Are you the one percent?
No, this has nothing to do with economic status. This one percent claque consists of consumers who have waited until February 14 to begin shopping for Valentine’s Day, according to research from Alliance Data Systems. (This cohort is apparently price-insensitive when it comes to roses, a dozen of which on this day retail for somewhere near the gross national product of Tonga.)
Turns out there’s a fairly even distribution regarding when people start shopping in honor of Cupid: In addition to those frantically pawing through the remaining worse-for-the wear Whitman’s Sampler boxes today, 2% didn’t start shopping until Feb. 13, with another 10% beginning to Hallmark their love a few days before.
Those 13% are roughly equal to the 11% who begin planning for the day more than a month in advance. The majority of respondents –53% — turn on their heartlights between one and a few weeks in advance.
There will always be a segment of society who, panic-stricken by the holiday, will wait until the last minute to shop. (This group is easy to identify: They are the ones who believe owners of chocolate or perfume shops that close before midnight on the 13th should be put to death.)
For, you see, Valentine’s Day is still primarily a retailer’s holiday. Fifty-nine percent will buy through retailers, while only 12% anticipate only online purchases. Twenty nine percent say they will do both, a category that likely includes a disproportionate number of the overachievers who started their shopping shortly after the New Year.
Only 3% of those surveyed said they would use a mobile device or tablet to make their purchase, while another 12% weren’t sure.
As it happens, Alliance Data Systems doesn’t hold with such penalties – at least, not publicly. Instead, the firm asked what would motivate consumers to begin shopping earlier than usual.
Discounts and promotions through email, text messages and direct mail topped the list at 46%. Assuming the goal is to book sales early, I’d like to see the results of tests that offer discounts that prominently state they expire on, say, Feb. 12, in an attempt to pull consumers in earlier.
What else would get folks shopping earlier? Gift suggestions from one’s significant other came in second, at 29%. For the gift-giving impaired, Valentine’s Day contains emotional landmines unequaled by any other holiday: Not only does the gift have to be the right gift, it has to be the right romantic gift. And unlike, say, Christmas, an off-note gift can’t be mitigated by the presence of a variety of offerings.
The next three motivating factors – themed catalogs from retailers (14%), TV, radio and web commercials (10%) and ideas and suggestions from retailers (7%) land about where one would suspect. Sure, merchant ideas don’t hurt, but the best suggestions marketers can offer are those that get us talking with our loved ones about how best to navigate the day.
In some cases, however, conversation isn’t an option. Fully 9% of respondents anticipate buying a Valentine’s Day gift for a pet – a figure roughly equal to those who say they will buy something for themselves. Ah, well… at least these are two groups that likely won’t complain – at least, not verbally – about whatever is purchased.
Alliance Data Systems based its findings off 611 panelists from the MyShopinion.com panel. The research was fielded in late January.
