Singaporean shoppers enthusiastic about Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a big deal for Indonesians (57 percent), Taiwanese (53 percent) and Singaporeans (45 percent). These three countries top a multi-market poll for being the most expectant to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.

In contrast, love is not in the air for Germans (18 percent) and the British (36 percent), who were least likely to celebrate the occasion.

The Rakuten Shopping Secrets survey was conducted among consumers over seven markets with over 7,000 respondents from United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan.

The survey also revealed that the majority of Singaporeans (59 percent) do not expect to receive gifts on Valentine’s Day, but for thosecelebrating the occasion, receiving a hug/kiss (41 percent), a trip or vacation (41 percent), fashion accessories (27 percent), chocolates wine and other food or drink (26 percent) and jewellery (22 percent) ranked highest among what respondents wished to receive.

And when it comes to choosing shopping as a break-up therapy, Singaporeans came in tops (39 percent), followed closely by their regional counterparts in Indonesia (38 percent) and Taiwan (30 percent).

For those who hit the stores upon singlehood, fashion and accessories were the items most frequently bought post-breakup.

More than half of Singaporeans who have gone through a bad breakup or relationship prefer to drown their sorrows by shopping online rather than offline in the one month after a breakup.

Not feeling like going out and interacting with people (58 percent), wanting more privacy (55 percent and not wanting to let people see that they look depressed (26 percent) were the top three reasons cited.