Over the years, online shopping for Valentine's Day has become a popular trend.
Brands never miss an opportunity to connect with their customers and this Valentine’s Day they are offering myriad options to express love. From in-flight gifting options to free gift vouchers to special airfares, companies have a lot to offer for a day that is emerging as one of the biggest festivals in India.
Talking to Moneycontrol, Raveendra Singh, Head of marketing and strategy at Adlabs Imagica, said, "Shift in consumer attitude can be largely attributed to the current Indian demographic, socio-economic conditions and lifestyle. Essentially a global observance, Valentine’s Day is thus gaining strong prominence in India over the years. This has unravelled a market that holds a huge opportunity for consumer and entertainment brands alike to tap into.”
In collaboration with UFO Moviez, Adlabs Imagica is offering a Valentine’s 'Special Staycation' package which entails watching movies under the stars available for weekends until February 23.
Singh said that the concept has seen a “good response with almost 100 couples opting for this special experience.”
“Simultaneously, we encouraged couples to celebrate February as the month of love at Imagica. Put together, these initiatives have contributed close to 10 percent of our business in the month of February,” he added.
According to Siddharth Bhardwaj, CMO, UFO Moviez, Valentine’s Day is an out-of-home opportunity. Agreeing with Bhardwaj, Singh said that out-of-home entertainment companies play a pivotal role in catering to the needs of this particular audience who wishes to celebrate Valentine’s Day in an unconventional way.
“To ensure new and memorable experiences, out-of-home companies need to be more creative and plan better than restaurants or venues that offer a preset ambiance,” Singh added.
Over the years, online shopping for Valentine's Day has become a popular trend. According to a recent survey by Giftease, an online gifting platform, over 50 percent of the people take to online shopping on V-Day.
Arvind Prabhakar, Co-Founder & CEO of GyFTR (Vouchagram), an online-to-offline (O2O) commerce solution platform, said that the e-gifting industry is expected to touch $4 billion by 2024 from $65 million at present.
“With the growing smartphone usage and the increasing adoption of digital payments, the e-gifting industry in the country is growing three-fold annually,” he added.
He further said, “While corporate gifting is enjoying a lion’s share of this booming market, it is the peer-to-peer gifting space, which is still in a nascent stage but is slated to be the fastest growing segment for gift cards in India in the next three to five years.”
GyFTR is offering free vouchers during Valentine's week from February 7 to 14. People can send free vouchers to shop across 135+ brands that GyFTR offers.
Highlighting how big an opportunity V-Day is for digital gifting platforms, Prabhakar said that his company saw its average sale of Rs 10 lakh per day increase to Rs 15 lakh per day owing to the #Freevoucher campaign during the Valentine month.
He also said that the increase in online spends during such occasions are actually playing a major role in the online shopping industry boom.
Airlines like IndiGo and Jet Airways are also trying to make this day special for its flyers. While Jet is allowing customers to pre-book a surprise from JetBoutique, IndiGo offered an all-inclusive fare starting at Rs 899 across domestic and Rs 3,399 across its international sectors from February 11 to 13.
The day may be all about love, but it is also about splurging and purchasing gifts, which spells business for companies.
