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Extra Features and Video Online FloristsReview.com R E A D O N L I N E 41 I t will soon be time to start (or continue, hopefully) planning for Valentine's Day, the fi rst big holiday of a brand-new year. In fact, Valentine's Day is the No. 1 holiday for fl orists in terms of the number of transactions, according to the Society of American Florists (SAF), and it is second only to Christmas/Hanukkah in dollars spent. To maximize profi ts during such a busy time, fl orists must be uber-organized and ultra-effi cient. In 2023, Valentine's Day will occur on a Tuesday, which, typically is a great day for the holiday to land on for fl orists. History refl ects that, more often than not, when the holiday occurs on a weekday, sales are typically around 10 percent higher, on average, than when it falls on a weekend day. Ideally, you will already have all of your cut fl owers and supplies ordered, but if not, start planning now (or the minute Christmas is over), and get ready for what could be one of your best Valentine's Day ever (pent-up demand and all that!). e outlook for consumer spending for Valentine's Day 2023 is good. e most recent " Valentine's Day Consumer Spending Survey," commissioned by the National Retail Federation (NRF), shows that Valentine's Day spending in 2022 reached $23.9 billion, an increase of $2.1 billion (9.6 percent) over 2021. e NRF also reports that individual spending in 2022 was $175.41 per person, up 6.5 percent from $164.76 in 2021. Although the consumer spending numbers for Valentine's Day in 2022 are higher than those in 2021, they are, understandably, down from the all-time pre-COVID highs in 2020 of $27.4 billion in total spending and $196.31 per individual. e good news is that those numbers rebounded in 2022, and the 2022 numbers are the second highest since NRF began conducting the annual survey in 2004. What are consumers buying for Valentine's Day? According to the NRF survey, candy remains the most popular Valentine's Day gift, with 56 percent of the people surveyed choosing this gift category in 2022. Greeting cards took second place, with 40 percent of survey respondents buying them, and fl owers came in third, with 37 percent. An evening out and jewelry took the fourth and fi fth spots, respectively. ese gift category rankings have remained relatively consistent since 2010 except for 2016 and 2017, when spending on an evening out surpassed spending on fl owers. NOTE: Spending on fl owers for Valentine's Day has never reached higher than 38 percent of consumers making gift purchases.

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