3 Ways Retailers Are Keeping It Real This Valentine’s Day

Showing our love with gifts is more challenging in 2023 given that inflation-weary consumers are still tapped from holiday spending. But love is in the air.

While the National Retail Federation (NRF) said in its annual Valentine’s Day spending outlook that more than half of U.S. consumers (52%) expect to spend an average of $192.80 — a healthy 10% increase over last year and the second-highest figure since tracking began in 2004 — how it plays out depends on retailers getting aggressive.

Valentine’s Day is also a day for the lovelorn to watch their backs. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Feb. 9 that “In 2022, nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam, and reported losses hit a staggering $1.3 billion. The median reported loss: $4,400.”

That aside, we looked at three areas where the NRF has projected the highest spending on this day of love to get a better idea how retailers are responding in a year menaced by a recession.

Flowery Gatherings

According to the NRF, 37% of Americans will buy flowers on Tuesday (Feb. 14), putting this floral gift in the top three. Ramping up for the annual love fest, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., just acquired lifestyle brand Alice’s Table in January to round out its portfolio of experiential offerings beyond those that come in a vase.

“This expansion reflects the Company’s strategic focus on developing immersive experiences, engaging content, and interactive events, as well as embracing entrepreneurial concepts that help deepen relationships with customers and create a real sense of community,” the 47-year old online retailer said in a press release.

Alice Lewis, founder of the popular site known for its live-streamed floral arrangement workshops, called the acquisition a tremendous moment of growth for the Alice’s Table brand, and the opportunity and scale that come from working with an established national brand like 1-800-FLOWERS.COM.

Together, Lewis said, the companies will combine their skills to bring “best-in-class virtual experiences” to people coast to coast.

“This next phase in our relationship will allow us to expand our reach to millions of new customers and to deliver more of the next generation experiences our guests have come to love,” Lewis added.

Read: Coffee and Flower Brands Push Value to Survive ‘The Great Unsubscribe’

Lab-Grown Diamonds Are Forever

Jewelry is a consumer favorite, and this year lab-grown diamonds are having a moment as demand for gems with a spotless provenance appeal to high-spending millennials and Gen Zs.

In a recent interview with PYMNTS, VRAI President and CEO Mona Akhavi said, “I’m happy to say that during the peak of holiday gifting, we did see many of our categories around gifting diamond jewelry grow by two times year over year,” adding that “lab-grown diamonds are what consumers, especially millennial consumers, are leaning toward.”

To that point, to keep things fresh for the mid-February event, VRAI has rolled out what it calls “Unapologetically romantic Valentine’s Day gifts” that are paired with R&C Fragrance Duos, which is curated by Ciara and Russell Wilson.

Read: Vrai Ramps Omnichannel Approach Amid Surging Demand for Lab-Grown Diamonds

Chocolate Sweetens Inflation’s Bitter Taste

With candy topping the NRF’s gift list for Valentine’s Day 2023, it’s a good thing that chocolate and its confectionary cousins remain staggeringly popular, inflation or not.

Fresh off the Super Bowl return of its “spokescandies” and re-branding brouhaha, M&Ms offers several dozen color-appropriate pink and red candies and other Valentine tweaked gifts to loyal customers.

Reporting on fourth-quarter financial results earlier this month, Hershey CEO Michele Buck said, “Chocolate moments are such a heavily integrated part of consumers’ weekly routines, from rewarding moments to stress relief to self-care, and everything in between, that they indicate they would rather cut back on other expenses to make room for chocolate because they love it so much and it’s affordable.”

Read: Hershey Says Consumers See Chocolate as Affordable Luxury

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