While Valentine’s Day was a good season through the four weeks leading up to the day, the real sales surge for us occurred in the last four days. We say a four fold sales surge in the last four days compared to the same period last year, far more than the sales surge for the whole four week season as we measure it.
While gift sales were up, it was cards which worked the best for us with sales up well over double. Thanks to our in-store hallmark category and segment performance reporting we can see where the sales growth came from at the segment level. For us, it was Husband and New Love which did particularly well on the previous year. Oh, and the handcrafted Valentine’s Day lifestyle cards did very well. Knowing the sales results at this micro level immediately after a major season is a real boost not only to our business performance intelligence but also to how we interact with suppliers.
Data is king (and queen) in this marketplace. Bring on Easter!