What kartenmacherei does

kartenmacherei (legal entity: die kartenmacherei GmbH) is a Germany-headquartered e-commerce platform that designs, customizes, and prints personalized stationery and photo products for consumer life events. The company serves end consumers across four European markets—Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and France—through country-localized websites (kartenmacherei.ch, .de, .at, and faireparterie.fr) with no physical retail presence. Its catalog spans occasion-based stationery (wedding invitations and accessories, birth announcements, baptism, birthday, religious milestones, mourning cards), photo books in hardcover, softcover, and fabric binding, photo gifts (calendars, notebooks, wall art), and seasonal greetings (Christmas, Easter, Mother's/Father's Day, Valentine's Day), totaling more than 20 product categories.

The core platform is a web-based design configurator that allows customers to select from a professionally designed template library, upload photos, customize text, and preview products before ordering. Production is handled in-house at the company's own printing facilities in Germany and France, which the company cites as a quality control differentiator. Supporting services include the Gestaltungsservice (paid professional design assistance), an integrated Eventplattform for event coordination, free sample cards (up to three per category), free proofreading before print, and same-day express shipping for orders placed before 10:00 AM. The company reports a customer satisfaction rating of 4.8/5 based on 15,892 reviews.

The revenue model is purely transactional: customers pay per order with quantity discounts, and there is no subscription, recurring, or B2B contract layer. Go-to-market is self-serve e-commerce complemented by content marketing through the kartenmacherei Magazin, SEO across German-speaking markets and France, organic social on Facebook/Pinterest/Instagram, email newsletters, and a free-sample bottom-of-funnel conversion mechanism. The company maintains designer collaborations (Sanna Lindström for the 2025/2026 wedding collection, Cam Cam Copenhagen for birth cards, Sissi Rasche for midwife-designed birth cards, Leonie Jung for mourning) and partners with design agency Silberpuls for screen design. kartenmacherei is privately held, bootstrapped, and operated as a German GmbH under managing director Dr. Sebastian Henner Schwarz, with no disclosed venture capital or private equity involvement; its career page is hosted under celebrate.company, indicating affiliation with a broader corporate group.

Name

kartenmacherei

Legal name

die kartenmacherei GmbH

Website

https://kartenmacherei.ch

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

kartenmacherei is a Germany-based e-commerce platform that designs, customizes, and prints personalized greeting cards, wedding stationery, photo books, and photo gifts for consumers across Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and France through localized websites and in-house printing facilities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Personalized Stationery and Photo Products

NAICS

Greeting Card Publishers (513191)

SIC

Greeting Cards (2771)

akta.pro primary industry

Greeting Cards, Wrap & Party Supplies Retail (CRALAJAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Personalized, Custom & Monogrammed Gifts Retail (CRALAJAC), Flowers, Gifts & Specialty Occasion Marketplaces (CRAFABAN)

Keywords

• Custom greeting cards
• Personalized invitations
• Photo book printing
• Wedding stationery
• Birth announcement cards

Headquarters

HQ city

Gilching

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Custom Printed Cards and Photo Products: One-time purchase model for customizable printed cards, photo books, calendars, notebooks, wall art, and related products. Customers pay per order with quantity discounts available. No subscription or recurring revenue component.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

kartenmacherei designs and sells customizable greeting cards, invitations, photo books, and printed photo products for personal and small-business occasions (weddings, births, baptisms, birthdays, mourning, religious milestones, and holidays). Customers personalize products via an online design configurator and orders are printed in the company's own facilities in Germany and France and shipped directly to consumers across the DACH region and France.

