(Newswire.net — February 1, 2015) — In 2014 , two large finance sources made forecasts (based on surveys) for Valentine’s Day spending. While the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported $18 billion in total Valentine’s spending (the survey was conducted with a balanced demographic of American adults), American Express revealed that $37 billion would be spent (this survey polled high income Americans that earn a minimum of $100k/year). The discrepancy from these results was somewhat overlooked as both surveys received their share of media coverage, without any considerable comparisons or note to each demographic used.
This year, the NRF is reporting $19 billion in Valentine’s spending at just more than $142 per person as more than 60% of consumers are expected to celebrate Valentine’s Day. A new survey from Ebates.com announced that 38% want smartphones as a Valentine’s gift this year. “Consumer sentiment is up going into February this year, mixed with year over year trends for Valentine’s shoppers to buy more expensive, non-traditional tech items as gifts, such as iPhones, iPads and other smartphones,” stated FatWallet Online Shopping Expert, Brent Shelton. “Based on these trends, FatWallet.com predicts Valentine’s spending in 2015 to exceed $20 billion for the first time.”
Some fun facts and statistics reveal that, of those who celebrate Valentine’s Day:
- More than half of Valentine’s shoppers will buy candy to the tune of $1.7 million
- $2.5 million is spent on candy during Halloween
- More than 36 million boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine’s
- The U.S consumes more chocolate than any other country
- Chocolate sales will climb to a record $17.75 billion this year
- Valentine’s ranks #1 for fresh flower purchases
- Valentine’s makes up for 20% of all flower transactions
- Almost 1 in 4 will buy flowers
- Half of flowers for Valentine’s are bought for spouses
- 6 in 10 will buy roses
- Nearly 40% of those will be red
- Over 250 million roses get produced for Valentine’s Day
- More than half buy greeting cards to the tune of more than 150 million
- Valentine’s ranks a far second to Christmas card sales (estimated at 1.5 billion)
Other Valentine’s facts and stats:
- More than 1 in 3 will do a Valentine’s dinner and/or a movie
- Nearly 1 in 5 buy jewelry as Valentine’s gifts
- 2 to 1, men outspend women for Valentine’s
- More than 1 in 4 will shop online for their Valentine’s gifts
- Nearly 1 in 5 will buy Valentine’s gifts for their pets
- Almost half of yearly marriage proposals will happen on Valentine’s Day
- Almost one third (30%) of Valentine’s shoppers procrastinate
- 40% of those believe Feb. 13th will be too late to find a deal
While it’s been estimated that more than half of women would end their relationship if they didn’t get something for Valentine’s Day, the fact remains that Valentine’s Day is one of the top seasonal shopping periods each year, so the majority of these relationships would appear to be safe for now.
Sources for Valentine’s facts and stats include: statisticbrain.com, aboutflowers.com, AMEX, Greeting Cards Association, Hallmark, Ebates, Inc. and NRF. The data (from published surveys and reports) was researched and aggreagated by FatWallet.com. FatWallet is an online cash back shopping portal that aggregates thousands of current coupons and deals from more than 1,700 retailers. Their annual Valentine’s Day Deals promotion features cash back savings from dozens of top brands and stores. The much celebrated FatWallet forums represent the pulse of an evolving online marketplace where some of the savviest deal hunters in the world gather to share and learn about ways to save money.