How to make Valentine’s Day 2018 a success for your eCommerce business.

Valentine’s Day is the third largest consumer holiday in the US with anticipated spend predicted to be over $18 billion. There is plenty of opportunities for online retailers to make the most of this exciting chance to increase sales so we have collated some useful points to help you on your way…  

Get involved and make Valentine’s Day 2018 a success.

As one of the most popular dates in the eCommerce calendar, Valentine’s Day is not an opportunity you should miss. Both global and small retailers can play their part in helping the 90% of consumers who are in a relationship, buy a gift for a loved one.

Discount or department stores are often the hotspots for consumer spending for Valentine’s Day with flowers, fragrance and candy being purchased, but more than a quarter of this years Valentine’s sales will be made online.

‘Young Love’

Of those who are likely to celebrate Valentine’s Day; two thirds are between the age of 25-34. In addition to this, 60% of those between 18 and 24 celebrate the occasion.

National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew R Shay describes Valentine’s Day as ‘the one day of the year when millions find a way to show their loved ones they care regardless of budget’ so be sure to embrace the active market.

So what are the ‘Romantics’ spending their money on?

Consumers are always on the lookout for new ways to celebrate with loved ones. Rather than gifting melted chocolate or sending sad looking flowers, all the lovers out there are browsing for something a little different, with a personal touch.

‘Gift experiences’ such as Spa days or tickets to an event are now some of the most purchased Valentine’s gifts, whilst jewelry accounts for $4.3 billion worth of sales. If you are a fashion retailer there is plenty to get excited about as clothing sales amounted to 19% of overall Valentine’s Day sales in 2017, a large segment of the total $18 billion US consumers spent.

Did you know?

• On average those who celebrate Valentine’s Day spend $136.57 each

• Men spend nearly as twice as much as women. They spend $196.39 vs the average spend of women $99.87.

Mobile and tablet devices are used to carry out research online, so be ready with a simple set of themed landing pages that list all of your seasonal products in one place, so that those looking to buy can conduct their research easily.

Why not offer discount codes or coupons before the big day to entice users to checkout? Sellers with apps should utilize the push notifications to alert potential customers to your new and exciting Valentine’s gift ideas.

Target a wider audience for a bigger reward.

Widening your audience can help increase your sales. Many people who are single use Valentine’s Day as a great excuse for buying gifts for themselves. An estimated 24% single people in fact, buy a gift around the 14th February that they really want. So if you don’t have items that are necessarily suited to ‘romance’, why not encourage users to treat themselves to something they truly love?

February 14th falls on a Wednesday in 2018, so couples are sure to be looking to spend their time together on the weekends either side of the big day. A good angle for fashion eTailers is to offer ‘date night’ deal encouraging users to purchase a new outfit for the evening.

Consumers also line up a gifts such as a romantic weekend mini break, so why not tap into this by having a sale on travel gear?

Puppy love.

20% of consumers get gifts for their pets during the lead up to Valentine’s Day so by running special offers for animals, you can target those who prefer to indulge their lovely pets. US consumers spend a staggering $367million on their pets for Valentines alone last year.

Prepare for a perfect peak period.

Romance certainly isn’t dead especially when you look at the billions Valentine’s Day is worth to the US economy. By taking a few key steps to prepare for the peak period you can be sure to have a successful Valentine’s Day season.  

• Audit your website. Be ready for a rush of customers and make sure it can handle the rush of traffic throughout the booking process.

• Who doesn’t love ‘free shipping’ and ‘discounts’? Conduct keyword research to make sure you capture those on the hunt for gifts.

• Help those ‘last minute’ lovers. Offer express or overnight shipping for those who have left it a little late. There are plenty of these customers; 40% of shoppers leave it to the last week to buy their Valentine a gift.   

• Shoppers can be demanding when they are in hurry. Get your page load speeds on point and be mobile friendly to maximise your sales.

• Provide tracking information for shipping. If the goods are time sensitive the buyer is going to want a reliable delivery service they can track.

A global love affair.

Valentine’s Day is of course celebrated all over the globe, but in different ways.

In the US, shoppers make high end purchases ahead of Valentine’s Day. If you are selling high ticket goods, you can of course cover them with protection cover in the booking process should you choose to book a courier service via our shipping calculator.

Some destinations outspend others by some way, for example in Asia average spending exceeds $250 whilst in Germany the average amount spent is more modest, at around $92.

31% of Germans confess to forgetting Valentine’s Day so why not run an email campaign to prompt users located in Germany to get them on board?

In France, well known to be a romantic location, 85% of women want to receive a ring for Valentine’s Day, so consider running a promotion on gifts that suit your target markets.

If you sell internationally, get your cross border orders shipped sooner rather than later as estimated transit times longer than domestic ones.

A happy ending.

Hopefully this overview will help you shape up ready for a successful Valentine’s Day peak and these small insights give you some food for thought.

Remember you can compare and book reliable delivery services with Parcel Monkey to ensure that your products reach your customers in time for the 14th February, whilst you can make significant savings on the price of shipping.