Let’s take a look at what made Valentine’s Day great in the world of sales. We know from the previous blog post that there are a variety of things that people bought for their loved ones on Valentine’s Day this year, but let’s take a look at the classic: candy!
Candy is the most commonly purchased gift every year on Valentine’s Day, just barely beating out greeting cards this past year. It is estimated that in 2015, $1.7 billion was spent on candy and that number just keeps increasing each year. About 36 million worth of heart shaped chocolate boxes were purchased within that amount. In the same article, it also estimates that the amount of chocolate that the amount of spending equates to is about 58 million pounds! In 2015 as well the total amount to be spent on Valentine’s Day was $18.9 billion dollars, but that’s because of other big spenders like nice jewelry or expensive flowers.
While were here, we might as well talk about the other type of sales. Candy sales! All across department stores and discount stores you can start finding candy already up to 50 or 70 percent off. Go out there and get yourself some candy!
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Thanks for sharing!
I can definitely see why candy is the #1 seller around this time- if you look on any kind of social media on Valentines Day, all you see is the candy and flowers people receive from their loved ones. On the contrary, you always see people saying “don’t get me candy, get me chicken nuggets” or something like that. I guess most people like to stick to the basics.
I am definitely guilty of supporting this candy/chocolate statistic. Every Valentine’s Day, that is my small, go-to Valentine’s gift to friends and family. I also enjoy waiting a couple days after Valentine’s to go out to the store and get discounted chocolate for myself. I guess the reason that candy/chocolate is the most commonly purchased gift every year on Valentine’s Day makes sense, however. I mean, A) it’s less expensive than other gifts like flowers, clothing, or jewelry, B) it’s everywhere in stores (a.k.a. it’s a convenience product during the Valentine’s season), and C) who doesn’t like chocolate???
For Valentine’s Day this year, I tried to make the gifts unique. Of course I filled a gift bag with chocolate, but I tried to incorporate the holiday with something my boyfriend enjoyed. He is a big fan of music, so I bought him Beats wireless headphones and stuck them on the ears of a stuffed teddy bear. I think candy/chocolate is a must, but so is making it interesting!
58 million pound!? That’s crazy. It was fascinating to read this post. Every holiday has become so capitalistic it seems like everyone just wants to make money. Why do you think the polls differs so much between men and women?
I really enjoyed reading your post this week. Partly because I am always interested in how much is spent on different holidays but also because you included several pictures and that graph explaining your point even further! I had no idea that over 18 billion in sales could even be made in a day, even more so because it is for a silly love holiday. However, very happy to learn, seeing as I did partake in the holiday spending this year!
Your post has me wondering a lot because you don’t realize how much stuff men buy for women on Valentine’s Day. Personally I love to spoil people with gifts, so in my relationship our gifts were pretty even. Would it be weird for females to buy males flowers or jewelry on Valentine’s Day? I guess not, but still an average couple on valentine’s day is the women getting flowers and jewelry and the men getting cards and candy.
This is a very interesting blog and well written! I loved how it incorporated the links into the text so it was super easy to learn more about what was written! The statistics you present were astonishing. I think it would be interesting to also look at other countries and if their sales reflect ours. It’s no secret that we (Americans) are one of the more overweight countries in the world, so I wonder if jewelry or gift cards have a higher sales volume.
I just wish candy could last year round so I could stock up during the sales like my wife does for clothes on Black Friday!
Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed reading this post. Only because Valentines Day feels like a mini Christmas for me. I enjoyed looking at the bar graph of the top selling categories/items on Valentines Day. It’s funny, because I didn’t receive candy, flowers or jewelry on that day. But I did receive an evening out, clothes, and gift cards. It’s also funny to read this because after February 14th mostly all candy is discounted, and my boyfriend and I were just at the grocery store yesterday buying candy.
I definitely wasn’t surprised to read the high candy sales during Valentine’s Day! I feel as if it has become “a must” when purchasing a gift for Valentine’s. Like I’ve read in other comments, even when I’ve tried to get a little unique with my gifts, I always have to put at least some chocolate in there because it would seem a little odd without any on Valentine’s Day. It’s also an easier gift choice for men since they probably aren’t interested in flowers as much as women are. Also, I would imagine school kids spend a pretty large amount of that statistic on candy for their class (at least we did at my school). Chocolate is a universal gift, not just for adults on Valentine’s Day!
Wow, who would have known that $18.9 billion was spent on valentines day. I know this included everything – candy, jewelry, balloons, stuffed animals. But wow! I have to say though that I am guilty of buying some of these things. But I’m a big believer on handmade items as gifts, they have so much more meaning than a teddy bear that will be useless the day after valentines day.
It was so interesting to see what percentage of items people are planning to buy for their significant other for Valentines Day! While I am not surprised by the candy and flower statistic, I am very curious to what the people in the “other” category are buying. A very interesting read!
This post opened my eyes to the actual amount of money that is spent every year just on candy. I mean 58 million pounds of chocolate seems ridiculous. The graph showed that women are also more likely to buy cards and clothes, which makes a lot of sense. Little late replying to this because of all the discount candying I’ve been buying!
I really liked this post. Valentine’s Day seems like a huge money-making holiday. I often wonder what they do with all of the extra candies, greeting cards, and stuffed animals once the holiday is over. It doesn’t surprise me that candy is the number one item sold on this holiday but I am glad to see that greeting cards a close second. I am the type of person who buys candy all the time. I have a huge sweet tooth! I guess it’s time to get my butt to the stores for all those discounted candies!
It is really crazy to think about how much money is spent on this holiday. Ive never actually looked into the demographics of the amount spent on what, but after reading your post I am not shocked. Almost everyone either buys candy for them self or for their significant other on this day so that is a lot of money going to these companies. I definitely wait until after Valentines Day to get those really cheap prices!