Americans are likely to spend an estimated $20 billion this Valentine’s Day.
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the amount of money Americans would be spending this year is up by almost a billion dollars compared to last year’s record-setting projections.
However, statistics also reveal that this is probably going to be the least festive Valentine’s Day with only 54.8 percent of all the consumers who participated in the survey planning on celebrating the holiday. People between the age group of 25 and 34 are the ones most likely to participate.
The International Council of Shopping Centers has estimated that technology-related items are likely to be a top choice for gift with an average spending of $215.50. Second on the list is jewelry with average spending of about $191.00.
Other top choices for a gift are flowers and candy with flower and candy sales estimated at around $2 billion and $1.7 billion respectively.
According to Kathy Allen of NRF, “This year, nearly four in ten Americans said that they would like to receive a gift of experience in some fashion.” This has made gift choices like rock climbing lessons, cell phone accessories, theater tickets and cooking classes quite popular.
The survey also revealed that 22 percent of consumers would be spending more than they did last year. On the other hand, 54 percent said they would spend almost the same amount as they did last year.
Men are likely to spend almost twice as much as women with average total expenses of around $196.39 compared to women’s $99.87..
The greater spending power could be due to growth in jobs and hike in income over the past couple of months.
Commodity prices are also at an all-time low with diamonds and other metals used in jewelry being a lot more affordable than they were in the past. According to the Consumer Price Index, jewelry prices in the domestic market have been on a steady decline since 2012.
Similarly, lower oil prices have also brought down airfare and travel costs.
WalletHub has estimated that nearly 53 percent of women would end their relationship if they don’t receive anything this Valentine’s Day.
