Couples to spend less on Valentine's Day celebrations: Survey

11 February, 2013

Owing to an on-going weak consumer sentiment, lovers on this Valentine's Day are likely to curb their expenditure on big-ticket items like jewellery, a romantic getaway or an expensive designer outfit.

Even as traditional things like flowers, chocolates, cosmetics and perfumes are leading the Valentine’s Day gift list for majority of young couples, electronic gadgets like low-cost tablets, smart phones, iPods and digital cameras are other most desirable gift options for couples this V-day, according to a just concluded month long survey of about 750 young couples in the age group of 20-30 years to ascertain their plans on the V-Day and how do they wish to profess their love, carried out by the industry body Assocham.

The survey was carried out in the cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Pune during November, 2012-January, 2013.

Out of the total, about 40 per cent respondents said they are holding the purse strings tight so far as Valentine’s Day spending is concerned and will spend only on traditional gifts while about 30 per cent said they’d prefer to gift an electronic gadget to their loved ones.

Online spending on flowers is expected to strengthen as many respondents said they would log onto online flower retailers, where they can browse and compare prices against brick-and-mortar, makeshift flower shops, highlights the survey.

Besides, designer clothes, handbags and shoes are significant gift options for about 15 per cent couples. Since, this year the V-day falls on a weekday, many respondents said they would celebrate the evening by watching a movie followed by a dinner.

Interestingly, of all the respondents, about half said they do not approve of the gift items given by their partners but accept it as a token of love from their spouse. Many of these said a romantic meal with their significant other is the best part of their V-day celebrations.

According to the survey, an average couple at the aforesaid urban centre would spend about Rs 1,500-Rs 3,500 to celebrate the V-day.