Valentine’s Day Spending to Total $17 Billion

Traditional gifts, such as candy, flowers and jewelry will see a slight decrease in popularity this year, with more consumers preferring gifts of experience and gift cards. Almost half of all consumers surveyed (48.2 percent) said they planned to celebrate with a special night out, compared to 45.3 percent in 2007, and 12.3 percent will give a gift card, up from 11.3 percent last year.

Greeting cards still remain popular, although down from last year (58.6 to 62.8 percent), and 48 percent said they will buy candy, 35.9 percent will buy flowers and 11.8 percent will buy clothing.

As expected, men will shell out the most cash this year, spending an average of $163.37, compared to $84.72 spent by women.

“Consumers are expected to invest time and money on gifts of experience this year, in addition to staple Valentine’s Day gifts,” commented BIGresearch Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist. “Whether it’s a weekend getaway or a night out on the town, consumers are looking for quality rather than quantity.”

As with the Christmas holiday season, promotions are rampant for Valentine’s Day. 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. has launched BokayMe.com, an online virtual florist designed to send digital flowers by e-mail and to mobile devices and social networking accounts at Facebook.com. The beta site targets “flower lovers and techies” and enables users to send and receive animated flowers online.

But even if some people have no sweetheart to send them a Valentine, there are eight million Americans, according to Reuters, who have admitted to sending themselves Valentine’s Day gifts.

People won’t be the only one’s getting a Valentine’s Day present. Spending on pets for the holiday is expected by the NRF to reach $367 million.

Consumers in Saudi Arabia interested in celebrating Cupid’s Day may find themselves out of luck. The Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice ordered florists and gift shop owners in Riyadh to remove any red or scarlet colored items and banned the sale of red roses in the run up to February 14.

Neighboring Kuwait has also banned celebrations for the day of love, arguing that they promote un-Islamic values of promiscuity and extramarital relations.