Playing Cupid Pays: Consumers will Spend about $3.4B Online for Valentine’s Day
Thursday, January 31st, 2013
People celebrating V-Day will shell out an average of $125, according to 2012 data from the National Retail Federation. The holiday is about “wants” instead of “needs,” so people are looking for creative ideas. They’ll turn to publishers, forums, and blogs for inspiration.
Here are a few more facts about Valentine’s Day purchases:
- Half will buy candy
- 19% will buy jewelry
- 36% will buy flowers (and we’re now offering 18% commission from 1-800-Flowers.com!)
- 5.6% will treat someone to a nice evening out
- Men spend twice as much as women
- People buy for their pets (seriously!)
- 13.3% will buy gift cards
Stats aside, the most successful publishers will think outside the box for nontraditional gift ideas as well – those that match their “voice” as an expert and speak to their audience.
This brings up a good point about thinking like a retailer: V-Day is a shopping opportunity, one that retailers know how to promote and package. Shouldn’t you do the same with your site?
The calendar has opportunities for content-driven commerce all year long. Valentine’s Day now, followed by Spring Break season (a great opportunity to showcase travel accessories, fashion and stuff to keep the kids busy), Spring Fashion season, Mother’s Day, graduation…you get the idea.
Make it work today to maximize your revenues:
- Stay a bit ahead to find items that inspire your audience.
- Time your content to appear when your audience is in a buying frame of mind. (Hence the timing of this post.) Too early and they’ll hesitate; too late and they’ll miss.
- Browse VigLink’s Merchant Explorer tool to find merchants that monetize and the best commission rates.
- Visit VigLink Insider to find the latest offers and commission increases (and we’ve got a ton for Valentine’s Day)
- Want to go further? Developers can use the VigLink API Product Catalog to capture product images, compare prices, find deals, and offer coupons to drive purchase intent and significantly increase click-through rates.
More to come: Check back for our soon-to-be published “Think Like a Retailer: A Publisher’s Guide Maximizing Revenue.”