By Sarah Montano, Professor of Retail Marketing
Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham
Valentine’s Day is once again upon us, the day when consumers are expected to show their love for their significant other via the medium of retail! Supermarkets have replaced their Christmas aisles with a sea of red roses and cute bears, whilst at the luxury end of the market, Tiffany & Co’s homepage features an array of jewellery gifts.
Why is Valentine’s Day important to the retail sector and what are the top trends for gift giving in 2025?
Importance for retailers
We have just emerged from the most important celebration time in the retail calendar: Christmas, known as the Golden Quarter. Taking place between October to December, the Golden Quarter is often the busiest and most profitable time of year for retailers. In 2024, Christmas was challenging for many retailers with sales over the last three months of the year only up 0.4% on the previous year. After a lacklustre Christmas, Valentine’s Day success will be essential, particularly for key categories of retail such as the flower market. One of the most traditional gifts at Valentine’s Day are flowers with 250 million stems of flowers sold.
How much will customers spend to get retail profits ringing? It’s predicted that UK consumers will spend £1.37 billion on gifts, with spending up this year, driven by consumers in the age 25-34 segment who are keen to celebrate. Average spend is predicted to be just over £50 per person.
There’s one certainty in retail and that is that trends will change. Retailers adapt to these changing trends by launching new ranges of products. So, let’s take a look at what’s trending in 2025.
Retail trends
One area of focus will be gifts for the kidult, which we also saw at Christmas. Kidults are older consumers who like toys and games. There are many reasons why this segment is growing. The biggest impact on the rise of the kidult was COVID when no one could go out and so adults rediscovered their love of toys and games. Kidults point to the fact that toys are fun, but also that they’re good for mental health. For retailers, a growing market is a profitable one, with this market now worth £1bn per year.
This Valentine’s Day there are many retailers keen to profit from this market and there are two particularly popular choices. Firstly, Jellycats have been a rising trend driven by TikTok. With Jellycat cafes, Fish and Chip shops and even a Grocery Store these huggable friends have become a popular choice and this Valentine’s Day you can “Share the Gift of Joy” with squishy bunnies, love locks and bag charms amongst many others. LEGO, no longer a brand just for children, have an array of gifts for the kidult including a bouquet of roses and love bears! LEGO point out that play is not just good for children but also for adults as it helps their mental well-being. Adult Fans of LEGO, known as AFOL, even have a community site at Brickish where they share builds and ideas. For LEGO, targeting adults with 18+ sets means more profits and opportunities to sell expensive sets such as the Millennium Falcon at £734.99 and the Eiffel Tower at £554.99.
For most customers, gifts are exchanged with the average spend being about £65, however, for those perhaps seeking to make their partnership more permanent and make a proposal, there is the option of some nice sparkles! In fact, Tiffany & Co. state that in 1886 they created their engagement ring with the tag line that this is “the ultimate expression of true love.” Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular days for a proposal with approximately 12% of proposals taking place. Although that is a rather expensive expression of love!
A key retail trend is that of personalisation. Rather than give a generic gift of flowers there is an increase in spending on meaningful and personal gifts. Even Apple offer customers the ability to have some of their products engraved. Furthermore, this personalisation strategy can be extended to experiences. The experience economy and now the moments economy is a key trend with customers seeking experience and making memories rather than just buying more products.
With the cost of living and rising prices, the romantic dinner for two has seen a shift from dining out to in. This trend has become increasingly popular, facilitated by the main supermarkets. Rather than pay for a meal out, customers are able to create restaurant style romantic meals via the popular dine in deal. Most deals are a combination of a starter, main, side, dessert, and a beverage all for around £20.
Galentine’s Day
Of course, not everyone is in a partnership or has someone to celebrate with and so Valentine’s Day can be a difficult and not a happy time for those who are bereaved or alone. In 2022, there were 8.3 million people living alone, representing 30% of all households. To recognise that some will not want to celebrate on the 14th, we have the rising trend of Galentine’s Day. First popularised in the 2010s in the TV Show Parks and Recreation, Galentine’s Day has emerged as a key date and trend where women celebrate the power of female friendship. From parties to lunches to exchanging small gifts, Galentine’s Day is now another opportunity for retailers, with some retailers having dedicated Galentine’s sections on their websites. Customers’ searches for Galentine’s Day are up 23% this year with retailers offering the aforementioned meal deals, best friend mugs, beauty products, jewellery and candles.
The changing trends of kidults, dine in and the moments economy reflect the changes in society and the economic challenges currently faced. What has not changed is that love is something many of us still wish to celebrate, with Valentine’s and Galentine’s continuing to be key dates in the retail calendar where retailers are keen to maximise profits and customers are keen to buy to show their love.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Birmingham.