Recession to take a bite out of Valentine’s Day
Written on January 31, 2009
Empty wallets may lead to broken hearts this Valentine’s Day for those expecting extravagant gifts.
The National Retail Federation’s 2009 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions survey found that consumers plan to spend on average $102.50 on all Valentine’s gifts this year, down 16.7 percent from last year’s $122.98.
“While some Americans will forego a gift and opt for quality time at home instead, others will simply set budgets and fixed amounts when exchanging presents,” said Phil Rist, executive vice president of strategic initiatives at BIGresearch, the company that conducted the survey. “Valentine’s Day this year will be more about small tokens of affection rather than extravagant purchases.”
The poll of 8,850 consumers was conducted in the first week of January and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.
Most consumers will still buy traditional favorites: 36 percent say they’ll buy flowers and 16 percent say jewelry, and 47 percent plan to dine out no fax payday loans. The amount of greeting cards that will be sent is up from 56.8 percent last year to 58 percent this year.
Ninety one percent of consumers will spend the most on their spouse, with smaller gifts going to other members of the family, friends, classmates or teachers, co-workers and pets.
The 35-44 year old age group plans to spend the most this year at an average of $119.19 and 55-64 year olds plan to spend the least, at $83.76.
Total Valentine’s Day spending is expected to be about $14.7 billion, down 13.6 percent from the $17 billion spent in 2008.
“A bad economy won’t stop Cupid this Valentine’s Day, but it might slow him down,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin.
Filed in: money.