Gift Giving Guy

It’s love, American style. The National Retail Federation released its Valentine’s Day intentions survey of 8,447 U.S. consumers.

How will Americans spend February 14th this year?

• 61.3 percent of consumers are expected to celebrate Valentine’s Day 2008. For young adults ages 18 to 24, 72.4 percent plan to keep Cupid busy on the 14th.
• By U.S. region, Valentine’s Day is most popular in the South (64.9 percent), followed by the North East (60.9 percent), the West (60.6 percent), and the Midwest (58.4 percent).
• Consumers plan to spend $17.02 billion for 2008 Valentine’s Day gifts, up from $16.90 billion in 2007.
• On average, that spending comes to $122.98 per consumer for Valentine’s Day. Adults ages 25 to 34 are expected spend the most, about $160 on average.
• Men plan to spend an average of $163.37. For women, the average gift total is expected to be $84.72.
• Most gift dollars ($79.99) go toward Valentine gifts for a spouse or significant other. Americans also give to family members ($38.27), friends ($5.75), children’s classmates and teachers ($4.05) and co-workers ($3.02).
• For the first time, the NRF asked about Valentine presents for pets, which may receive an average of $15.37 in gifts, or $367 million.
• The most popular gift choice remains the Valentine card. But the favorite dropped in popularity from 62.8 percent in 2007 to 56.8 percent in 2008.
• Three other traditional Valentine gifts slipped slightly in popularity over last year: candy (47.7 percent, down 0.7 percent), flowers (35.9 percent, down 0.8 percent), and jewelry (16.6 percent, down 1.3 percent). But almost half of us plan “an evening out” (48.2 percent), an increase of 2.9 percent.