While there are many festivities which are related to various types of consumption (i.e. Christmas with Turkey, Diwali with fire crackers, Easter with Easter eggs and so on) Valentine’s day provides a unique opportunity for marketers to target a very vibrant and highly consumption oriented group, the youth.
There are some distinctly unique characteristics of Valentine’s Day.
1. It is a seriously global event.
2. The target market for the same is uniquely similar because of the need it caters to.
3. The consumption behaviour pattern is quite predictable.
4. The consumer need and wants are quite structured for this specific event.
The above four points, according to me, makes Valentine’s Day a unique marketing opportunity.
In marketing, as stated in one of my earlier blogs (What we don’t know in the field of marketing?), marketers are looking for forward looking consumers. In a way, marketers are interested in higher prediction levels of consumers’ consumption patterns. Valentine’s Day in that perspective provides a great understanding relating to forward-looking customers.
When such behaviour can be predicted (and that too at a global scale) marketers can take ample advantage. An example of the same is that the U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines. Similar trends might be observed in other parts of the world.
The other important aspect as I mentioned above is the similarity in consumption pattern globally relating to Valentine’s Day. While Christmas may be celebrated around the world for the same reason, the celebratory styles and the events involved are quite different (it’s not always the Turkey you see!). With Valentine’s Day the consumption pattern across the world (cards and flowers leading to a dinner???).
I am amazed that why other marketers else than the card and flower firms have not yet exploited this window of opportunity in full.
