Johannesburg - Many people breathe a collective sigh of relief that Valentine's Day comes only once a year.
For other Valentine's Day means making a great deal of money especially retailers and restaurants.
Months of planning and preparation go into ensuring that exactly the right amount of gifts and flowers are put on store shelves.
You could argue that it's just another day but by mid-January many shops are already displaying the popular pink and white trimmings.
Despite the fact that gifts are available well before hand most sales still take place on the 13 and 14 and even on the 15
of February, dealers say.
The Shoprite group starts buying its Valentine's stock from April of the previous year as this day rates even bigger than Mother's Day, says Brian Weyers, the group's marketing director.
The group's sales of Valentines products are doing well with gifts such as chocolates and candles topping the list.
Sales
According to the greeting card association in the US, approximately one million cards are sold worldwide every year, with 85% being bought by women, says Christo de Wet of M De
Wet Promotions a card retailer in Johannesburg.
The company's cards, in both English and Afrikaans, are sold in retail outlets such as Cardies, Pick n Pay Mini Markets and PNA.
"English cards sell better than Afrikaans for Valentine's Day" says De Wet, "but Afrikaans cards are still demand."
Planning for Valentine's Day usually starts in March of the previous year taking into consideration previous sales and current market conditions.
Restaurants usually also profit from this celebration of romance. Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek, says their main restaurant has been fully booked since December. It was listed as one of Eat Out's top ten restaurants.
"Valentine's Day is our day", says Carlos Aveiro, flower buyer at Dunkfeld Fruit & Flowers in Johannesburg.
"We seldom have any flowers left", says Aveiro. "The Valentine's bouquets at special prices were sold out by yesterday morning, and we had to order more for today."
The trend in SA is to make online purchases with Netflorist being one of the dealers that has proved quite popular.
"Our online sales is showing tremendous growth", says Sue Morris, marketing director at Netflorist Johannesburg - Many people breathe a collective sigh of relief that Valentine's Day comes only once a year.
For other Valentine's Day means making a great deal of money especially retailers and restaurants.
Months of planning and preparation go into ensuring that exactly the right amount of gifts and flowers are put on store shelves.
You could argue that its just another day but by mid-January many shops are already displaying the popular pink and white trimmings.
Despite the fact that gifts are available well before hand most sales still take place on the 13 and 14 and even on the 15
of February, dealers say.
The Shoprite group starts buying its Valentine's Day stock from April of the previous yera as this day rates even bigger than Mother's Day, says Brian Weyers, the groups marketing director.
The group's sales of Valentines products are doing well with gifts like chocolates and candles topping the list.
According to the greeting card association in the US, approximately one million cards are sold worldwide every year, with 85% being bought by women, says Christo de Wet of M de
Wet Promotions a card retailer in Johannesburg. The company's cards, in both English and Afrikaans, are sold in retail outlets such as Cardies, Pick n Pay Mini Markets and PNA.
"English cards sell better than Afrikaans for Valentine's Day" says De Wet, "but Afrikaans cards are still demand."
Planning for Valentine's Day usually starts in March of the previous year taking into consideration previous sales and current market conditions.
Restaurants usually also profit from this celebration of romance. Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek, says their main restaurant has been fully booked since December. It was listed as one of Eat Out's top ten restaurants.
"Valentine's Day is our day", says Carlos Aveiro, flowers buyer at Dunkfeld Fruit & Flowers in Johannesburg.
"We seldom have any flowers left", says Aveiro. "The Valentine's bouquets at special prices were sold out by yesterday morning, and we had to order more for today."
The trend in SA is to make online purchases with Netflorist being one of the dealers that has proved quite popular.
"Our online sales is showing tremendous growth", says Sue Morris, marketing director at Netflorist. "We get on average four orders a minute and have to triple the size of our call centre. We receive 25% of our order via the telephonically".
"In spite of efforts to encourage people to place orders in advance, we receive most of the orders on the 12 or 13 February - and a surprising amount on the 15th," says Morris.
African Sales, a perfume supplier to stores such as Edgars, Truworths, Foschini, Markhams and Dischem, says that there is a marked increase in perfume orders for Valentine's Day.
Supplies are already delivered to stores in January.
- Sake