Online merchants through America, Europe and Asia have barely had time to recover from record-breaking Christmas season when Valentine’s Day sales are here.
Online merchants through America, Europe and Asia have barely had time to recover from record-breaking Christmas season when Valentine’s Day sales are here.
Today the world again celebrates Valentine’s Day. Originated in the United States, the modern Valentine’s Day has become a global day of celebrating romantic love, albeit in Finland the day has a slightly different connotation as a more broadly defined day of remembering one’s closest friends.
Regardless of the exact meaning of the day, on florists, card manufacturers, confectionery retailers, jewellery stores and restaurants enjoy spike in their sales on both sides of the Atlantic.
Valentine’s Day also means, as said before, big boost to online shopping.
About 42% of Europeans spend between 36 to 50 euros for Valentine’s Day gifts. In many European countries the online floral sales explode around Valentine’s Day. In the UK alone almost € 1.15 billion is spend, an average of 30 euros by men and 24 euros by women. Britons are already buying two-thirds of these gifts online.
Asia has a number of national lovers’ days at different times of the year, but the Western Valentine’s Day also clearly affects the sales of, for instance, the Chinese e-commerce giant Taobao.
The biggest Valentine’s celebration takes place, however, in the United States, where the modern form of the celebration has spread around the world. It hardly comes as a surprise for anyone that Valentine’s Day is the biggest online shopping day after the Christmas season and Cyber Monday.
About 59 per cent of Americans say they will celebrate Valentine’s Day, which produces about 13 billion dollars in additional sales. People spend money on cards (58%), sweets (48%), flowers (34%), jewellery (17%) and other gifts (13%). More than half of American consumers buy Valentine’s Day gifts online.
Hallmark Card Company estimates that around 151 million Valentine’s Day cards are send annually over the world. The greeting card market is currently revolutionized by the advent Red Stamp and other advanced e-card services.
Boost your online sales
So how can improve your online sales on Valentine’s Day?
Some good ideas include: updating your shop template with suitable decorations such as heart logos and adding romantic descriptions for products. Create a new category for Valentine’s Day gift ideas – maybe with different sections for men and women – and offer free gift wrapping for products in these categories
If your customers come from Finland, be sure to include separate gift categories for lovers and close friends – such as people looking gifts for their parents, friends and other close ones. Gift cards are also a good idea! They can be included in social media contents. Give a free gift card, for instance, for the best Valentine’s Day story shared on your web shop’s Facebook page.
Inspring examples of international online stores suitable for Valentine’s Day include: Fab.com’s Valentine’s Day Shop, Godiva chocolate shop, floral shop the Bouqs, the Red Stamp card service.