Shocking Valentine’s Day Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Marketing

Valentine’s Day Celebrations Provide an Increasing Boost to Local Small Business Owners

Shocking Valentine’s Day Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Marketing” by Rose Leadem

In recent years, what many people think and perceive of Valentine’s Day as a lovers holiday has always been the greatest source of marketing opportunities for companies to sell their product and services (Kotler, & De Bes, 2003). In the past years, companies have been spending much of their investment on goods and services targeting couple’s need on a Valentine’s Day. However, many single adults are likewise spending Valentine’s Days as couples do. This paper will discuss a statistical report on the study to investigate the Valentine’s Days and how the day impacts the marketing sector (Morse, & Neuberg, 2004). The paper will majorly review the report on the article “Shocking Valentine’s Day Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Marketing” by Rose Leadem.

Consumer’s gives a loving attention to their loved ones on Valentine’s Day. This gives an increasing revenue boost to local small business owners who cater for their market. This revenue mainly comes from the top most purchased Valentine’s Day gifts such as Valentine’s cards, flowers, experiences gift, candies and other traditional gifts. The purchase of such gifts traditionally increases rapidly during this celebration seasons (Close, & Zinkhan, 2006). Valentine’s Day celebrations contribute about $20 billion on American economy as the article report of the study indicates. This has depicted an increasing trend on the day’s contribution to the economy of a given nation each year.

The study targeted couples and single adults as well as the companies and businesses owners that provide the day’s goods and services. The study’s main aim was to come up with clear results and facts over the degree of relationship that exists between the Valentine’s Day and the general markets in terms of provision of goods and services to meet the demand of the celebration season (Kreil, 2016). The result of this study however could provide some reliable statistical inferences to prove or disapprove the hypothesis that Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest days and one of the most productive seasons for local, and international small businesses and companies across the world (Yingfeng, 2011).

Although Valentine’s Day has been perceived as the lover’s day, the study has disapproved this perception to include the increasing single population across the world. In America for example, half of the adult population are single men and women and this does not mean that they do not celebrate the Valentine’s Day just because they don’t have lovers (Kakarla, Nanda, Mutalik, Dutta, Garde, & Upadhya, 2012). The study on Valentine’s Day celebrations provides statistical facts on how this single men and women celebrate their day with their friends and pets thus increasing the Valentine’s Day sales. This paper provides a detailed report on the study.   

How Single Adults and Pet Owners Celebrate and Spend Their Valentine’s Day

As matter of fact, Valentine’s Day hasn’t lost its momentum as in the resent year’s outcomes of the day, the days sales reached up to about $20 billion in the year 2016. This is because it has become a holiday that adults both single and couples celebrate. Additionally, more than half of the population the study indicates that they celebrated Valentine’s Day reaching up to 54%. This is an increase in the number of celebrants who celebrated Valentine’s Day in the previous years. As the study reveals, men tend to spend more on Valentine’s Day celebrations than women. Also the purchasing power of the goods and services increases with income levels. A good number of single adults buy gifts or rather pay a day out for their friends, workmates and companion animals rather than that special person or soul mate (Minowa, Khomenko, & Belk, 2011). This study aimed at helping companies and businesses targeting the Valentine’s Day market population to think on how they can boost their sales to include everyone (Greenberg, 2003).

With America’s almost half of the population being single, the study observed that a quarter of these people always plans doing something for the Valentine’s celebrations holidays.  On average, a single man as the study indicated will spend about $20 during the holiday while on the other hand a single woman will spend up to about $40 (White, 2013). This people spend most of their Valentine’s Day time and seasons with their esteemed friends, workmates, and families. They also consider spending their resources to buy gifts and experiences to their pets.

More than a third of middle aged adults have pets more than any other age groups in America. This people love splurging their pets on holidays. On Valentine’s Day, it is estimated that this group of adults are likely to spend about $15 each for their animal companions as opposed to those aged between 35 and 44 years who spend about $5 on their pets. While on the other hand adults age above 65 years spend less than $2 on their animal companions. Therefore, the market is advised by the study to focus the effort and extend the investment to include single people as well as those in relationships (Close, 2012).

Many people as the study identified are buying Valentine’s gift for their friend than any other person in their lives (Rucker, Freitas, & Dolstra, 1994). According to the data from Bing.com, 22% of adults buy Valentine gifts for their spouses, 20% purchase Valentine’s gifts for their friends while only 17% purchase Valentine’s gifts for their boyfriends and girlfriends. This is a clear indication that the single adults level of spending has greatly grown to some enticing level. Therefore while investing and stoking for the Valentine’s Day business people as well as manufacturing companies should consider investing and branding for single adults (Clarke, & Costall, 2008).

