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Valentine's Day: Retailers' big love fest
Israeli businesses get ready to make financial killing estimated at $21M as 50% of Israelis buy romantic gifts on Christian holiday
As more then half of Israel's
population prepares to celebrate Valentine's Day
on Tuesday, the major retailers are also getting ready – to make a financial killing.
A new Durex company survey finds that about 50% of Israelis celebrate the Christian holiday. According to a poll conducted by the Bandman Market Research Institute, 13% of Israelis celebrate Valentine's Day annually, whereas 38% only mark the holiday every once in a while. Some 470 people between the ages of 18-69 participated in the poll.
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However it appears that the big winners on this day are not necessarily the lovey-dovey couples who receive heart-shaped boxes and liquor-filled bonbons, but rather the companies selling the romantic goodies.
Annually, the Israeli market sees about NIS 80 million ($21 million) in revenues on Valentine's Day, claims Delta CEO Tzvika Schwimmer. In the United States that number is much higher, rolling in at nearly $10.3 billion.
Schwimmer expects Israeli sales to increase by 30% in 2012 compared with last year's figures. Studies also show that women are the main consumers on Valentine's Day, buying gifts to pamper their significant other.
It turns out that the average Israeli spends around NIS 150-200 ($40-53) on cellular phone accessories related to Valentine's Day.
Meanwhile, there are those who have no plans to celebrate the festival of love. Moshe and Hadassah, both 83 years old, explain: "For us the entire year is a holiday. We've never celebrated Valentine's Day because it's not our holiday."
Daniel Edelson, Yehudit Yahav and Dana Lanzer contributed to the report
