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Published on February 11, 2008

"Love is all around," some say.

And Valentine's Day is a great excuse to go shopping for those who want to say "I love you".

The love that's in the air is also reflected in the cash tills of stores every February.

For some businessmen, it is an opportunity to push sales, thriving on the passion of munificent lovers. Special merchandise is displayed to tempt enthusiastic shoppers.

For youngsters in particular, February 14 is a special day of the year.

Many companies set aside additional funds for marketing during this time.

However, Valentine's Day spending this year has been sluggish. Budgets for special events during this period have seen a sharp dip, mainly as it falls during the period of mourning for Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana.

Faced with slow consumer spending, many companies have diverted most of their budgets to marketing campaigns instead.

Neranut Chutasond, managing director of Media Road, said most of the company's corporate customers had allocated their marketing budgets from holding events to marketing campaigns and promotions, mainly due to the political uncertainty and a slowdown in the economy.

"They seem to think it's not worth spending on events," she said.

This year, Valentine's Day festivities in Bangkok are expected to see cash circulation of Bt970 million, a 3 per cent drop from last year, according to Kasikornbank Research Centre.

The research said it would be a challenging year for merchants doing businesses related to Valentine's Day due to rising oil prices that have pushed up production costs and product prices.

The research, however, struck a note of hope and said: "If merchants can encourage spending sentiment in consumers in the right way, they would earn much money."

The research was based on interviews with 463 respondents from January 30 to February 3, focusing primarily on youths, university students and the newly employed, aged between 13 and 25.

Many of the respondents said their main activities on Valentine's Day would be dining out and seeing movies.

Flowers, especially roses, remained the most popular expenditure for most respondents, 35.9 per cent, followed by chocolates, 30.2 per cent.

Not surprisingly, Central Pattana has tied up with Miss Lily, a leading one-stop online floral supplier, for handling its Valentine's Day marketing campaigns.

About 80 per cent of respondents interviewed by Kasikornbank Research Centre said they wanted to buy cut red and white roses. Estimates are that sales of cut roses will be 10 times higher than on other days.

While department stores are expected to spend more than other businesses to boost sales, some have opted for only marketing campaigns, while some plan to hold events, but on a smaller scale than usual.

Siam Paragon

Instead of organising mega-events with impressive giant marketing campaigns as usual, Siam Paragon shopping complex is joining its business partners to arrange two small events - "The Celebration of Love Promotion" and "27 Dresses Charity Preview".

The passing away of Princess Galyani has been cited as the main reason for not arranging mega-events.

Siam Paragon's first promotional event, from February 1-29, has 40 jewellery and watch brands offering a wide range of discounts and prizes, diamond rings for a couple, a room package from Anantara Hua Hin Resort and Spa, a spa package from Banyan Tree Hotel and a cruise dinner package from Apsara.

Target groups are customers from jewellery shops, high spending Siam Paragon Platinum members, Citibank and Kasikornbank credit-card holders and customers with mid-end to high-end financial status.

Meanwhile, the shopping complex has two partners - Major Development and Paragon Cineplex - to raise funds for The Heart Association of Thailand under the Royal Patronage. The three partners will sell 900 tickets to interested customers to join a movie preview round, which will be arranged on Wednesday.

CentralWorld and CentralPlaza

Central Pattana, the operator of Central department stores, has set aside a budget of Bt30 million to spend on marketing campaigns, up 5 per cent from last year.

Central Department Store in Chiang Mai is staging a five-day event called the "Song 2 Duo" contest, which began yesterday. CentralPlaza at Rama 2 is organising "The City of Love 2008" to draw more visitors to the store while CentralPlaza Pinklao is holding the "Valentine Lovely Bear 2008".

Robinson department stores

Hoping to cash in on its emotional marketing strategy, Robinson Department Store expects to notch up Valentine's Day sales of Bt400 million, up from Bt350 million last year.

