Social media, phone SMSs and other source of latest technology have replaced the culture of sending Eid greeting cards to friends, loved ones and relatives on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr. The use of E-Cards among the youth has gained popularity and trend of sending Eid cards has almost come to an end now.
The trend of sending Eid cards has become almost non existent because of cheap technology due to timely delivery and quick reply, opined a shopkeeper of Super Market.
The SMS packages and price-hike of basic commodities were the main cause of nominal sale of Eid cards.
It was once a routine for most families to spend time appropriately selecting, purchasing, writing and posting Eid greeting cards to friends and families. But now, it has become a reality.
Though the custom of sending Eid greetings has not entirely vanished, but indeed the mode has changed. People neither get the time to visit card stalls like before, nor line up for the postage.
On the eve and day of Eid, mobile phones services, however, do experience a sudden onslaught of heavy traffic owing to a blitz of Eid wishes being SMS back and forth.
A shopkeeper in the federal capital name Zameer opined that there was a significant decrease in the sales of Eid greeting cards and no customer has demanded of these cards.
He told to APP that people used to come to buy Eid cards and send those to their loved ones, but now customers do not buy Eid cards any more.
The shopkeepers, who used to display a variety of Eid cards to attract customers, complain about a fall in their business, saying that main reason of this dying culture is obviously the increasing reliance on electronic means, which offers faster and convenient mode of communication.
"Generally, a few years back, people used to purchase Eid cards so much that we had to hire extra staff to keep up, but now this business was also ending, The Shopkeepr added.
On that in the past, Eid card business used to flourish after mid of Ramzan and continued until "Chand Raat".
The Eid cards industry would never die out because they can refresh people's memory in a much better way than a simple E-mail or SMS, an Eid card lover, Nasreen Atta commented.
Shopkeepers at certain bookshops in Super Market informed about a special class still purchases Eid cards. But it was observed that people are not so enthusiastic about sending Eid cards to their loved ones, inside and outside the city as they did few years back.
Some believed that the greeting cards especially Eid cards will gain its popularity again.People would get irritated one day, as the SMSs and sending messages via e-mail can never replace greeting cards.