Survey: Celebrating St. Valentine’s Day in Greece

Once officially declared by Pope Gelasius I in 496, Valentine’s Day replaced its pagan predecessor—Lupercalia festival. Despite the long heritage, the common tradition of sending love cards is dated back to Great Britain and days much more present, circa the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Nowadays pop culture tends to depict Valentine’s Day as a cracking opportunity to confess love or even propose. But how relevant is the financial context of this lovebirds’ most important festival?

Picodi.com surveyed over 5,600 people from 32 different countries (including Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and both Americas) to find out about the local perception of Valentine’s Day. As the lovers festival of 14th February is banned in some countries due to religious reasons—i.e. Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia—they decided to omit them in this particular study. Its report is a great source of information about lovebirds’ readiness to spend money, what are the most commonly chosen gifts and their costs, and eventually—whether reality does live up to recipients’ expectations.

Valentine’s Day in Greece

In Greece, the Valentine’s day, called as well the Lovers’ Day, was first established in 1977. The Greeks celebrate Valentine’s Day as the rest of the World. Romantic dinners, gifts, flowers, heart shaped chocolates, cards, etc. However, there are also many people who don’t celebrate the Valentine’s Day at all, whether they are in a relationship or not.

First things first, according to the research Greeks tend to enjoy Valentine’s Day three out of four Greeks (precisely 72%). The other 28% refuse any form of celebration and those are not only the ones who haven’t found their better half yet. 23% of men and 18% of women in relationships do not celebrate Valentine’s Day at all. As mentioned before 72% of Greeks do celebrate the Lovers’ Day, such results are most likely good news for all the restaurants, cinemas or flower shop owners—those are in fact the most popular forms of gifts.

28% of the male respondents will offer their soulmates a romantic date in a restaurant, Meanwhile 29% of women decided to work on their partners’ style buying them clothes for Valentine’s gift.
14% of the men surveyed will give sex toys to their partners. Not even one woman had the same intention. We weren’t surprised at all by the fact that women are more romantic. 19% of women will give a romantic Valentine’s Day card to the beloved ones. The number of men giving a romantic card was 0.

But what about the expectation itself? Which gifts would really win Greek hearts? We have asked what are the most desirable gifts? 35% of women and 36% of men answered that a romantic dinner is the best gift for them. 32% of women would love to go for a romantic trip. Perfume was marked as the most desirable gift by 31% of women and 14% of men. 27% of women would love to get jewellery to emphasize their beauty. Surprisingly 25% of women want sweets. 17% of men would love to get some electronics No surprise here.

The most popular gift – a bouquet of flowers – is the least desirable Valentine’s gift by 23% of women in Greece.

33% of men answered that the least enjoyable gift is a romantic dinner. Definitely it was a big surprise finding out that 26% of the surveyed men in Greece don’t want to get any electronics this year. Certainly you won’t impress 26% of women buying them household appliances
31% of men and 26% of women never received a Valentine’s gift. Maybe that’s the unspoken reason of not celebrating it anymore?

It’s the Thought that Counts

According to estimations, over a billion of cards is being sent on a Valentine’s Day, just a smidgen less that during Christmas time. Beginning of February is quite hot period for shop owners. As Picodi internal data shows a pre-Valentine’s period is characterised by an average 37% surge in demand on “Jewellery” category, 38% on “Cosmetics & Perfumes” and 45% on “Adult”.

How much do Greeks spent on the gift for their beloved ones?

Research shows that Greeks will spent around 74€. Curiously, men are planning to spend on average 35% more money than women.

When making worldwide comparisons, Hong Kongers declare the highest amount they are willing to spend on Valentine’s Day gifts (152€), closely followed by people from China (127€) and the USA (121€). The least will spend Hungarians(27€), Nigerians(26€) and Filipinos(24€)

In almost every surveyed country—except Turkey, Vietnam and Nigeria—men try to impress women by spending more. Even though some researchers point out that a significant part of female population does not enjoy flowers, a nice bouquet is still 5th most popular Valentine’s Day gift in the World. Being sceptical or not, chocolate and perfume makers, restaurant and cinema owners are on top of the world during the first half of February.

With no doubt for all businessmen the Lovers’ Day became an Income Day.

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