This year, Robinson has brought in more than 10,000 products under its "My Valentine" concept. "My Valentine" offers special discounts of up to 30 per cent to customers for a variety of products such as men's and women's clothes, cosmetics, perfume, watches and ornaments, gifts and decorative items.

The Mall

The department store has a slightly different approach to Valentine's Day. It never arranges big events because it considers it a one-day festivity. Instead, it focuses on offering special promotions and special products that fit the occasion.

This year, the special offers are trees of love, tailor-made stamps, various chocolate types, cakes and bakery products sent to its supermarkets (Gourmet at Siam Paragon and The Emporium; and Home Fresh Mart at The Mall), BeTrend home-decoration items and cool gadgets for daily life and Beauty Hall. Offerings at Beauty Hall include twin fragrance packages for lovers.

Its campaigns include "BeTrend Valentine's Day", which began on Saturday and concludes on Thursday.

Siam Centre

Siam Centre does not plan anything different from last year except that it is not inviting international actors. Last year it invited popular Korean movie stars but this year renowned Thai actors, singers and DJs will be joining its programme instead.

Its "Siam Centre Valentine's Blind Dates" event begins today and will go on until Thursday. The shopping centre invites girls to have a memorable date with 14 bachelor celebrities, such as Am - Atichart Chumnanond, Por - Trissadee Sahawong, Mart - Krisna Pornveroj, Nice To Meet You boy band and charming DJs from Seed FM.

Customers have to collect the receipts from the participating shops and be one of 50 top spenders or join the competition by sending their pictures with the best pose in the booth of "Finding Cinderella by Canon" on the first floor of Siam Centre.

The winners will enter a Meet & Greet session and have an exclusive dinner party with their favourite artists. They have to register their spending between today and Wednesday.

Gaysorn

The luxury shopping mall does not plan any special activity or special promotion, in keeping with its policy this year of arranging big events only. It only has lifestyle consultants to help customers choose special items in tenants' shops.

According to the research, other businesses that will see a sales boost are online flower deliverers, IT services, SMS services, gift shops, restaurants in shopping complexes, card businesses and chocolate shops. Online flower businesses are expected to see a 30 per cent growth in sales.

Miss Lily

The company is offering eight different packages of rose bouquets, with one to 999 roses a bouquet. Prices vary from Bt1,600 to Bt500,000 for a bouquet. It is also offering special promotions for those who order the bouquets and pay for them before February 8.

 

Daddy Dough

Daddy Dough, a Thai brand doughnut chain, is aiming to make its presence in the world of lovers by offering a set box of six heart-shaped doughnuts. It is hopeful that this marketing exercise will help create the shop's brand image.

Loft

Trendy gift shop Loft has poured nearly Bt10 million on a variety of promotional campaigns this year, starting with "Loft of Love". The campaign will gather more than 5,000 products from around the world, especially from Japan, Europe and the US.

Loft plans to emphasise a combination of functionality and quality while maintaining the fun aspect of its products. It will increase the number of exclusive items for those wanting something different while providing "techno-gadgets" for the modern lifestyle.

Samsung Electronics (Thailand)

The South Korean electronics brand has a Bt10-million campaign budget targeting married couples during the Valentine's Day period. It has also tied up with the KTC credit-card company to launch campaigns throughout the year.

The campaigns will be announced during a grand event called "The First Hot-Air Balloon Wedding and World Heritage Festival". The event hopes to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records for the maximum number of wedding couples flying in a hot-air balloon - 15 couples from all over the world, of which 10 will be Thai.

Mrs Flowers

Local chocolate-maker Mrs Flowers expects a 20-per-cent Valentine's Day sales boost.

The new collection launched yesterday uses the "Treasured Memory" concept, which features classic Western stationery in its packages such as diaries and postcards on which customers can write their love messages and in which they can put their photos. The highlight is a Bt350 box containing chocolates with champagne inside.

Nitida Asawanipont

Sasithorn Ongdee

The Nation