Mobile Marketers: Target Established Couples On Valentine's Day, Not Dating Apps
- by Ben Frederick @mp_benfred, February 12, 2016
In 2015,
the average amount spent on Valentine’s Day was $140 per person, or a total of $19 billion. Quixey projects that 23% of people will use their phone to coordinate at least half of their plans,
while 36% will use apps to make dinner reservations, or buy chocolates and flowers. Based on that, the potential mobile spend on Valentine’s Day is $6.9 billion.
eMarketer posits slightly higher numbers: $4.50 billion will be spent on an evening out, $4.45 billion will be spent on jewelry, $2.02 billion will be spent on clothing and $1.99 billion on flowers.
However, those spending heavily on dating apps before the big day may mistime the market, as it would appear that warmer seasons bring warmer feelings.
According to mobile marketing firm Liftoff, spring is the season of love, or at least, dating apps. Compared to any other season, spring has the highest amount of dating app downloads, on average 131.7% higher. Conversely, fall is the worst time for dating, with 36.6% of subscriptions dropping for both males and females.
Those who date also spend differently depending on how and where they met, eMarketer says. Users coming from online dating sites like Match.com spend on average $24.30 on their first date, while using dating apps like Tinder or Bumble averaged $19.20.
If however, one meets someone through friends and family, the average amount spent on a date is $46.10.
