Valentine’s Day spend is expected to decline this year, amid a pandemic that has strained household budgets and limited entertainment options. Contrary to this year’s anticipated decline in Valentine’s spend, past trends have indicated that consumers have been spending more each year on categories such as chocolatiers, flowers, general gifts and jewellery.
According to FNB’s Retail insights, spend on chocolatiers increased by 171% during Valentine’s week in 2020 compared to the previous week. The increase in online chocolate purchases was more than double (316%) when compared to the 125% increase of instore purchase. Other popular spend categories in 2020 were flowers with a 74% increase in spend during Valentine’s week versus the preceding week and jewellery spend increased 35% compared to the week prior.
Raj Makanjee, CEO of FNB Retail and Private Banking says, “Although consumers are faced with financial pressure, our data shows that Valentine’s Day remains a popular period in which people celebrate and spoil their loved ones. This year, we expect a further uptick in consumers who shop online from eCommerce retailers, and we are pleased to be able to support our customers with convenient and safer ways to pay for goods and service, irrespective of where they choose to shop. As always, we encourage all our customers to spend wisely and to leverage our eBucks Rewards at over 30 eBucks partners to supplement their budgets.”
“Our customers are adopting convenient ways to shop and pay, and security remains a critical factor for all purchases. We have been witnessing a greater migration to online purchases than ever before and believe that the world-class security and convenience of offerings such as our Virtual Card will continue to be a preferable transactional method for customers over this time. One of the key security features on our Virtual Card is a dynamic Card Verification Value (CVV) security number that changes every hour to help customers minimise the risk of fraud when shopping online,” says Chris Labuschagne, CEO of FNB Card.
Labuschagne says FNB encourages consumers to prioritise money management and to transact on reputable platforms.
“We encourage customers to use our broad range of payment options and use trusted platforms when shopping online. In addition, they should always keep information such as PINs and passwords safe and to only authenticate transactions they have initiated. Although we encourage consumers to celebrate their loved ones this Valentine’s Day, planning and budgeting for purchases remains important over this time,” concludes Labuschagne.
INFO SUPPLIED BY FNB.