Study Provides Detailed Statistical Information on Valentine’s Day and Its Impact on the Marketing Sector

As far as Valentine’s Day celebrations are concerned, the study indicated that the festive season does not last long (Wardlow, 2014). According to the number of couples and single adults interviewed, 46% starts shopping for the day in early February, which is one to two weeks before Valentine’s Day. With the best time of this celebrations being on the very fast day at the beginning of a weekend say as from Thursday, Friday and Saturday and fall during the last days of the weekend that is Sunday and Monday.  Unlike other celebrations like Christmas and birthdays where people plan much for the celebrations, people fail to prepare that much on Valentine’s Days celebrations (Yue, & Behe, 2010). Therefore, rather than companies and business people spending their marketing bucks targeting the population towards a one long period campaign, the study recommends that it is wise to consider and focus only on the one to two weeks towards the Valentine’s Day celebrations.

As far as Valentine’s Day items purchased are concerned, more and more people shop for their phones. According to the data obtained from Bing.com, mobile search during the Valentine’s celebrations period increased from 40% to 50% as compared to the other seasons of the year. Therefore it could be wise idea for the companies to boost on their mobile efforts.  This is mainly by for example reaching out to a blogger that hits our target customers and get your product included in their already existing roundups. Gift guide is the key when customers are already shopping online for the Valentine’s Day and the bloggers provide a clear guide. After all this bloggers are the most trusted people when it comes to information sources on the web and one of the most consulted for informing people on purchase decision.

 Moreover, people during this period the study observed that there is equal demand on desktops or tablets and smart-phones shopping. People who search for desktops or tablets, they typically search for manually made or those items that are branded, romantic staples or chain restaurant, those other people who shop on their phone are mostly searching for jewelry and engagement rings gifts and online groceries. Therefore, it is a good idea to consider online marketing strategies for the companies to maximize on their profit during this short fruitful period. Quite a good number of customers during this period shop online for the best and most attractive gifts for their friends and spouses (Yang, & Zhou, 2011). People believe that while online they are assured of getting the best and most current goods in the market which is true.

Valentine’s Day Sales Strategies for the Business Community

 Online shopping is increasing steadily. According to the study, 28% of the people shopped online while 35% of the adults shopped online and in-store. This statistics indicates that most of the adults preferred shopping online then in-stores. Therefore, companies should spend much of their time and money boosting as well as creating a website for the company or an ecommerce page. Moreover, a company adopting user-generated content is one of the greatest steps to successful marketing of their goods and services. User generated content is one of the easiest and inexpensive way to experiment with influencers marketing during the celebration period. Customers will basically do the work for you by sharing items they have purchased from you to their friend on social networking sites. This will boost companies and businesses sales during such celebration periods because as per the study, year in year out the number of online shoppers is indicating an increasing trend as per the results from the study (Teo, 2005).

According to the study, people always get what they could not want or even imagine of the day. This is because most of them shop for their friends and partners without the input of the other person. Most often, the study found out that people mostly receive gifts such as chocolates, candy and Valentine’s cards while what people want is an evening out or an experience with their friends or partner (Polonsky, Donahay, Neal, Rugimbana, King, Bowd, & Porter, 2000). The study found out that about 40% of the people would love having an experience gift from their partners more specifically a theater ticket or comedy show. Moreover, according to the study results, 35% of American adults both single and those in relationships spend nearly $3.5 billion on experiences Valentine’s Day gifts than any other form of gifts.

A good number of people however shop for less expensive gifts provided that they show a heartfelt gratitude and love to their loved ones. Some of the top gifts that people purchase are as listed in the table below with their percentages and how much people spend on them in total

Purchases	percentage	Billions spent
Candy	55%	$2.0
Valentine’s cards	50%	$1.0
Experiences out	40%	$4.0
Valentine’s flowers	35%	$2.0
jewelry	20%	$5.0

Demographic trend on the other hand can affect how individual person spend on the Valentine’s Day. As the population of older people continues to increase as time goes, they are most likely to spend or celebrate the Valentine’s holiday as compared to young adults. Young adults will continue to look for fantasy for themselves as well as to their potential mates and therefore they tend to participate more on the Valentine’s celebration than the old folks. More than two-third of the middle aged adults celebrates Valentine’s Day holidays (Close, & Zinkhan, 2009).

