- Consumer150
- Posts
- Valentine’s is Dead—Long Live Self-Love.
Valentine’s is Dead—Long Live Self-Love.
This week we dive into gift cards for growth—a Houston retailer saw 25% sales growth and an 18% boost in return customers with a smart promo and loyalty tie-in.
In partnership with
Happy Midweek, !
This week’s trend is the rise of self-gifting—Gen Z is redefining Valentine’s Day, shifting the focus from romance to personal treats.
Retailers can tap into this growing trend to drive sales beyond traditional romance-based promotions.
Meanwhile, a Houston retailer saw 25% sales growth and an 18% boost in return customers by tying gift cards into a smart promo and loyalty program.
Plus, post Valentine’s Day gift card sales plunge 82.5%—bonus incentives can help retailers keep the momentum going.
— Consumer 150 Team
No couple? No problem!
Self-love is big business, and Valentine’s Day is no longer just for couples. By 2025, 60% of Gen Z (18-24-year-olds) plan to buy gifts for themselves, up from 53% in 2022. The total population is following suit, with 34% expecting to self-gift, showing a shift in how consumers celebrate the holiday.
Gen Z is leading the charge, turning Valentine’s Day into a personal indulgence event rather than a strictly romantic one. Whether it’s a spa day, fashion splurge, or a digital gift card for future shopping, brands that tap into the self-care mindset can capture a growing slice of this seasonal spending.
For retailers, the takeaway is clear: Valentine’s Day marketing needs to go beyond traditional couples. Highlighting self-gifting options—especially flexible ones like gift cards—could be the key to turning love (for oneself) into loyalty at checkout.
Sponsored Content
Today’s Fastest Growing Company Might Surprise You
🚨 No, it's not the publicly traded tech giant you might expect… Meet $MODE, the disruptor turning phones into potential income generators.
Mode saw 32,481% revenue growth, ranking them the #1 software company on Deloitte’s 2023 fastest-growing companies list.
📲 They’re pioneering "Privatized Universal Basic Income" powered by technology — not government, and their EarnPhone, has already helped consumers earn over $325M!
Their pre-IPO offering is live at just $0.26/share – don’t miss it.
*Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.
*The Deloitte rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period.
*Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com.
The Post-Valentine’s Gift Card Crash 💔
Love may be forever, but Valentine’s Day gift card sales? Not so much. Transactional data shows a staggering 82.5% drop in gift card volume the week after February 14th. Every year, this holiday delivers the highest Q1 peak, followed immediately by a cold, hard decline—like a breakup text after a fancy dinner.
Why the nosedive?
Simple: Valentine’s Day is one of the few occasions where gifting a prepaid shopping spree feels both thoughtful and last-minute-friendly. But once the heart-shaped chocolates are gone, so is the urgency to buy.
Retailer Tip: Instead of bracing for impact, extend the love. Offer bonus incentives for using gift cards within the following week (e.g., “Spend your Valentine’s gift card this week & get 10% extra”). Turn the post-holiday slowdown into a second wave of engagement.
Because while love might fade, smart promotions can keep the revenue alive.
The Strategic Play: Gift Cards as a Growth Engine
A Houston-based apparel retailer needed a boost. Enter gift cards. By launching a customized gift card program—both digital and physical—the retailer turned every purchase into a potential new customer. A simple promo ($10 bonus for every $100 gift card purchase) drove a 25% sales increase in six months.
The secret sauce? Spending psychology. This Behavioral Economics real case, teaches us how recipients spent more than their card value. The retailer also tied gift cards to its loyalty program, rewarding buyers and ensuring repeat business. Post-campaign, return customers surged 18%, proving that a well-designed gift card strategy isn't just about gifting—it's about growth.
FinCEN 2011 Rule
Gift card sellers, take note: FinCEN’s 2011 rule put prepaid cards under the same scrutiny as traditional financial products. The regulation, part of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), requires Providers and Sellers of Prepaid Access to register as Money Services Businesses (MSBs)—meaning new obligations for customer identification, recordkeeping, and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.
The goal? Cracking down on money laundering. To limit illicit use, prepaid card sellers must now verify customers, maintain transaction records, and report suspicious activity. However, there are exceptions: gift cards under $1,000 and single-store cards are largely exempt from these stricter rules, making compliance less of a burden for retailers focused on standard consumer gift cards.
For businesses selling prepaid cards, compliance isn’t optional—FinCEN can and will enforce these rules. As the regulatory landscape evolves, expect further scrutiny, especially as digital and reloadable prepaid options grow. Staying ahead of AML requirements isn’t just about avoiding fines—it’s about keeping fraudsters out of the system before regulators do it for you.
Sponsored Content
Everyday investors net +$60M in proceeds from the sale of exclusive assets
From CEOs to shop owners, investors in Masterworks’ art offerings have received more than +$60,000,000 in total net proceeds to date (including principal) across their 23 exits.*
Surprised that so many people are interested in art investing? Bank of America recently found 83% of wealthy American investors 43 and under already collect, or want to. Normally, only the top 1% of investors would be able to diversify with art like Picassos and Banksys. But with Masterworks, you can easily diversify into this asset class without needing millions, or art expertise.
With a team that’s been working since 2019, Masterworks investors have realized representative annualized net returns like +17.6%, +17.8%, and +21.5% (among assets held for longer than one year).
Past performance not indicative of future returns. Investing Involves Risk. See Important Disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.
Love Gift Card Trends? Receive the Same Weekly Newsletter For the Private Equity Market!
PE150 (same publishers of Gift Card Trends) delivers proprietary insights, market trends, and actionable tools for Private Equity & M&A professionals—in just one 5 minute weekly email. Subscribe now
"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it"
Maya Angelou