The Different types of Valentine’s Day Personas and their online behavior

Hate it or love it, Valentine’s Day is unstoppable and coming full force.  As an online store owner, you should know how to turn this day and the hype surrounding it to your business’ advantage. You need to prepare in advance to have the necessary strategy to handle the influx of visitors in search for the perfect gift for their special someone. 

The current shopping trends in terms of gifts have changed drastically over the last few years -partially due to the pandemic- and so teddy bears and a box of chocolates is not the only thing people buy anymore, but have rather extended their shopping horizons to cars, jewelry, furniture and more creative and sometimes more luxurious gifts as well.

The Types of Buyers  

In order to be able to capitalize on this holiday in the most efficient way, it is paramount for you to first understand the different types of Valentine’s Day buyer personas and their shopping habits. Let’s see them below:

The plan-in advance type of buyer

These are the people that like to plan ahead and be well prepared for every occasion, so it is not a surprise that they start their shopping journey a bit/a lot earlier than everyone else. To be able to attend to them, you also need to move fast and be prepared in advance. You could cater to their needs by creating pre-Valentine’s Day/Week(s) campaigns and have your stock ready to go. Think of how important it is to find the perfect gift for the people you love. And that type of decision weighs heavy on those buyers that like to explore the gifts scene and weigh their options. A great way to doing that is to reassure them that they are not early, they are simply more systematic. And so should be you! 

The on-the-go buyer

They like to be able to find the perfect gifts where ever they go or visit, so make sure your store is mobile-friendly and up and running, with fully stocked “shelves” and categories.

The last-minute buyer

They are the busy, always in-a-hurry type of people who joggle multiple things at the same time and occasions and holidays only add more pressure to their already overly crowded schedules, so they need last-minute campaigns with gift set ideas that are put together so all they need to do is just click “add to cart” and keep it moving.

The love-myself buyer

When we think of Valentine’s Day, we tend to think of couples- however, people who aren’t in a couple but instead love themselves are also a relevant segment in the buyers’ sea of people and many opt to treat themselves for Valentine’s Day. Make sure your product palette also includes singles products meant for people who feel complete on their own.

Now that you know what type of crowds you are potentially expecting, here are a few more tips to maximize your Valentine’s Days sales success:

• Create a sense of urgency in your communication surrounding this special day. Sometimes all people need is a good reminder to take action and proactively start doing their shopping.
• Countdown to the actual Day, that will notify people of how much time left they have
• Be responsive, well, not only you but also your online store, to make sure your products are accessible on their on-the-go mobile devices

All in all, no matter which buyer type person makes a purchase, you and your online store needs to be well-prepared and equipped for the avalanche of visitors and buyers on your e-commerce store. Full force ahead to the Love Day!