Valentine’s Day Gift Preferences and Increasing Trends in Online Shopping

Hotels and restaurants take the lion share of the Valentine’s Day expenses. Hotels alone according to the study take about 40% of the share. 9% of the share coming from vacation rentals, 8% coming from camping and recreational services, another 8% comes from lodge services, 6% from bed and breakfast services, 4% from hostels, 1%from last minute deals and another 1% from house swap services. This statistics shows an increased deal on the people who like spending the Valentine’s season on vacations foe experiences gifts rather than tangible gifts like chocolates, cards and candy (Baskin,  Wakslak, Trope,  & Novemsky, 2014).

As the statistics indicated, hostel peaks on this hotels and resorts for Valentine’s vacations peaks as from Tuesday and increases steadily during the weekends of the season. This trend increases during the first two months of the year with more of the searches observed in the month of February (Lee, Fernandez, & Hyman, 2009). For hospitality industries like restaurants, hotels and resorts this is the best time to have a boost for hospitality services. From the data obtained from Bing.com, the study reveals that Tuesday and Wednesday are the peak days when people go searching for rooms. From those statistics above bout 40% of the adults both single and those in relationship who spend their Valentine’s Day most of them would book a room at a hotel or a resort at 9%, rather than a bed and breakfast or a vacation rental.

It is during Valentines period that expensive wears such as rings and jewelry are at peak. The jewelry demand increases at this period and for the manufacturers of the product this their time to shine. According to the study, at least 50% of the marriage proposals are made during the Valentine’s seasons this is a clear indication of the increased demand for the engagement rings and other related jewelry. According to the analysis of the data obtained from Bing.com, engagement rings had the most search traffic during the first week of the Valentine’s month. Moreover, the study found out that, American consumers spent about $4.5 billion on jewelry for Valentine’s Day.

Regardless of whether an individual is having a day out with friends or their soul mate, the study found out that about 35% of those people who spend on restaurants for their refreshments plan for the day out during the month of February most specifically on 14^th (Warnaby, Bennison, & Davies, 2005). This statistics results ranks Valentine’s Day among the busiest days of every year for the restaurants. Although people are late planners when it comes to holidays, the study results indicates that many people search for the restaurants on the last days prior to Valentine’s Day. Moreover, the trends in overall search during the seasons tend to increase towards the weekend of the Valentine’s seasons and fall near the end of the weekend that is the beginning of the week during the season (Jorgensen, 2003).

User-generated Content and Experiences Gifts Preferred Over Traditional Gifts

Valentine’s Day the study categorizes it as one of the best days and season for both the small, local and international businesses across the world. Year in year out, according to the analysis of the data obtained from Bing.com, the day sow an increasing trend on local searches by about 10% from the year 2015 to 2016 this is adding up to about 90 million searches (Efthimiou, 2010). This has been particularly caused by the increasing population of single adults who have emerged to be proving wrong people’s perception of the Valentine’s Day as the day for couples and peoples in relationship only. According to the results as indicated above, loves goes beyond partnership to include both friends and pets as part of the day’s consideration for the companies providing the day’s goods and services (Griskevicius, Tybur, Sundie, Cialdini, Miller, & Kenrick, 2007).

However, studies have shown that almost half of the adult population does not celebrate Valentine’s Day in the traditional sense or rater in the manner perceived by many. But one third of the same population is at least doing something on the day. For example the study have indicated that almost 15% of the population are sowing themselves some love buy purchasing something special for themselves for the days celebrations. Be it jewelry, a nice cloth, candies or an experience gift, the statistic is included or considered part of the purchase for Valentine’s celebrations. Moreover, about 5% of the population is against the Valentine’s Day celebrations and therefore they rebel against the holiday by purchasing an anti-Valentine’s Day gift for themselves or their friends and partners.

Conclusion

In conclusion, from the above discussion, it is clear that people spend a lot of money in the name of love. The study has proved that there has been an increasing trend on the sales of Valentine’s Day goods and services. Over the last few years prior to the study, there was an increase in people’s spending during the Valentine’s Day. From clothing and  jewelry to food and flowers, people throw out the big bucks for their significant others. More of the people not in the business of selling love have adopted the idea of celebrating the Valentine’s holiday with their friends, relatives and families as well as their pets.

Capturing the attention of the customers without disrupting them is the key to this heartfelt holiday. Most of the adults are online shoppers when it comes to Valentine’s Day shopping. About 77% of the adults review online market first in order to make a purchase decision. Moreover, social surveys have proved that trusted bloggers have influenced a lot of women in decision making about their buying or purchasing decisions. Additionally, over 80% of customers have been influenced on their decision making through the advice friends and families on a social networking site (Brown, McDonagh, & Shultz, 2012). Most of the items getting into the market get to be noticed by the people faster through social networking sites. Online shopping has increased over the past few years therefore, companies and small business owners should consider creating websites and social networking sites where they can reach customers across the world in large numbers.

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