Flowers emerged as the top gifted category followed by chocolates and teddy bears during Valentine’s season 2023
Flowers continued to be the top gifted item generating a high volume of business across gifting platforms this Valentine’s, which provided crisp businesses for various players including gifting platforms.“In 2023, orders doubled as compared to 2022,” said Tarun Joshi, founder & chief executive officer of gifting platform IGP, giving an idea of the kind of businesses Valentine’s season means for retailers.
Major selling categories
Red roses being the symbol of love were the top-selling item during Valentine’s week, which starts on 7February (Rose Day) and on 14 February.During this period IGP.com alone sold 7 lakh roses.
“Red roses with different arrangements along with Valentine’s Day special personalised products, gift hampers and cakes were among the top-selling items on the site,” shared Joshi of IGP.
Besides roses, the gifting platform sold 100 tonnes of flowers and 1.25 lakh hampers.
It also sold 10 tonnes of chocolate just on the Chocolate Day (9 February) and 50,000 teddy bears on Teddy Bear Day (10 February) which fell in the middle of the Valentine’s week.
Archies, one of the oldest players in India’s gifting segment reported a similar trend. “Soft Toys contributed to 8% of total revenues, mugs contributed to 6% of total revenues and photo frames contributed to 4.5-5% of total revenues,” said Varun Moolchandani, executive director, Archies Ltd.
Revenue
“Due to the huge demand, revenue is also higher during Valentine’s week. In fact, the whole month of February is joyous for the retailers as the sales are generally higher in this or in any festive month as compared to normal days,” said Moolchandani.
In 2023, IGP saw an 80% increase in sales with a surge in orders by five times. “On normal days, the sales keep fluctuating depending on the occasion such as birthdays and anniversaries but Valentine’s week is the time when high sales are expected,” said Joshi.
Metros Vs Non-Metros
Metro cities have an abundance of options, therefore, the high expectation of sales is from tier 2 cities. And the non-metros didn’t disappoint. Archies experienced a growth in sales from tier 2 and 3 cities during Valentine’s Week 2023. “Metro cities have seen great exposure and are spoilt for choice due to innumerable options. On the other hand, consumers in non-metro cities are still in the process of budding,” said Moolchandani.
However, for IGP.commetro contributed to good sales too. “Our analysis revealed that customers in metros like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai purchased nearly 200% more gifts than in 2019,” said Joshi from IGP.
He also revealed that Delhi NCR emerged as the biggest consumer of Valentine’s Day gifts in India, buying twice as many gifts as Mumbai or Bengaluru.
“Delhi is also the biggest market for flowers and online gifts. Couples in Delhi and Mumbai mostly get Valentine’s Day hampers, contributing to 35% of the total Valentine’s Day hampers sold on IGP. While customers from Hyderabad and Bengaluru prefer buying personalized home decor. Delhi and Bengaluru buy the most personalized gifts, with Delhi buying 35% more than Bengaluru,” he added.
