Author: Ana Gagoshvili
The biggest gift that the capitalism gets during the holidays is the robust shopping of the consumers all over the world.
The biggest gift that the capitalism gets during the holidays is the robust shopping of the consumers all over the world.
This article examines the economics of two recent international holidays. Valentine’s day and International Women’s Day.
Valentine’s day
For some people, Valentine’s day may be defined as Hallmark Holiday, but whether we take it seriously or not, from the economic point of view one thing is for certain. The money spent on flowers, chocolates, perfumes or lovely romantic events have a significant effect on the economy.
Do the majority love or loathe the 14’s of February? While the answer might be logical let’s explore the situation in the US and prove the opinions by numbers. According to the data collected by National Retail Federation of US, Valentine's Day is an important date for the U.S. economy. The average American spends $143.56 on gifts, with total planned nationwide spending $19.6 billion. On average, 55 percent of people celebrate it with jewelry ($4.7 billion), an evening out ($3.7 billion) and flowers ($2.0 billion) the top spending categories.
Furthermore, the trend of spendings on/for Valentine's day has been increasing. This year spending will contribute US economy by $19.6 billion, while last year it was accounted for $18.2 billion and in 2016 and 2015 it was $18.6 billion $17.4 respectively.
Those numbers have a quite powerful repercussion on the economy. As consumer spending drives approximately 70% of the output which is one of the largest components of GDP.
14th of February is the best time for companies to adapt their marketing strategy accordingly and increase their profits. For example, the sales of Jewelry shops increase during this period as 50% of marriage proposals happen on Valentine’s Day, and on Bing.com, rings generated the most search traffic during the first seven days of February. In 2016, American consumers spent $4.5 billion on jewelry for Valentine’s Day.
Americans spend quite a bit of money to show their love on Valentines’day:
Data taken from: Statistic Brain Research Institute
Besides the above-mentioned purchases, it should be said that Hotels take the lion’s share of Valentine’s day accommodation.
source: https://www.thebalance.com
Despite this, the chocolate stands as the romantic major. The table below shows the top purchased products, the percentage who buy them and how much they spend in total for the year 2018.
Purchase
|
Percent
|
Billions spent
|
Chocolate
|
55 %
|
$1.8
|
Greeting Cards
|
44,9 %
|
$1.0
|
Evening out
|
35.2%
|
$3.7
|
Flowers
|
35.6%
|
$2.0
|
Jewelry
|
19%
|
$4.7
|
However a slightly opposite situation could be noticed in the previous years, where loved ones preferred gifts of experience in other words an evening out.
Spendings by Categories
That’s how capitalism celebrates the day of romantic love in many regions around the world even though it is not a public holiday in any country.
Women’s day
With efforts dating back to early 1908, International Women’s day is celebrated annually and is named as an official holiday in more than two dozen countries. Flowers are gifted to women around the globe as a recognition of Women’s day.
While 8th of March stands as a press for progress on gender equality the economic activity behind this celebration is worth paying attention to.
Brands are running campaigns in support of International women’s day:
Only about 30 percent of The Economist's 1.4 million print and digital subscribers are women and the publisher wants to change this.
It has created an online hub featuring interviews with women such as Zaha Hadid, Maye Musk (mother of Elon Musk) and activist Betty Friedan, which is being promoted by an outdoor ad campaign in the U.K. launched on Thursday.
The campaign is part of a broader initiative to grow its "globally curious" target audience, which has an even gender split.[1]
Bottles of some Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskey look a little bit different since the beginning of March, with the brand's famous striding man being replaced by a woman, Jane Walker. $1 from each bottle will be donated to the organizations, championing women’s causes.
Interesting activities can be noticed in China, where the term “She economy” was coined by China’s education ministry in 2007 and is expected to account for $700 billion by 2019.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese retailers are cashing in on International Women’s Day, offering coupons and discounts on sportswear, cosmetics and healthcare to get women to spend more, dubbing the day “Queens’ Day” and “Goddesses’ Day”.[2]
One gym pushed memberships by saying “it only takes three months to become a queen”, while Alibaba encouraged shoppers to “give life to your women-power”.
However, the highest proportion of benefits on 8th of March comes on flower shops. As the price of flowers surges on International Women’s Day. As for example the owner of “Jerome Florists” says the price on flowers increases by 40-50% during holidays. Even the typical floral shop might do eight to ten times the volume than it would on a typical business day.
As we see love is quite valuable even though it is absent from the national accounts. And its economic value is determined by chocolates, flowers and similar gift cards that add some kind of fun and flavor to our celebration.
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