What happened to the days when Valentine’s Day was just about the card?

by Bijal Shah and Steven Parisi

In 1916, Hallmark sold its first Valentine’s Day Card. While it wasn’t the first commercial card ever sold, Hallmark has been credited with helping to create a holiday that will rake in $18.9 billion* in spend this February.

Valentine’s Day, as we now know it, started off as a holiday in which homemade cards helped us profess our undying love. Today, Valentine’s Day has expanded beyond the card market into a thriving holiday.

Ibotta polled over 12,000 users to try and better understand what other industries will thrive this February. Here’s what we learned:

• 80% of our respondents planned to celebrate Valentine’s day in some fashion. This is a pretty high percentage, given the simple fact that the majority of America’s adult population happens to be single (Courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics). That said, Valentine’s day isn’t just about showing love to your significant other, since you could be buying gifts for your children, friends, or even your pets.
• Females are 2x more likely to make a homemade gift for their Valentine. Hopefully arts, crafts, and DIY stores utilized their ad spend to target these ambitious gift givers.
• Males are 5x more likely to buy flowers. This probably means floral shops should be using the majority of their Facebook Ad spend to target men, no?
• Surprisingly, buying electronics barely made the list of potential Valentine’s Day presents. Why you ask? The most likely answer is that folks are still full from the tech fix they got during the holiday shopping season. However, it is quite possible that gifting a device that allows you to further remove yourself from interacting with others is just not romantic.
• Men and women alike plan to have a nice dinner as part of their Valentine’s Day celebration. It is unclear as to whether these dinners will be at home or involve a night out, but it is fair to say that V-Day bodes well for both restauranteurs and brands providing Valentine’s Day recipe ideas.
• Females are more likely to remember the card, but males are more likely to plan a dinner. Key takeaway? Men think that women expect more, and women think that men expect less.

Check out all of the data here:

Source: Ibotta + Ibottalytics

*Spend data courtesy of time.com: http://time.com/money/3699604/valentines-day-spending-history-truth/

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