Inflationary pressure and better awareness have pushed up the cost of celebrating this year’s Valentine’s Day by between 15 and 30 per cent higher than that of 2012 for many Nigerians, a survey conducted by our correspondent in Lagos on Thursday has shown.
At a quick service restaurant in Ikeja, a customer, Mr. Akinyemi Oke, said while he did not make any special preparation for the day, his expenditure for 2013 was between 30 and 40 per cent higher than it was in 2012.
Asked why he spent more, he said it was due to inflation.
“I really didn’t spend any money on preparation. I just decided to hangout today and have a nice time. Of course, it comes with expenses – seeing a movie, getting yourself a good meal and all that. My expenditure is higher by 30 to 40 per cent this year due to inflation,” Oke said.
At the Ikeja City Mall, a shopper, who preferred not to be named, said though she spent 15 per cent more than she did last year to get gifts for her husband, she bought less items this year because “things are very expensive this year.”
At another restaurant, Mr. Jonah Samuel, who was having lunch with his lover, explained that the high cost of things made him to spend about 25 per cent more than he did last year.
“If not for the promos and bonanzas that some companies are doing, it would have been more expensive. Even with the promos, it is still expensive,” he said.
A lady, who simply identified herself as Idowu, was seen purchasing books for her boyfriend. She said her Valentine expenses this year were 60 per cent higher than that of 2012.
“I don’t really celebrate Valentine. I just came to get books for my boyfriend because he loves books and I know he will appreciate them,” she said.
With lovers spending more to celebrate the day, businesses made quick sales. Most business owners, who spoke to our correspondent, said they recorded an increase in sales of up to 30 per cent in the week leading up to Val’s Day than they did last year.
Mr. Kabiru Mustapha, who works in a boutique at the Ikeja Shopping Mall, said there was significant increase in sales in the days leading up to lover’s day.
“We noticed an increase in the number of customers that came to the store this period. In terms of increase in sales, you can say between 20 and 25 per cent,” he said.
The Marketing Manager, UAC Restaurants, Mrs. Nnenna Azuka-Onwuka, said the increase in sales made by the company during the period was astronomical.
She explained that although the actual sales figure for Valentine’s Day had not been collated, the company was expecting a 100 per cent increase over the figure for last year.
“As a marketing person, I am expecting a 100 per cent increase in sales,” she said, adding, “Whether or not that will happen, I can only say when the celebration is over.”
Commenting on the experience of the company, which has brands such as Mr. Biggs and Village Kitchen, Azuka-Onwuka said, “We find that a lot of time during this period, there is a lot of demand for our cakes, especially, because Valentine, as people have come to associate it with, is a time for giving and one of the items that is mostly given is the cake. So, we also try to leverage on the demand for cake to increase the sale of our cakes in our restaurants.
“We also find that people usually take out time, whether it is on the weekday or weekend, to spend time with their loved ones away from home. With that, our experience has been that of increase in sales, not only for the cake. For the cake, there has been an astronomical increase and also increases for our other products.”
She, however, stressed that the sales were not just due to the Valentine’s Day celebrations.
“Our Valentine promotion tagged, ‘Join Biggs for true love and good food,’ has also seen our sales soar for the period,” she said.
“Customers who also made purchases up to N3,000 today (Thursday) are appreciated with a gift of either a mug, a car key ring or a handcrafted Mr. Bigg’s key ring,” Azuka-Onwuka added.