Couples to curb expenditure on Valentine's Day celebrations: Assocham survey

Owing to an ongoing weak consumer sentiment, couples on this Valentine's Day are likely to curb their expenditure on items like jewellery and designer outfit, says survey by industry body Assocham.

Even as traditional things like flowers, chocolates, cosmetics and perfumes are leading the Valentine's Day gift list for majority of young couples, electronic gadgets like low-cost tablets, smart phones, i-pods and digital cameras are other most desirable gift options for couples this V-day.

This was revealed in survey of about 750 couples in the age group of 20-30 years to ascertain their plans on the V-Day and how do they wish to profess their love carried out by the Assocham Social Development Foundation (ASDF).

The survey was carried out in the cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Pune during November 2012 to January 2013.

Of the total, about 40 per cent respondents said they are holding the purse strings tight as far as V-Day spending is concerned and will spend only on traditional gifts while about 30 per cent said they would prefer to gift an electronic gadget to their love one.

Online spending on flowers is expected to strengthen as many respondents said they would log onto online flower retailers, where they can browse and compare prices against brick-and-mortar, makeshift flower shops, said the survey.

Besides, designer clothes, handbags and shoes are significant gift options for about 15 per cent couples. V-day is on falling a weekday this year, so many respondents said they would celebrate the evening by watching a movie followed by a dinner.

According to the survey, an average couple at the surveyed urban centre would spend about Rs 1,500-Rs 3,500 to celebrate the V-day.