The history of valentines can be traced back to St. Valentine, who died a martyr. The Catholic Church named a feast for him in the year 496. Historical or legendary sources to the holiday mention a reference to the Duke of Orleans’ letter in the 15th century that is considered the first valentine. Then in the 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the first mention of love and Valentine’s Day. The oldest surviving valentine dates from 1477.
Today even though not a public holiday, couples celebrate the day in a several of ways. We call it the business of love because, we see a sharp increase in sales on flowers, restaurants, gifts, and other items to celebrate the special day of love. Even online spending has seen increases over the years around Valentine’s Day holiday. Marketing services and campaigns are greatly increased during these types of holidays to benefit from these consumer trends. Marketing budgets tend to increase around shopping holidays such as Social Media marketing and Search Engine Optimization campaigns and most notably paid advertising.
Here is the business side of love and Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day Spending Statistics – The Business of Love
- Average annual Valentine’s Day spending $13.19 Billion
- Number of Valentine’s Day cards exchanged annually 180 Million
- Average number of roses produced for Valentine’s Day 196 million
- Percent of Valentine’s Day cards bought by women 85%
- Percent of flowers bought by men 73%
- Percent of women who send themselves flowers on Valentine’s 14%
- Amount the average consumer spends on Valentine’s Day $116.21
- Percent of consumers who celebrate Valentine’s Day 61.8 %
- Average number of children conceived on Valentine’s day 11,000
Gifts Most Often Given on Valentines Day
- Candy 47.5 %
- Flowers 34.3 %
- Cards 52.1 %
- Jewelry 17.3 %
- Dining Out 34.6 %
- Clothing 14.4 %
- Gift Cards 12.6 %
- Other Gifts 11.2 %
Valentine Related Business Statistics
- Number of locations producing chocolate and cocoa products 1,233
- Number of people employed by the these establishments 38,794
- Revenue of domestically cut flowers $403 Million
- Number of florists nationwide 24,600
- Number of people employed by florists 123,600
- Number of jewelry stores in the U.S. 27,484
- Annual revenue from jewelry stores $2.2 Billion
Source: Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey
Regardless of how one chooses to celebrate their partnership and love, taking time to honor the partnership tends to always be a great idea. After all, most people like to see and experience the appreciation of a partnership union.
As most holidays, publicly celebrated or not, there is most of the time a business aspect of it. Holidays drive commerce and cultural behavior can dictate consumerism and what we feel is appropriate to give and share around these holidays.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
