Love is in the Air... Valentine's Installations!

Valentines Day used to be a much larger affair in the retail sector. I'm not sure why - maybe the consumer has become more cynical? Or is it petrol forecourt flowers and a box of chocolates on the way home as an after thought? Easter takes up a lot of the seasonal aisle space from boxing day onwards so Valentine's utilises the flower and the impulse purchase spaces in shops. Either way we love installing seasonal displays that involve chocolate!

The economic down turn is not so bad for supermarket retailers around Valentine's Day as people opt for smaller tokens of their love rather than the romantic getaways and trips away. It will be a telling time for the likes of Thornton's who have seen their market share dissected by rival chocolate brands offering quality, organic and fair trade. Their strategy amidst massive growth over the last few years has de-valued their product to such an extent they seem to be missing the point as consumer ethics and tastes change.

Will the champagne wars continue? Christmas was great, we all made the most of the promotions on champers that all the supermarkets had. Will we see a repeat of this in the run up to Valentine's Day? I certainly hope so - great excuse to stock up! The consumers always win when supermarkets decide to go head to head on a particular category.

Card sales are always consistent and there is always a need for good quality robust display stands over this period across different types of stores.  A good example here of an FSDU for Valentine's cards, manufactured by Derwent Displays. 

It's an interesting one for the jewellery sector - times have been tough for jewellers and even Tiffany's were reporting weak trading over the Christmas period and profit shares down so Valentine's may well be the pick me up they need. I wouldn't complain at a certain someone boosting their sales a bit!

Worth around £1.6 billion to the UK economy, where did it all start?

Valentine's Day can be traced right back to Roman times as February 14th was the day that honoured Juno, the Queen of all Gods and Goddesses, and was celebrated as the day of love and marriages. Saint Valentine was martyred on this day for marrying couples in secret after Emperor Claudius II banned marriages whilst on a military recruitment drive. In more recent times our modern Valentine's day card and gift giving started in the 1800's in America and has grown in popularity since.

Frank Sinatra - My Funny Valentine

The rose is red, the violet's blue
The honey's sweet, and so are you
Thou are my love and I am thine
I drew thee to my Valentine
The lot was cast and then I drew
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.