According to the National Retail Federation, consumers plan to spend $27.4 billion on Valentine's Day gifts this year. That's up from last year's $20.7 billion. The upward spending trend could reflect growing consumer confidence as well as shifting generational interests surrounding the holiday.
With more than half the country celebrating the commercialized holiday of love, friendship, and admiration--and the historical average spending amount nearing $200 per person--retailers have a lot to gain from traditional Valentine's Day gift-giving.
Candy: Representing $2.4 billion of consumer spending for Valentine's Day alone, over half of all the holiday's gifts are candy. Hershey Co (NYSE: HSY), for one, makes a sizable profit year after year with brands like Hershey's Kisses. Another popular type of Valentine's Day candy is sweethearts. Spangler Candy Company, which is privately-held, bought sweethearts in 2018, a brand which was previously owned by Necco.
Greeting cards: Another popular holiday tradition is exchanging cards, which accounts for 43% of Valentine's Day sales, or $1.3 billion. A major beneficiary of the boom in card purchases is the privately-owned Hallmark Cards. In fact, Valentine's Day is Hallmark's second best day for card sales; the first is Christmas.
Flowers: About 37% of Valentine's Day gifts this year will be flowers, with consumers spending $2.3 billion on them for the holiday of love. The company 1-800-Flowers.com (NASDAQ: FLWS), founded back in 1982, predicts that it will sell 18.5 million flowers this Valentine's Day, including 11 million roses.
Jewelry: Jewelry represents $5.8 billion in Valentine's Day sales, and when it comes to jewelry, Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF) has tended to perform well during this season. Last year, the company reported that worldwide net sales rose 15% during Q1. However, considering that millennials aren't as interested in buying diamonds as older generations, and get married later on average, this trend may start to change.
Restaurant chains and local venues also profit exceedingly well on Valentine's Day, considering that as many as half or more of celebrants dine out. Other common Valentine's Day gifts include clothing, lingerie, candles, and lotion, so places such as Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, both owned by the company L Brands (NYSE: LB), also walk away profitably.
Aside from romantic evenings out and gifts for a significant other, remaining spending this year for Valentine's Day will go to gifts for family members other than a spouse, friends, children's classmates and teachers, co-workers and colleagues, and even pets.