The cost of love? $20.1 billion, to be precise!

This week, we celebrate love, making Valentine’s Day the 3rd largest consumer holiday, with average individual spend expected to be close to $160. In 2018, the power of love drove $20.1 billion in sales, of which a large chunk continued to be chocolates, flowers, dinners and of course, jewelry! But it seems like Valentine’s Day is turning into an all-embracing love holiday, with consumers expressing that they would spend on family members, friends, children’s classmates or teachers, co-workers, others (who may not fit into one of the top categories) as well as on pets. US consumers spend approximately $367million on their pets for Valentines alone.

Men continue to be the biggest spenders of the holiday, with average spend around $225, up 20% from last year, while women spend a little less than $100 on gifts. In terms of age groups, it’s the 35 to 44 year olds who are the biggest spenders, making millennials the most critical targeted group for Valentine’s Day celebrations across the globe.

So, when does all this spending take place? Statistics show that Valentine’s Day (unlike Christmas) is a last-minute holiday, with flowers and dinner reservations topping the list. Most people do not think about Valentine’s Day till February 1, with most shopping on Feb 12 and 13, to ensure they have ‘something’ in place for Feb 15. No wonder mobile conversions continue to grow, with close to 37% in 2018. As retailer’s ecommerce sites become more mobile friendly, that number could be as high as 45% this year! What does this mean for retailers? To compete with Amazon and for those who are ‘last minute’ shoppers but still want to ace Valentine’s Day, it will be important to offer same day ordering and delivery capabilities to grab a share of the growing $20+ billion Valentine’s Day market.

But love itself is undergoing a transformation globally. The dictionary defines couple as a pair or a twosome. As a verb, couple means “to pair or match.” As a noun, couple means “a pair.” If two people are dating, you can refer to them as “a couple.” Similarly, two people who are married can be called a “married couple.” Why is this so important to understand? As we celebrate love, it is important for businesses to represent this evolving ‘couple’.

Valentine’s Day is a global holiday and all over the world, it is celebrated on the same exact day, except for Brazil (Thank you Hallmark!).

In France, the capital of love and cake, shoppers spend on expensive romance such as rings and luxurious delights. It looks like 85% of single women expect a ring on Valentine’s Day. Viva La Paris.

In South Korea and Japan, it is customary for women to gift men chocolates.

A country that celebrates everything, Brazilians celebrate the day of love on June 12, instead of February 14. Called the Dia dos Namorados, it is the celebration of lovers across the country.

Germany still resists this mushy holiday with most either forgetting the holiday or not spending at all. Those who do spend will be conservative in their gifting with the average being around $85.

In Thailand, instead of chocolates and roses, Valentine’s Day is celebrated with love letters by email! I wonder if messaging might replace email as the preferred carrier of love messages soon!

In Denmark, men gift women gaekkebrev. It is usually a rhyme or a poem handwritten on a cut paper snowflake, signed anonymously with dots. If a woman can correctly guess who sent her the gaekkebrev, she gets an Easter egg for Easter. How cute!

In Guatemala, Valentine’s Day is the celebration of friendship and family as well as love. Flowers, cards and gifts are the popular ways of expressing love.

India is taking a leaf right out of America’s love book. A country where Hallmark has had a presence for 20+ years, Indians see it as a celebration of love. Considering that more than 40% of the population is under the age of 35, it makes India one of the largest markets for any kind of ‘love’ celebration. The average spend can range from $20 to $150. Tourism and Airbnb offering short holidays should take note.

Along with the changing definition of love, there is another growing holiday that businesses need to be aware of. Its Singles Awareness Day usually celebrated on February 15, a day after Valentine’s Day. In 2018, 3 in 10 adults planned to not celebrate Valentine’s Day. Instead they planned to celebrate ‘singlehood’. The Singles Day started around 2005, as a pushback against Hallmark’s mushy Valentine’s Day celebration of love. Today, Singles day is a celebration around the world. In the UK, it is celebrated in March, in China it is in November. In the US and in many other countries, it is the day after Valentine’s Day. As more and more individuals around the world get comfortable with being single, it’s a day for retailers to realize that the definition of ‘couples’, of ‘marriage’ of ‘living together’ is changing and an acknowledgement of the holiday will only make them more relevant to the ‘new’ consumer. Some people spend it alone, some people celebrate with other singles, some people buy themselves gifts, while still others may want to spend the day binge watching their favorite streaming show. Considering ‘singles day’ is falling on a Friday this week, it might just turn into a singles long weekend celebration.

Here’s how you can prepare for Love’s biggest celebration:

1. Be mobile friendly: there is a lot on the mind of the always-connected, always-on consumer. While balancing everything else that is going on, they expect companies to understand last-minute needs and cater to them seamlessly. This consumer, in return, will pay with loyalty. Amazon is a prime example. For the companies that want to win, get mobile right, be friction-free and use history to better understand the needs of this digital-savvy consumer.
2. Be representative of the changing definition of love: who are we to judge whether love should be between a man and a woman, between men, between women, between co-workers, classmates or even with family members? The definitions of what constitutes a couple, a family and even workspaces are changing. Today, we are a lot more comfortable expressing love for our family, co-workers, friends and even our pets. The companies who get this changing definition right will be the ones who will resonate most with this new consumer. Look at the pictures on your site, your social pages and ask yourself: are your ‘love’ pictures still showing a man and a woman? If yes, are you losing out on a growing audience that no longer resonates with this image?
3. Offer relevant content to help: As a mother of two children, I still struggle to get gifting right. What my daughter liked at age 8 is completely irrelevant to her current 11-year-old self. I reach out to friends and pour over blogs to understand what makes today’s 11-year-old tick? Similarly, become the company that helps get love right. After all, there are other ways to show someone you love them outside of cards, chocolate, flowers and even, diamonds. I personally love Germany’s tradition of the snowflake, with the handwritten poem. What an amazing gesture and one that can be adopted by anyone around the world.
4. Be the 3 am friend: For someone who is always-on, it means that the person is probably shopping either during their commute (morning/evening), during their lunch break (if they still take one) or late in the night. Love is no cheap business with US alone contributing $20.1 billion in Valentine’s Day sales. To get a meaty piece of that pie, it is important to be available, relevant and ease that last minute shopping experience. Be that 3 am friend and you will seamlessly win those love dollars, complete with them willing to pay top dollar for timely shipping. After all, this holiday is all about timing.
5. Don’t leave the singles out: The celebration of love is great but don’t leave the celebration of love behind. Singles day is right after Valentine’s Day. Make sure you have offerings for both. Think about it — if flowers are a big spend item for Valentine’s Day, I could also be sending flowers to myself. As an empowered consumer, I do not necessarily need to wait for someone to send them to me. Same with gifts. Which also means, that instead of that big retail peak on Feb 14, retailers can look to create a mini-peak on February 15 as well. Now, that’s love!

Join me every week, as we navigate these ever-changing waters to make sense of this ‘always-on’ consumer and the technologies that define their everyday. I will be bringing you insights from some of the sharpest global minds in the industry as well as in academia. And do join the conversation.

Until next week

Anika Sharma

A seasoned Advertising and Digital expert, Anika has worked across countries and continents and spoken at companies such as Google and universities such as NYU. She is currently Professor of Business at NYU’s Stern School of Business, teaching Digital, Social and Mobile Marketing. Follow Anika on twitter @anikadas or on Medium.

©AnikaSharma. No part of this article can be used without explicit permission. All rights reserved.