In less than a year, Rose and Wise had created Lovepop
and launched the business out of the Harvard Innovation Lab. In the next 12 months, they were named to the 2015 Techstars class, nominated for 50 on Fire by BostInno, and gained the confidence of professional investors. “It’s an incredible way to have an impact on our
customers as well as all of the people in their lives,” he says. “For this to be personal, we don’t pre-write messages in the card. How can it be personal and special if it’s the same message being printed 100,000 times? We also offer a service where we’ll handwrite whatever message you want into the card. That’s where we have an opportunity to make it personal.” Lovepop’s team of engineers and designers uses
advanced ship design software to create the designs, and each piece of paper art is hand-assembled for impeccable finished craftsmanship. “We have developed a lot on the art form that we fell in
love with,” Rose says. “We use 3-D software packages and every single cut is modeled in 3-D and cut by a laser cutter and every single card is assembled by hand. It’s a process that includes a lot of technology and design, but also a lot of love.”
Competing with the giants The American greeting card industry is estimated to bring in about $7-8 billion a year, with a large percentage of that
going to Hallmark and American Greetings. The two are basically the Pepsi and Coca-Cola of greeting cards. “What we saw was this incredible draw to the product
and we started looking at this $7 billion industry. Here were these two big players who haven’t changed in forever and we saw a real opportunity,” Rose says. “Hallmark used to stand for going out of your way and doing something special for someone, but over time it’s no longer special, now it’s a chore for many and an obligation.” The two friends took a step back and looked at what was
broken in the industry and set a strategy that would provide a better one than what they were seeing. “We want to be known across America and eventually
across the world as the place you go to get something special,” Rose says. “People know when they come to Lovepop that they are getting something that will be remembered and something that will tell someone you care about them. I think that’s goal number one.” The second goal of the company is to keep building the
world’s best paper engineering design team—and Rose feels Lovepop is already there. “We have a fantastic team but it’s taken a long time to
find the right people. We have such a strong sense of culture and mission, and we’ve passed up on talented people who didn’t share our values,” he says. “I love designing these cards. The stuff coming out of our team is so much cooler than even what we were producing a year ago and I think
SpecialtyRetail.com Winter 2017 n Specialty Retail Report 29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84