lyrics available for celebrity shout-outs. Targeted at individual consumers seeking highly personalized greetings.
- Creatacard Customizable virtual and printable greeting card maker that lets users add up to six photos, video, personal messages, custom signatures, music selection, confetti effects, and envelope liner customization. Output can be sent digitally or printed at home, providing a hybrid digital-to-physical option for individual consumers.
- Digital Gift Cards Digital gift cards from retailers including Sephora, Target, Starbucks, Nike, and Fandango that can be attached to ecards and sent alongside greetings to individual recipients as a transactional product on the platform.
- Songfinch Custom Songs Custom song digital gift available as an add-on to ecards, allowing individual users to send personalized musical greetings through partner Songfinch.
- Virgin Gifts Digital gift option from Virgin Gifts sold through the digital gifts section of the platform and attachable to ecards for individual consumers.
- Gipht Digital gift option from Gipht sold through the digital gifts section of the platform and attachable to ecards for individual consumers.
- Peanuts Digital Advent Calendar 2025 Seasonal digital advent calendar offering themed games, puzzles, and interactive activities leading up to Christmas, featuring exclusive Peanuts comic strip characters and early-access content. Available on the website and mobile apps.
Quantifiable outcome
- Members send an average of 20 cards online per year
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use American Greetings
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
American Greetings technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration19 records
AI capability5 records
Feature4 records
American Greetings partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Peanuts WorldwidecoreAmerican Greetings launched the Peanuts Digital Advent Calendar 2025, offering early access to themed games, puzzles, and interactive activities featuring Peanuts comic strip characters. The calendar was available November 5, 2025, on the website and mobile apps, representing a licensing partnership for seasonal content.
- JifitiminorJifiti serves as the prize provider for American Greetings' gift card giveaway sweepstakes, providing $250 Mastercard gift cards for Mother's Day and Father's Day promotions. Located at 1985 W. Henderson Rd. Columbus, OH 43220.
- Blue Mountain ArtsminorBlue Mountain Arts is referenced as a related brand/service under the American Greetings corporate umbrella, operating as a separate website (bluemountain.com) with similar ecard offerings and sweepstakes participation.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
American Greetings competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Shutterfly: Shutterfly is a large personalized photo-products platform offering custom cards, prints, and gifts. It overlaps with American Greetings' Creatacard and print-at-home offering, especially for photo-driven cards and stationery.
Others
- Cardstore (by American Greetings, retail arm context): Cardstore is American Greetings' own physical-card retail platform and therefore an internal sibling rather than a competitor; it is listed to clarify that the parent brand spans both digital and physical greeting-card distribution channels.
Direct peers
- JibJab: JibJab is a digital-first personalized video and ecard platform with a subscription model, directly comparable to American Greetings' SmashUps and Creatacard products. It targets the same use cases (birthdays, holidays) with a similar humor-and-personalization angle.
- Punchbowl: Punchbowl offers digital invitations, ecards, and greeting cards via a freemium/subscription model. It overlaps with American Greetings on digital greetings and celebration occasions, and competes for similar SMB and consumer senders.
- Evite: Evite is a digital invitation and greeting platform with premium tiers and party-planning features. It overlaps with American Greetings on the occasions-and-celebration occasion set (birthdays, weddings, holidays) and competes for similar consumer sender behavior.
- 123Greetings: 123Greetings is a large free ecard destination offering thousands of digital greeting cards across occasions. It is a direct competitor for casual senders and represents the free-tier alternative that American Greetings must convert into paying subscribers.
- Smilebox: Smilebox provides digital photo cards, invitations, and ecards with a subscription model. It competes with American Greetings' Creatacard on customizable digital and printable greetings for personal and small-business use cases.
- Hallmark Cards: Hallmark is American Greetings' closest direct competitor in greeting cards, including Hallmark's own ecard offerings and physical cards. It competes head-to-head for retail shelf space, celebrity/character licensing (e.g., Peanuts), and digital greeting card subscribers.
Emerging players
- Paperless Post: Paperless Post is a design-forward digital invitation and card platform with a premium subscription. It competes with American Greetings in the higher-end design segment of digital greetings and invitations, particularly for weddings and milestone events.
Regional players
- Moonpig: Moonpig is a leading personalized greeting card and gifting platform in the UK and other international markets. It is comparable to American Greetings in business model (custom cards + gifts, online-led) but does not materially overlap in the U.S. market.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
American Greetings social profiles
Digital presenceAmerican Greetings compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
American Greetings financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
American Greetings leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
American Greetings funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
American Greetings M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A5 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about American Greetings
What does American Greetings do?
American Greetings operates a digital greeting card platform that delivers 4,000+ animated and musical ecards, personalized video greetings (SmashUps featuring celebrities and animated characters), and a customizable card-maker (Creatacard) supporting photos, video, signatures, music, and print-at-home output. The company monetizes these primarily through a subscription membership ($7.99/month, $35.99/year, or $49.99/two years) and complements them with attachable digital gift cards from major retailers and partner-branded digital gifts such as custom songs.
When was American Greetings founded?
American Greetings was founded in 1906. It employs 5,001 to 10,000 people.
Where is American Greetings based?
American Greetings is headquartered in Cleveland, United States, in the North America region.
How does American Greetings make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Subscription Revenue is the primary driver. The others are digital Gift Cards and digital Gift Partnerships.
Who are American Greetings's main competitors?
Shutterfly is listed as a broad incumbent. Cardstore (by American Greetings, retail arm context) is listed as an others. Direct peers are JibJab, Punchbowl, Evite, 123Greetings, Smilebox and Hallmark Cards. Paperless Post is listed as an emerging player. Moonpig is listed as a regional player.
Does American Greetings have an API?
No public API is recorded for American Greetings.
What industry is American Greetings in?
American Greetings's product category is Digital Greeting Cards. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRALAJAE, Greeting Cards, Wrap & Party Supplies Retail. Its NAICS code is 513191 and its SIC code is 2771.