Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and this year, search interest started earlier than last year. Google shopping is a great way to drive online traffic during seasonal events like Valentine's, but the e-commerce scene is set to be rather competitive for retailers.

In 2021, Valentine’s Day spending totalled £891 million, with In-home food and drink topping as the category with the highest figures for consumer spending, rounding up to a generous 29% of all spending.

This year, 1 in 10 shoppers plan to spend more than they did last year’s Valentine’s Day shopping and 65% of shoppers are planning on spending around the same amount. 

Having a Google Premier Partner status means that we were lucky to get our hands on the latest data and predictions for Valentine’s Day. We’ve rounded up the 3 main trends that will be important to keep in mind when working on Shopping ads this year.  

Trend 1 - Continued online purchasing

The pandemic shifted Valentine’s gift shopping and related searches online. This year, consumers will continue to shop for Valentine’s online, but Google’s data shows they’re likely to spend more compared to 2021 and 2020.

When lockdown shifted shopping to online, the gifting side of the online shopping experience wasn’t excluded from the change. When comparing the year-on-year growth, we see a growth of +87% in February 2021 compared to March 2020. In 2022, online gifting is set to continue to grow, with search demand for ‘gifts’ still higher than the pre-pandemic figures, 17% YoY Growth vs 67% Yo2Y growth.

When deciding which gifts to buy for Valentine’s Day, 24.3% of shoppers said good reviews are the most important thing they look at, 21% look at the cost of the products while12.6% pointed out they care the most about delivery times.

Trend 2 - Inspiration and discovery online

Nowadays, shoppers are going online not just to make purchases, but also to find inspiration and discover new brands and products. 

Google’s internal data shows that when looking at the journey to discovery and inspiration, Valentines’ Day goes beyond romance. In 2021, there were 2M searches for ‘gifts for family’ (+92% YoY), 1M searches for ‘gifts for children’ (72% YoY), an increase of +72% in searches for ‘gifts for friends’ and a +22% increase in ‘gifts for the dog’.

Keyword searches are specific for Valentine’s Day. When searching for ideas and inspiration, users tend to use searches for ‘him’ and for ‘her’. Searches for ‘him’ appeared to be nearly 3 times higher than searches for ‘her’ in the latest reports.  

Additionally, Finder found that consumers are seeing Valentine’s Day as an opportunity for self-love. 25% of UK shoppers plan to buy themselves something for Valentine’s Day, spending an average of £21.40 this year.  

Online browsing for inspiration and discovery is resulting in more brand exposure. Because consumers are searching more, they are discovering more brands that they didn’t know before and this is resulting in more brand trials. Google’s recent report shows a +10% growth in new brand trial for fashion goods, a +20% growth for beauty and +16% growth for Home goods

Essentially there is more choice which is gradually leading to less loyalty towards brands.  

Trend 3 - Heightened focus on time together

This year more than ever consumers are focused on spending quality time with their loved ones in the comfort of their homes. It’s fair to say that lockdown may have boosted this further, as shoppers got used to spending time at home when restrictions were still in place.

For Valentine’s Day celebration, people are searching for ‘valentines recipes’ (+37% Yo2Y), ‘valentines breakfast ideas’ (+22% Yo2Y), ‘Valentines cupcakes’ (+36%).

So, what are consumers expecting this year?

Knowing your consumer well is key to providing exactly what they’re searching for in their shopping journey.

Quality and thoughtfulness are at the core of consumers’ shopping decisions. When planning your marketing campaigns and when creating your shopping ads, know that they prioritise these 2 elements, even over product value.

Shoppers will be searching for ‘personalised’ Valentine’s gifts (60% increase in searches), ‘homemade’ valentine’s gifts (there’s a 90% increase in searches).

Consumers are less concerned about prizes now because quality is the priority. Google’s testing has seen a -10% decrease in searches for ‘cheap’ Valentine's gifts.              

Our Incremental Sales software has helped hundreds of retailers beat the competition and increase their revenue. If you need help with your Shopping campaigns, making sure you’re at full potential ahead of Valentine’s Day, contact our team here and they’ll be more than happy to help.

 Image@Unsplash