NRF: Valentine’s Day Spending to Reach $18.6 Billion
February 01, 2013
According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2013 Valentine’s Day spending survey, conducted by BIGinsight, the average person is planning to spend $130.97 on candy, cards, gifts and more, up from $126.03 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $18.6 billion.
More than half (51 percent) of gift givers will buy candy, spending $1.6 billion in total, and another one-third (36.6 percent) will give flowers, with total spending expected to top $1.9 billion.
Others will purchase jewelry (19.7 percent), spending more than $4.4 billion on diamonds, gold and silver. An additional 15.6 percent will buy clothing, spending more than $1.6 billion. Also, 15 percent of gift givers will buy gift cards, totaling to $1.5 billion.
The survey also found that more than one-quarter (26.3 percent) plan to purchase gifts found online, up from 19.3 percent last year and the most in the survey’s 10-year history. Other shoppers search for gifts at discount stores (39.6 percent), department stores (33.2 percent), specialty stores (22.9 percent), floral shops (19.6 percent), jewelry stores (11.2 percent), specialty-clothing stores (7.5 percent) and through catalogs (2.6 percent).
Additionally, four in 10 (40.7 percent) smartphone owners will use their handhelds to shop for gifts, and 46.9 percent of tablet owners will use their devices to purchase items, research gift ideas and more.
