SMSs and the Internet has promoted E-card culture and slowed down the industry of traditional Eid cards. E-mail is a blow to the Eid card; SMS signed its death warrants; people from various walks of life told APP on Sunday. Due to the low sale of Eid cards, hundreds of shopkeepers have changed their profession as all electronic means of communication are cheaper and time saving so the general public is not interested in visiting markets to purchase Eid cards.

Most shopkeepers in Anarkali, Urdu Bazaar and Shah Alam Market claimed that there is a significant reduction in Eid card sales that has gone below 80 percent as compared to the last few years.

Talking to APP, shopkeepers of Anarkali said that the Eid card industry is confronting a huge downfall in the last few years. They said SMS packages and price hike of basic commodities are the main cause of the nominal sale of Eid cards. "It takes almost Rs150 to send a simple greeting card. The trend of sending Eid cards has almost come to an end now," a shopkeeper at Anarkali commented.

Another shopkeeper of Shah Alam Market said he opened his stall daily from 10am to 12am but his sales of Eid cards was less than Rs1,000.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2013