Why singles are a gold mine on Valentine’s Day and beyond

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MANILA, Philippines – Name what people buy on Valentine’s Day. Think for whom people buy these products.

Bouquets of roses. Chocolates. Dinner for two. Hotel reservations. Thanks to couples, these are the businesses that make a killing every 14^th of February.

And then, what happens when it’s Valentine’s Day no more?

According to marketing industry experts, businesses could be missing out on the formidable single market, or in other words, consumers who are not involved in a romantic relationship.

Are businesses responding to what they want? Here are some insights provided to us.

Singles are influencers

An influencer, according to the 2008 Word of Mouth Marketing Association Handbook, are those who significantly shape the customer’s purchasing decision, and have “a greater than average reach or impact in relevant market place.”

According to Filipino brand architect Amor Maclang, influencers are individuals who have a high share quotient online. They are the types who travel and find places for good food.

“Singles, if multiplied by a dozen, are far more influential than popular people,” she said, due to their sincerity over someone who is only merely popular.

Influencers are journalists, academics, industry analysts, professional advisers, celebrities, and individual brand advocates, according to international advertising and publishing relations firm Ogilvy & Mather.

They spend more

There is an assumption why singles are inclined to spend more than couples: they have the liberty to do so without the consent of their partner.

How about celebrating the day for being single, and the liberation that surrounds it.

“It could be a liberation – anyone who just came out from an onerous relationship, and if you come as a single, you would then get a discount,” Maclang said.

In the Philippines, 43.5% of the 71.55 million household population are single, according to a 2010 census.

The problem with the figure, though, is that it has not determined which of these single Filipinos are in a romantic relationship.

Studies observing marketing behavior of singles are scarce too, according to a research published by the Society of Business Management Dynamics in 2011.

Nielsen, a global research firm on one hand, has also not distinguished surveyed consumers according to their civil status.

What is known so far in the Philippines is: based on the fourth quarter 2014 Nielsen survey, 79% of Filipino respondents are bullish about their personal finances over the next 12 months.

Singles spend year round

How often would couples spend on the very date their romance started? Most would spend once a month. Therefore, couples have up to 12 times to celebrate it in a year.

“But singles can have barkada nights, or a ladies’ night out. So, they’re a far more formidable market to court than couples,” according to Maclang.

Also, Maclang said businesses would have an advantage if they market their products in a way that’s not tied to single usage alone.

Again, think of bouquets, chocolates, and hotel reservations. These products do not have to break sales expectations on Hallmark card occasions.

Maclang cited chocolate brand Toblerone which began a campaign in 2007, where it positioned chocolate as an item one would give, whether lover or not.

The strategy flew, because it banked on a marketing assumption – that when brands are sincere in addressing an existing belief system, consumers would respond to it.

For Filipinos, giving is customary, and giving does not have to fall on a holiday.

Don’t leave the singles out

In 2014, Lisa Cavanaugh, consumer psychologist at the University of Southern California, offered a fresh idea to engage consumers.

Marketers’ way of using relationships to sell their product may have substantial negative consequences, Cavanaugh’s study, “Because I (Don’t) Deserve It: How Relationship Reminders and Deservingness Influence Consumer Indulgence,” suggested.

Single consumers, she said, would rather not choose these products because “they remind them of a relationship they do not have.”

The findings underpin an important eye-opener, which challenges market researchers to determine if this holds true in the Philippines.

Already happening in other parts of the world, people have turned Valentine’s Day around, giving it another name called Single Awareness Day.

Could it be high time for brands to present fresh ideas to consumers, apart from providing options for those strung in a romantic relationship?

These insights speak for themselves: couples are not the only consumers in the planet. – Rappler.com

 

Woman with shopping bags image from Shutterstock

 

 

 

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