MasterCard Love Index

Travel, jewellery top Valentine’s Day shopping list in the Middle East, reveals MasterCard Love Index

The move to digital and online shopping shows no sign of slowing down but when it comes to love, shoppers want to get physical. Today MasterCard has revealed that when it comes to expressing love, shoppers around the globe prefer the personal touch by picking out presents in store for their Valentine.

The “MasterCard Love Index” showcases global shopper behaviour in over 200 countries around the world and was created by analysing credit, debit and prepaid card transactions over a three-year period between 11-14 February in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Index not only looked at the volume of spending and the amount spent but also analysed the types of spending associated with Valentine’s Day around the world.

The MasterCard Love Index reveals several interesting insights into Valentine’s Day spending habits in the Middle East, including a substantial spike witnessed in travel spending, with hotels accounting for 43% of the transactions made in the region.

It also confirms the status of jewellery as a popular regional form of expressing love, with the Middle East emerging as the region where shoppers are most likely to spend money on these gifts in celebration of Valentine’s Day (23%). The Index also lists the Middle East as the only region to see an increase in Valentine’s Day card purchases (107%), reflecting the value the region’s residents continue to place on the element of personal touch.

Overall consumer spending in the build-up to Valentine’s Day has increased in every region from 2013 to 2015 by an average of 22% and the data also revealed that many people are moving away from gifts and grand gestures in the pursuit of experience and the creation of memories.

“Where you live can have a big impact on how you shop or the experiences and memories you look to create. The MasterCard Love Index provides insights on global and regional purchasing trends to help retailers and other merchants make Valentine’s Day celebrations a little more personal and priceless,” commented Raghu Malhotra, President, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard.

The study identified a range of purchasing trends, highlighting some notable differences around the globe:

• The personal touch: Globally, 90% of shoppers made purchases in-person, whereas only 6% preferred to make their transactions online. Europeans made the most of buying online with over a fifth (21%) of transactions taking place via the internet.

•  Experiences over physical items: Spending patterns across the globe show an increasing number of people are treating their loved ones to meals in restaurants (33%) and hotel stays (28%). Shoppers in Latin America (54%) and the United States (38%) saw the majority of transactions in their regions at restaurants, while the Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East regions preferred to get away from it all by prioritising hotel stays.

• Still saying it with flowers: In general, there was a slight decline in the sale of flowers and cards during the three years. However, Latin Americans are bucking this trend by almost doubling their spending on flowers (92%) during this period. The Middle East is the only region to show an increase in purchases of cards, and that by a significant 107%.

“As the world continues the move to digital-first, it is interesting to see that when it comes to romance we still need the personal touch. Rather than trusting our gestures of love to the digital world it appears we still need the reassurance of choosing our purchases in person and that when it comes to saying ’I love you’ on Valentine’s Day we prefer experiences over material goods,” Malhotra concluded.

Global Valentine’s Day spending patterns by region: