Flowers, card sales jump for Valentine's Day

All of that early advertising apparently paid off for online flower and card shops. Sales revenue for online flower and gift shops jumped in the week leading up to Valentine's Day. Researchers estimate that 1 in every 6 online users visited a flower or gift site in the week leading up the February 14th.

by Kristina Knight

The jump wasn't strictly for cards, candies and flowers. However, those goods showed the largest jump, increasing to $24 million in sales. According to research from comScore that is a 98% increase in sales. Online jewelers also showed improvement for the week of February 14th with $24.7 million in sales. That is an increase of 22% in sales.

Andrew Lipsman, senior analyst at comScore Networks said in a prepared statement, “By fulfilling orders through local florists, online flower retailers have been especially effective in executing on-time deliveries for Valentine’s Day, which has proven to be a godsend for many last minute shoppers.”

The American Greetings site was the most visited leading up the February 14th with more than 8.1 million unique visitors. Hallmark had 5.6 million visitors, RedEnvelope.com saw 1.8 million and 1-800-Flowers.com saw 1.6 million visitors. Martha Stewart sites rounded out the top five with 1.4 million unique visitors.

Tags: 1-800-Flowers.com, AmericanGreetings.com, Hallmark, Martha Stewart, online revenue, online sales, online shopping, RedEnvelope.com, Valentine's Day