What’s for Valentine’s?
More and more people opting for personalised gifts to express their affection
VALENTINE’S Day. Love it or hate it, ‘tis the time for love and exchanging gifts with loved ones, whether you’re in a relationship or not. While many hopeless romantics still buy gifts off the shelf, experts say more and more people are opting for personalised gifts rather than flowers, wine and chocolate.
“Personalised gifts are always popular. It’s much better to have a gift that has your name on it. It shows that more thought and effort has gone into the gift. Red roses are definitely our top sellers on Valentine’s Day – but that isn’t really different from the years before,” says Net Florist’s Andrea Hicks.
The 2018 Mastercard Love Index indicates that the majority of Valentine’s Day purchases are made just before the actual day with most purchases made on the 11th of February. The index analyses the debit, credit and prepaid transactions made during the month of love.
So, what are the trends and who does the buying, men or women?
“It’s mostly the ladies who are buying so far, but things could possibly change in the next few days as people start realising how close Valentine’s Day is,” says Hicks, adding that no real difference in terms of gifts has been noticed since last year.
Meanwhile, online gift shop Gift Lady’s marketing executive Laura Endeacott says you can never go wrong with chocolate.
Endeacott points out that it is not only couples who are buying gifts, and that personalised hampers for ‘singles’ or loved ones are also popular during this period. “It’s not about relationships only,” she said.
Meanwhile, local florists are expecting good trade on Thursday when Valentine’s Day is celebrated.
Maria Oliphant, of Howden’s Florist in Musgrave, said red roses were still by far the most popular Valentine’s Day gesture.
“There is always a demand for red roses on this day. While couples may choose to give other gifts, they are almost always accompanied by roses for the fairer sex,” she said.
While she was expecting a good trade, Oliphant said she noticed that clients were not buying the same quantities like they previously did.
“We used to sell about 3500 roses two days before Valentine’s day but we are down to 1 000 roses. Previously people used to buy in dozens, some now opt to for maybe six roses. Our customers are squeezed for cash and it comes down to their affordability,” Oliphant said.
Meikel Shiv, who works at a florist in Durban North, said he was expecting a bumper Valentine’s Day trade.
“We have a huge order coming in tomorrow. It will fill up our warehouse. I am going to receive more than ten thousand roses from our big branch in Gauteng,” he said.
Shiv said Valentine’s Day was like Christmas because that was when florists made money.
“Every florist will tell you, this is like a Christmas to us. This is the time of year that we look forward to because we receive so many orders and on day sales,” Shiv said.
He said among the high-end roses they had available were the Ethiopian roses which were available in a variety of colours.
“But it is more expensive than the original red rose,” he said.
Other unique roses you can find in shop are those that have been sprayed gold.