Valentine’s Day in Australia: what women want and what men really think

What are the expectations of Aussies towards the holiday of love? What does the perfect Valentine’s Day look like according to women and men? Which gifts are the most expected and which should be avoided? Picodi Analysis Team decided to look into one of the most commercialised holidays in the world and check how much love is still there.

The popularity of this holiday is evident if you look at the number of Australians who declare that they celebrate Valentine’s Day — a staggering 60%. Although an overwhelming majority of people prepare a surprise mainly for their significant other, there are some who don’t leave out their friends (14%) or relatives (2%).

An average Aussie is going to spend A$141 on a Valentine’s Day gift. Men spend around A$33 more than women do: A$146 vs A$113.

What’s interesting is that more than half (53%) of Australians don’t think about Valentine’s Day gifts until February. This is consistent with Picodi’s internal data, according to which we can observe a spike in shopping activity around two weeks before Valentine’s Day. Especially in demand are products such as jewellery or perfumes. 16% of Australians leave shopping until the last moment — 13th and 14th of February.

Women’s take on Valentine’s Day

What is it that sparks joy in a woman’s heart on Valentine’s Day – a gift, displays of affection and love or perhaps a promise of commitment? The survey results show that both material and non-material aspects are equally important for the majority of women (53%). 14% of women find gifts to be important on Valentine’s Day whereas 33% of respondents would rather spend time with their partner.

Women chose flowers (63%), plush toys (47%), jewellery (46%), handmade gifts (37%) and Valentine’s Day cards (32%)to be the perfect Valentine’s Day gift whereas cosmetics and hygiene products (21%), home appliances (20%), sex toys (19%) and candies or chocolates (16%) were deemed as unpopular gift choices. Interestingly, flowers were also voted as the least desirable gift by 15% of the surveyed women.

What is the perfect way to spend Valentine’s Day according to women? The survey results don’t give the perfect recipe for a successful Valentine’s Day date, however, among the most popular activities were having a romantic dinner in a restaurant (42%), going to the movies (36%), making love (31%), watching a movie at home (29%) and cooking dinner together (27%).

It turns out that seeing a play is a bad idea (31%), same as playing board games (18%), relaxing doing nothing (13%), going to a concert (11%) or going out of town (10%).

Men’s take on Valentine’s Day

The answers of the surveyed men show that pleasing them can be more difficult than pleasing women. 20% of men expect a material gift from their partner, 37% does not want any gifts but they would like to spend time together with their significant other and 43% declares that they would like to get both.

The most desired gifts:

• Electronic devices (43%)
• Valentine’s Day card (36%)
• Flowers (30%)
• Money (29%)
• Perfumes (29%)

The least desired gifts:

• Valentine’s Day card (24%)
• Candies/chocolates (23%)
• Underwear (21%)
• Plush toys (14%)
• Flowers (14%)

Valentine’s Day cards and flowers seem to have stirred quite a controversy among men since they voted those items as both the most and least desirable gifts.

What does the perfect Valentine’s Day look for men? In this case, they partially agree with the fairer sex: men would like to go to the cinema or a restaurant, take a romantic bath, make love and go out of town. The list of unfortunate Valentine’s Day dates among men looks almost the same as the one compiled by women.

Because the thought is all that matters

On average Australians spend A$141 on gifts (around $101), which places them in the top 10 of the ranking. They spend less than British people ($124) and Singaporeans ($103) but more than Germans ($76).

Valentine’s Day drives the economy the most in Ireland, Thailand and the UK, where more than $120 is spent on average on gifts. People don’t splurge on gifts in India ($35), Belarus ($34) and the Philippines ($33).

Want to prepare a romantic dinner for your significant other? Or maybe order some food and enjoy a movie night? Regardless of your plans, Picodi will help you save money with cashback and discount codes offered in shops such as THE ICONIC, Edible Blooms, Sephora, Floraly and Gifts Australia.

Methodology

This report is based on results of a survey conducted in the second half of January 2019 among 6400 people from 38 countries where Valentine’s Day is celebrated. For currency conversion, we used the average exchange rate for January 2019.

Public Use

Are you willing to share the information and infographics about Valentine’s Day in Australia and other countries with your readers? Feel free to use all the data and infographics presented in this report for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage.