Valentine's Day retail spending in the UK 2017-2022

From fashion to luxury, food and leisure, Valentine’s Day has successfully found itself a pocket in the retail and service economy on a global scale. In the United Kingdom (UK) alone, Valentine’s Day spending is predicted to jump to 990 million British pounds in 2022, marking an increase of nearly 15 percent compared to the previous year. Since 2017, overall expected spending had increased by just over 300 million British pounds.

Buzzkill Valentine's Day gifts

Receiving a gift can be a very thrilling experience. Unfortunately, some gifts do not spark as much joy as others. In 2021, approximately one in five women in the UK said they would not want to receive a gift card or a lingerie set as a Valentine's Day gift. For men, the most unwanted gift of the year was a Valentine's Day card, with more than 40 percent of male respondents indicating they would not be happy with such a present.

Romantic expectations

There were a number of items people in the UK were expecting to receive for Valentine's Day: although less than one in ten women did not want to receive flowers in 2021, approximately 40 percent of women were expecting to be gifted flowers nonetheless. A considerable share of UK women were also expecting jewelry or candy. Once again, romantic expectations among men were somewhat different, with over a third of respondents believing they would receive a gift card that year.