No one’s lonely at Valentines Day-related retail web sites
No one’s lonely at Valentine’s Day-related
retail sites
Responsible for the sale of more cut flowers than any
other holiday—not to mention the estimated 36 million heart-shaped
boxes of chocolate and other confections that rank the holiday fourth in
candy sales—Valentine’s Day purchases gave a midwinter boost to
retailers this year. Valentine’s Day sales were estimated in the
range of $12 billion-plus, according to the National Retail Federation.
ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate reports that
Valentine’s Day benefited from falling on a Saturday this year, with
sales up 25% over last year’s Valentine’s Day.
And web merchants got their share. Hitwise, which
measures web traffic, reports that Valentine’s Day holiday traffic
was up 15% over last year at the flower and gift sites it monitors, peaking
on Feb. 13 to capture 3.22% of all U.S. visits to retail web sites.
“Flowers” was the most popular search term driving traffic to
flower and gift sites, and was responsible for nearly 9% of traffic to
sites in the category. The most-visited sites among flower and gift sites
monitored by Hitwise in the week ending Feb. 14 were
Hallmark.com,
1-800-Flowers.com, FTD.com, Dayspringcards.com and
Proflowers.com.
1-800-Flowers.com filled more than 800,000 orders from
Jan. 27 through Feb. 14, with more than 65% of them coming in online. By
the time Valentine’s Day was over, 1-800-Flowers had sold more than 3
million roses, almost 1 million tulips, and more than 50,000 pounds of
chocolate in addition to gifts ranging from plush toys to jewelry and gift
baskets. The company’s third annual Valentine’s Day
sweepstakes, in which web site visitors created and rated romantic or
humorous Valentine’s Day card messages for a chance at a Caribbean
vacation, drew 30,000 online entries. CEO Jim McCann notes the holiday has
become the company’s third largest sales period, following the
December holidays and the spring season that includes Easter and
Mother’s Day.
At flower site Proflowers.com, operated by Provide
Commerce Inc., shipments during the week ending Feb. 14 topped 400,000, a
leap from 304,000 during the Valentine’s Day period the previous
year. Based on its Valentine’s Day sales, Provide Commerce is
boosting its estimates of annual sales to $116 million to $120 million, up
from the previously reported estimates of $113 million to $117 million.
“From co-workers to classmates, Valentine’s
Day has become a holiday to express appreciation for a variety of
people,” says NRF president and CEO Tracy Mullin.
“Valentine’s Day has become very big business for retailers in
what is traditionally one of the slowest shopping months of the
year.”
