For retailers, Valentine’s Day brings more than just candy and cards: They can look forward to getting the gift of their incremental sales growth on February 14th as well!
According to the National Retail Federation’s Valentine’s Day Consumer Spending Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, the average person celebrating Valentine’s Day will spend $142.31 on their V-Day gifts, up from $133.91 last year.
Along with spending more, Valentine’s Day 2015 shows a trend of consumers researching earlier and doing their actual buying later. While the most expensive gifts are purchased in early February, the less expensive gifts tend to be purchased last minute.
So what will they be buying?
Overall, Valentine’s Day shoppers are mainly shopping for:
– Greeting Cards
– Chocolates
– Flowers
– Jewelry
– Health/Beauty
– Lingerie
Who is going to be spending the most?
– Men will vastly outspend women. The average man will spend approximately $190.52, while women will spend approximately $96.85, according to National Retail Federation.
– Men ages 25-34 years will make up the majority of Valentine’s Day spend, followed by men ages 35-44, and then men ages 18-24.
What are we noticing about this year already?
Criteo has already found that for this year’s V-Day Shopping:
– There’s been a 125% increase in sales for flowers/gifts leading up to Valentine’s Day.
– There’s been a 69% increase in jewelry sales.
– Mobile transactions are 25% higher on weekends.
So how will this impact online retailers?
– Expect a lot of shopping. Total spend is expected to reach $18.9 billion this year, with approximately 25.1% of sales happening online.
– 37% of shoppers will buy from a smartphone, while 15% will use a tablet and 48% will use a PC.
– As Ecommerce has been growing steadily quarter by quarter, this Valentine’s Day will definitely help retailers start 2015 off with a strong Q1!
