According to the survey by deals platform Nearbuy of about 3,000 people, “45 per cent of the respondents opted for the option of taking their partners on romantic dinners, 39 per cent preferred to give a personalised gift and about 18 per cent people chose to take their special someones on a helicopter ride!”
However, the survey showed that most people preferred to stick to a budget ranging anything between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 and not splurge mindlessly on the occasion. Many also indulged in cashing on on the various offers available online throughout the Valentine week.
While 40 per cent Indians are willing to fork out an average of Rs 3,000, just about 10 per cent would go over the Rs 5,000 bracket to buy presents for their partners. “People today are ready to spend and are yet not spend-thrift when it comes to Valentine’s.
They are online-savvy and are always on a look-out for great offers to make a difference,” says Nearbuy Co-Founder and CEO Ankur Warikoo.
Besides the expense, what stresses out most couples (47 per cent) is the planning drill, followed by picking the right gift (25 per cent) and lastly the task of finding themselves a partner to spend the day with (13 per cent). The survey also brought out the several reasons why an individual wishes to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the first place.
A majority of about 43 per cent said that they believed in celebrating the occasion to express their love while some (21 per cent) said, “It seems the right thing to do.” The remaining admitted to following the crowd and celebrating under the influence of “peer-pressure.”
What turned out to be strikingly common for most people was that they did not speculate the planning for their Valentine’s Day dates until the eleventh hour. “Nearly 62 per cent people plan their ‘day of love’ at the last moment,” the study says.
Nearbuy, formerly called Groupon India, has also rolled a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ humour social media campaign showcasing the quirky plans for the day which can be viewed on their Facebook page.
Meanwhile, a separate survey conducted by online matrimonial site Jeevansaathi.com, concluded that 40 per cent Indians plan to outspend their partner on this Valentine’s Day.
“43 per cent men feel that they would want to spend more as compared to their Valentine on the day for love, only 28 per cent women feel the same,” it says. This percentage rose up to 45 per cent in non-metros compared to 30 per cent in metro cities.
According to the survey, men clearly understand what women want, and are planning to gift what women desire. As many as 62 per cent of the respondents would like to have 14th February as their wedding or engagement day while 33 per cent respondents want to relax at home for the day.
The site incorporated responses from more than 1,800 people across India On being asked what men and women both expected as a Valentine’s day gift from each other, men had a clear idea about the gifts.
Flowers, jewellery, clothing and accessories and weekend trips are some of the gifts women feel they should get and men answered these questions correctly in the survey. On the other hand, women respondents answered that men would also like customised gifts and fragrances on the day while most of the men responded that they would like to receive electronics or gadgets and jewellery apart from flowers, clothing and weekend trips.
Commenting on the survey, Info Edge (India) Ltd Group Chief Marketing Officer Sumeet Singh says, “It’s that time of the year when people are on the lookout for gift ideas for Valentine’s Day. Through this survey, we have tried to figure out trends that emerge when people think of ideas to make this day beautiful. The response was huge with people giving very interesting answers to questions they thought added value to the ideas they had while planning for the day.”
Since Valentine’s Day this year falls on a Sunday, 33 per cent respondents were planning to relax at home while only 16 per cent were planning an outdoor trip.