Pure Beauty

38% of consumers leave Valentine’s Day shopping to the last minute

Published: 9-Feb-2016

Online retailers could miss out on sales

New data from Barclaycard suggests that retailers can expect much of their Valentine’s Day products to be sold at the last minute. 36% of consumers plan to do their shopping on Valentine’s Day itself.

This year the event falls on a Sunday and, following last year’s spending habits, Barclaycard believes this could encourage last minute impulse purchases. On Saturday 14th 2015, year-on-year spending increased significantly with purchases of cosmetics rising 51%.

The data also revealed that one in three UK consumers plan to spend up to £30 on Valentine’s Day this year, with 3% planning to spend more than £100. 40% of consumers plan their Valentine’s Day spending less than one week in advance.

Impulse purchasing also leads many consumers to chose bricks and mortar stores over e-commerce options with 36% planning to buy in store and 23% purchasing Valentine’s Day gifts online.

Cosmetics were the third top spending category in 2015, after flowers and confectionery. Philip McHugh, CEO of Barclaycard Business Solutions, commented: “February 14th is a lucrative peak in the year for consumer spending and with last minute shoppers more likely to pick up presents in-store over the weekend, it is especially important that e-commerce retailers focus on driving sales now. Merchants who are successful in providing a seamless shopping experience in the run-up to commercial dates such as Valentine’s Day are far more likely to drive repeat custom throughout the rest of the year.”

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