What's New

Discover our latest features, improvements and tips for driving your referral programme forward.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Spending Still On The Rise!

  

With the peak shopping season of Christmas a distant memory, it is time for gift retailers to turn their attention to Valentine’s Day, which is just over one week away.

Valentine's Day spending is still on the rise. According to Statista, sales of Valentine's Day gifts in Great Britain rose from 2015 to 2018. And despite the challenging consumer outlook, UK shoppers will likely continue to splash more money on Valentine’s Day gifts this year too. This gives the retail calendar a solid start to the year.

Statista Sales of Valentine's Day gifts in Great Britain from 2015 to 2018 (in million GBP)

Sales of Valentine's Day gifts in Great Britain from 2015 to 2018 (in million GBP)

The classics: chocolates, roses, heart-shaped jewellery gifts and cards are expected to remain the most popular gifts for Valentine’s Day. Whilst these are the conventional options, holidays and experiences as gifts are also expected to gain popularity. This allows other retailers to gain a share in the Valentine’s Day market as consumers broaden their range of choice.


Personalisation is another important trend. Studies conducted by Mintel have shown that consumers increasingly expect retailers to give them the option to personalise gifts. In turn, this gives retailers the opportunity to increase their average basket value and maximise profit by offering services like engraving or monogramming.

So with trade looking promising this Valentine’s Day, how can you ensure you are making the most out of this event?

Show love to your existing customers by running an exclusive Valentine’s Day burst campaign on your referral programme. Customise and personalise your design and copy. Run a limited time only offer, for example where you double the value of the reward. Test weird and wonderful combinations of offers using an AB test and you might gain some insights you can use during other promotional periods too.

A referral scheme gives retailers the opportunity to amplify the sales peak of seasonal events. Valentine’s Day, followed by Mother’s Day (6 weeks later this year) and swiftly after by Easter, provides the ideal scenario:
When a delighted recipient of a gift on Valentine’s Day recommends the brand to their friend, this leads to new customers for the brand. Not only that, but the original customer is more likely to make a repeat purchase with their referral reward (Mother’s Day or Easter presenting the perfect opportunity) and the introduced friend is more likely to share with their friends too.

 

Fact: Being introduced to a company, with an introductory offer from a friend, results in a greater likelihood of becoming a referrer of the brand yourself.


This is perfectly illustrated by the Bloom & Wild referral programme, where 45% of referred customers go on to refer someone themselves.

If your experience of Valentine’s Day sales last year was a disappointing one-off peak then take a look at our Gifting Sector Referral Guide. Here you can get more insight into how referrals can build your customer base for the long term.

Subscribe to our blog

We’ll send you monthly emails packed full of the latest referral marketing tips.