Southwest Florida business owners should brace for a sweet Valentine's Day in 2023.
Based on per capita spending forecasts from the National Retail Federation (NRF), Fort Myers area consumers are expected to spend $100.2 million on their Valentines this year, 8.4% more than they did in 2022.
Overall, says the NRF, 52% of consumers plan to celebrate Valentine's day this year. On average, each celebrant will spend $192.80 on holiday gifts and outings. This is $17 more than last year. Here is the most interesting part, though.
"While spending on significant others and family members is in line with last year, many consumers are looking to show appreciation for the other meaningful relationships in their lives," says the NRF. "Of the $17 increase in per-person spending, $14 comes from gifts for pets, friends, and co-workers, along with classmates or teachers."
If Fort Myers consumers align with the national forecast, top gifts will include candy (57%), greeting cards (40%), flowers (37%), an evening out (32%), jewelry (21%), gift cards (20%) and clothing (19%).
Based on the per capita forecast of Valentine's Day expenditure in Fort Myers, jewelry stores will take in $21.3 million, and another $17.0 million will be spent on special evenings out.
“Men, in particular, are more likely to give a gift of experience compared with last year,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said. “Another notable finding is more than half of consumers say they will take advantage of sales and promotions as they celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.”
To capture a larger share of the expanding consumer demand for Valentine's day gifts and experiences, local business owners will need to advertise. By most marketing metrics, the best way to reach Valentine's day shoppers is by advertising on Fort Myers radio.
Every week, says Nielsen, 877,056 adult consumers tuned into a Fort Myers radio station. This is significantly more than were reached by social media, local television stations, local cable, and newspapers.
According to a Nielsen study, after the actual content of the commercial message itself, reach is the most potent advertising element that can drive sales. Reach is more important than brand, recency, or even context. Fort Myers radio provides local business owners with the most significant reach among consumers.
Radio's unrivaled reach among adult consumers contributes to the medium's ability to deliver an extraordinary return on investment (ROI) for advertisers.
From April through July of 2021, Neilsen measured the sales results of a radio advertising campaign conducted by a major retailer. The study utilized portable people meter technology to segment consumers into two discrete categories: those who were exposed to the retailer's advertising campaign and those who were not.
Nielsen was then able to match the consumers in each segment to their credit/debit or shopper card purchase behavior. Consequently, the study decisively measured how sales were affected by the retailer's advertising campaign.
Here are the key takeaways from the Neilsen study:
- One or two exposures to the radio campaign resulted in a 22.4% increase in the number of shoppers
- Three to six exposures to the radio campaign resulted in a 7.6% increase in the number of shoppers
- Exposure to the radio campaign increased the number of transactions among the retailer's existing customers by 11%
- Exposure to the radio campaign increased the number of transactions by the etailer's most active customers by 31.2%
- Exposure to the retailer's radio campaign generated a sales increase of 9.7%
Most importantly, the Nielsen study revealed that every $1000 that the retailer invested in the radio advertising campaign returned $13,000 in sales. A 13-time ROI.
Fort Myers business owners should know that these findings support 23 other Nielsen studies that indicate, on average, that advertising on local radio delivers a 10-time return on investment.
AdAge, a trade magazine for advertising professionals, calls these types of returns "eye-popping." The magazine goes on to say radio's ROI is superior to commercials on TV, online, and social media.
To learn more about Nielsen's latest ROI study, click here.
Both reach and ROI are the critical metrics for determining the best way to advertise in Fort Myers. By either measurement, local radio is the logical choice for reaching Valentine's Day shoppers.
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