The Florida Retail Federation (FRF) released a forecast on Tuesday predicting Floridians will decrease their spending on Valentine’s Day which is next week.
Noting that, in recent years, there has been an increase in Valentine’s spending, the FRF expects a drop this year, predicting the average consumer will spend $136.57 which is down from last year when it was $146.84, a record high. Overall, retailers expect national spending to hit more than $18 billion for Valentine’s Day.
Randy Miller, the president and CEO of the FRF, said that the drop in spending should be expected considering how it has grown over the last decade. Miller pointed to figures from the National Retail Federation which found Americans spending, on average, $119.67 on Valentine’s Day back in 2007. Still, while 63 percent of Americans celebrated Valentine’s Day back in 2007, only 54 percent do today.
“The slight decrease in spending is understandable given the record-breaking pace Valentine’s Day spending had reached the previous ten years,” Miller said on Tuesday. “This day is still expected to mean significant revenues for Florida’s retailers as consumers shower their loved ones with gifts, flowers, candy, tickets to events and dinners at local restaurants.”
On average, consumers will spend $85.21 on their spouses and significant others, $26.59 on other family members including children and parents, $6.56 on children’s classmates and teachers, $6.51 on their friends, $4.27 on co-workers and $4.44 on pets.
Half of Americans--50 percent--are expected to buy $1.7 billion of candy while 47 percent of us will spend $1 billion on greeting cards for Valentine’s Day. Restaurants should also do well as 37 percent of Americans are planning to spend $3.8 billion for an evening out while 35 percent of us will spend $2 billion on flowers. Other retailers should do well as 19 percent of Americans plan to buy $1.9 billion in clothes and the same percent plan to spend $4.3 billion in jewelry. Gift cards also remain popular as 16 percent of Americans will spend $1.4 billion on them.
More than a third of Americans--35 percent--plan to hit department stores while 32 percent are planning to shop at discount stores for their Valentine’s Day shopping. More than a quarter of us--27 percent--will shop online while 18 percent of Americans will shop at specialty stores and the same percent will shop at florists. Fifteen percent are expected to do their Valentine’s Day shopping at local small businesses.
