at a time when friendly emotions are mostly expressed on and via social media it is only understandable that expressions of friendship on paper has become redundant paper greetings have made way to long posts on facebook changed display pictures on whatsapp or forwarded messages the ritual of buying friendship day cards to mark the first sunday of august has almost died and the card sellers understand this the card buying frenzy has shifted from friendship day to more familial occasions we visited some shops in the run up to friendship day only to find that rakhi which is tomorrow and other greetings for family members outnumber friendship day cards retailers tell us that the card business is on a decline by more than 60 and people prefer buying cards for family members over friends cards for the family members are sold more than those for friends as we step into one of the card shops in lajpat nagar we notice that even though friendship day is round the corner the stock of cards for birthday anniversary mothers fathers daughter son and even inlaws seem to be more than the cards for friends since rakhi is a day after friendship day the stock for rakhi cards in some of the shops was definitely more you can wish your friend through messages but wishing a family member by gifting a card is still in fashion people still buy cards for their family members that is why we tend to sell at least 6070 of the cards on days like mothers day or fathers day but not more than 30 cards on friendship day says pawan khanna who has a greetings card shop in khan marketmanisha who works at another card shop in khan market adds the stock of birthdays anniversaries and relationships is definitely bigger so we cannot even compare the sales of friendship day cards to thes cards sale is not more than 20 on friendship day while a mothers day may sell 50 of our cardsbusiness of friendship day cards has been affected the most in the past 10 yearsbefore the introduction of whatsapp facebook and messenger in our lives gifting a greeting card with some thoughtful lines written on it was one of warmest expressions of friendship but in the last ten years with text messages and several other messaging apps coming up the use of cards have declined and how people have whatsapp facebook hike and what not on their phones they prefer to send a grab of any quote to their friends on this day than a card that is also one of the reasons that we do not have options in this category says pawan khanna ritu who works in a gift shop in lajpat nagar says though we have cards for friendship day like every year the stock of cards has been reduced the trend of gifting cards on this day has declined by almost 80 since the messaging apps have become popular even