Q: How large is the market for customized playing cards?
A: Customized playing cards are for both playing card games and as a keepsake. The cards are being used by people planning family reunions, weddings and special events to businesses promoting products. So, the market is literally in the millions — of people and organizations.
Q: How did you come up with the idea of customized playing cards? Do you have experience in the gaming industry?
A: The idea was in response to the poker craze that is still in full swing. However, once we started (in 2005), we realized that there was a much broader market that would be interested in customized playing cards rather than simply poker players.
But we also realized that we weren’t really talking about the gaming industry. We found that we were focused on creating operational efficiencies and finding ways to leverage technology in order to make a product like playing cards new again. Our management team has a varied background that helps Tombstone Cards meet its business goals, although no one has a background in the gaming industry.
Q: Short of Las Vegas casinos, who are some of your bigger or more interesting customers?
A: On the business side, there has been strong interest from microbreweries, golf courses, sports teams, wineries and restaurants. Military units, especially those that have been deployed overseas, are also showing interest. And we were surprised when a large international firm had us customize both sides of the cards, putting their products on the faces side and then using the cards for training purposes.
Q: There’s a lot of competition in the customizable-card space. How do you compete?
A: Most of our competitors have print shops and need to run volumes of 5,000 to 10,000 decks in order for it to make financial sense. We can run an order as small as 24 decks at $8 a deck, which really opens up the customized playing cards to an entirely new market. We also compete with our proprietary Web-based software that allows people to customize their own cards. Other firms don’t have the level of sophistication or ease that we provide our customers.
Q: The Web-based application that lets customers design their own cards, what was the impetus behind that? How savvy do you have to be to use it?
A: In our initial research, we found that no one was offering a simple customization tool, and we felt there would be a demand for that. Our OIEPrint allows everyone from a novice to expert to create cards that reflect their needs and vision.
Q: The company went public in October, listed on the Nasdaq Bulletin Board. What led to that decision?
A: Going public was always part of the business plan. We felt that being a publicly traded company from the start was the best way to raise capital and to quickly become competitive in the financial marketplace. We have 3.5 million shares, and our investors are not dumping it to get out of it. We want to build value in the stock.
Q: There are other companies out there that make single personalized decks. Your orders start at a minimum of 24. Why is that? Would you ever move to selling single decks?
A: We print 24 in order to control costs and keep quality high. We’ve looked at printing lower-number orders or single decks, and right now it is not in our business plan, as it would make card costs prohibitive for customers or would compromise the quality.
Q: Do you play cards? What’s your game?
A: Yes, I’ve been known to play poker. Texas Hold ‘Em is my current favorite. I also play Hearts and play games with my kids.
Edited for length and clarity by staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson
