For many couples, Valentine’s Day is an important date to celebrate their love by taking a romantic trip, going out for a romantic meal or exchanging special gifts. For others, it’s an expensive and hollow annoyance. For retailers and marketers, Valentine’s Day is the first major sales date of the year. Criteo delved into its data from 2018 to see what they could expect to see from shoppers this time around.

How Did US Consumers Share Love During Valentine’s Day 2018?

• A whopping 9x more flowers than usual were sold online on Monday, Feb 12, 2018 — just two days before Valentine’s Day.
• 3x more flowers than usual are ordered the same day, showing great confidence in same-day delivery.
• Last Valentine’s Day happened on a Wednesday in 2018, so most lovers buying online placed their orders a few days ahead and before the weekend.
• During the weekend, the share of orders made on mobile devices increased from 32% to up to 53%.
• Conversion rates climb up to 164% higher than usual in the days leading up to the event.

A Figure Shows the Daily Share of Mobile Sales in the US During Valentine’s Day 2018

Methodology:

Data in this study based on an analysis of over 5.0 million mobile and desktop shopping transactions from Flowers and Gifts clients in the United States from January 1, 2018, to February 20, 2018.