Product overview

kartenmacherei is a German-language online card printing platform offering customizable cards and photo products for life events. The platform operates as a web-based design tool where customers can personalize templates and order professionally printed materials. The core product portfolio centers on occasion-based stationery: wedding stationery (invitations, save-the-dates, thank-you cards, and wedding extras like wax seals and guest books), photo books (in hardcover, softcover, and fabric binding formats), birth announcements, baptism cards, birthday invitations (all age ranges), and mourning cards (funeral invitations, memorial thank-you cards, and Sterbebilder/memorial keepsake cards). Supporting products include photo gifts (wall art, calendars, notebooks), seasonal cards (Christmas, Easter, Valentine's, Mother's/Father's Day), and religious occasion cards (communion, confirmation). The platform also offers an event planning tool and professional design services for customers needing customization assistance. All products are printed in-house at the company's own printing facilities in France and Germany.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wedding Stationery (Hochzeitskarten) Customizable wedding invitation cards and stationery sets (invitations, save-the-date, thank-you, response cards) for couples planning weddings, with multiple design collections including photo, simple, and greenery/nature styles.
• Photo Books (Fotobücher) Custom photo books in hardcover, softcover, and fabric-binding formats used to preserve memories from weddings, vacations, baby milestones, baptisms, and year-in-review compilations.
• Birth Announcement Cards (Geburtskarten) Birth announcement cards for new parents in girls, boys, unisex, twin, and sibling variants, including photo cards, pregnancy cards, and birth thank-you cards.
• Baptism Cards (Taufkarten) Baptism invitation cards with matching accessories including baptism candles, church pamphlets, menu cards, table cards, guest books, and thank-you cards for families celebrating baptisms.
• Birthday Invitations (Geburtstagseinladungen) Birthday invitation cards for all ages including 18th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th, 80th, and 90th birthdays, plus children's birthday and first-birthday party invitations.
• Photo Gifts (Fotogeschenke) Personalized photo gift products including wall art, posters, photo holders, frames, notebooks, and photo calendars (wall, desk, family, appointment, kitchen, birthday, and planners).
• Christmas and Holiday Cards (Weihnachtskarten) Christmas cards including personal and business Christmas cards, Christmas party invitations, gift stickers, gift tags, New Year's cards, and Christmas table decorations.
• Mourning and Bereavement Cards (Trauerkarten) Funeral and mourning cards including funeral invitations, memorial thank-you cards (Trauerdanksagungen), death anniversary cards (Sterbebilder), condolence cards, and memorial posters for families and individuals dealing with bereavement.
• First Communion Cards (Kommunionskarten) Cards for first communion celebrations including invitations, thank-you cards, menu cards, table cards, candles, and guest books.
• Confirmation Cards (Konfirmationskarten) Cards for Protestant confirmation ceremonies including invitations, thank-you cards, menu cards, table cards, and guest books.
• Catholic Confirmation Cards (Firmungskarten) Cards for Catholic confirmation (Firmung) ceremonies including invitations and thank-you cards.
• Custom Notebooks (Notizbücher) Customizable notebooks available in softcover and fabric binding with photo personalization options.
• Stationery Accessories and Extras Stationery accessories sold alongside cards including envelopes, address stickers, recipient stickers, inserts, wax seals, and table cards.
• Event Platform (Eventplattform) Event planning platform integrated with card services for managing events and coordinating stationery needs.
• Design Service (Gestaltungsservice) Professional design assistance service offering customization help for customers who prefer professional assistance with personalizing their cards and printed materials.
• Mother's Day and Father's Day Cards Special occasion cards for Mother's Day and Father's Day with photo gift options.
• Easter Cards (Osterkarten) Easter greeting cards with photo gift options.
• Valentine's Day Cards and Gifts Valentine's Day cards and photo gifts.
• School Enrollment Cards (Einschulungskarten) Cards for school enrollment (Einschulung) celebrations including invitations and thank-you cards.
• Moving Cards (Umzugskarten) Cards announcing a change of address for moving occasions.
• Party Invitations (Partyeinladungen) General party invitation cards for various occasions beyond the dedicated wedding and birthday collections.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4.8/5 customer satisfaction rating from 15,892 reviews
• +2 more outcomes

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Sanna LindströmminorOthersDesigner collaboration for wedding card collection 2025/2026. 'Sanna Lindström x kartenmacherei' branded collection featuring 'From Lover to Forever' designs.
• Cam Cam CopenhagenminorOthersCollaboration for birth card collection featuring Cam Cam Copenhagen's children's designs for birth announcements.
• Sissi Rasche (Hebamme)minorOthersCollaboration with midwife Sissi Rasche for birth card designs, bringing professional midwifery perspective to birth announcement designs.
• Leonie JungminorOthersDesigner collaboration for mourning/bereavement card collection. Designs feature distinctive artistic style for funeral and memorial products.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Funky Pigeon: Funky Pigeon is a UK-based personalized greeting card and gift platform with online customization and home delivery - comparable personalized card e-commerce model serving a different geography than kartenmacherei.
• myposter: myposter is a German-based online wall art, poster, photo book and personalized gift platform with proprietary production - a regional DACH competitor with overlapping custom photo printing capabilities.
• Pixum: Pixum is a German-headquartered online photo product retailer offering photobooks, wall art, calendars, and personalized gifts with in-house production - a direct DACH-region competitor with overlapping photo printing capabilities.
• Moonpig: Moonpig is a UK-headquartered personalized greeting card and gift platform with online design, printing, and direct-to-consumer delivery - the most direct comparable business model to kartenmacherei, just operating in the UK/Ireland market.
• Snapfish: Snapfish is a global online photo printing service offering photobooks, prints, cards, calendars, and personalized gifts; comparable custom card and photo product offering with strong e-commerce focus similar to kartenmacherei.
• Smartphoto: Smartphoto is a European online photo product retailer (HQ Belgium) operating across multiple European markets offering personalized photo books, cards, calendars and gifts - comparable multi-country European custom printing model.
• CEWE: CEWE is Europe's largest photo printing company, with consumer-direct photobooks, calendars, personalized gifts, and greeting cards via its myCEWE platform - directly comparable to kartenmacherei's photo books and personalized printing across DACH markets.

Broad incumbents

• Vistaprint (Cimpress): Cimpress-owned Vistaprint is a global large-scale custom printing platform offering business cards, invitations, marketing materials and personalized photo products - a broad incumbent with overlapping product categories but much wider scope than kartenmacherei's life-occasion focus.
• Shutterfly: Shutterfly is a US-based large-scale personalized photo products and greeting card platform with own production facilities - a broad incumbent offering an overlapping category set of cards, invitations, photobooks and personalized gifts.

Others

• Etsy (custom cards category): Etsy hosts a large marketplace of independent sellers offering personalized/customized greeting cards and wedding stationery across Europe and globally - an ecosystem competitor in the personalized card category rather than a direct retail peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/kartenmacherei
• Instagraminstagram.com/kartenmacherei
• Pinterestpinterest.com/kartenmacherei

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about kartenmacherei