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 birthda ...

and

gifts A gift or present is an item given to someone (who is not already the owner) without the expectation of payment or anything in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is intended to be free. In many cou ...

, based in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

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 such as

Holi Holi () is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring.The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World ...

Diwali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual v ...

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, also known as the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the List of stock exchanges, 5th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, ...

and

Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange based in Mumbai. It is the 6th largest stock exchange in the world by total market capitalization, exceeding $5 trillion in May 2024. Established with t ...

. 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, and

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately held 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 available in many different mediums, usually on various Inter ...

s, Archies started its

online portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayin ...

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

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

s and

perfume Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...

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

References

External links

*{{url, www.archiesonline.com, Official site 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