Rachel Levy, head of retail and lifestyle at Snap, explores how retailers can rethink their Valentine’s strategy to better align with Gen Z Valentine’s trends and changing attitudes toward romance.
Every February, retailers dust off the red velvet Valentine’s playbook: roses, couple photos, and aspirational romance. For some it works, but for Gen Z, who are redefining how they want to celebrate this holiday with the likes of Galentine’s and Palentine’s Day, those narrow traditions don’t land the way they once did.
Retailers often treat Valentine’s Day as a couple’s holiday, but Gen Z don’t always see themselves there. They’re dating later, prioritising friendships over flirting, and placing self-care and emotional wellbeing at the centre of their lives.
It’s easy to see how businesses can miss the mark. The traditional meet-cute has been replaced by online dating or even the group chat.
So, how do we build connection in a new way?
Happy Zalentine’s Day
This is where Zalentine’s Day comes in: a more inclusive, digital-native moment that reflects how Gen Z actually experiences connection. It’s not about ditching Valentine’s Day, it’s about reframing it so everyone – whether happily single, or complicatedly taken – sees themselves reflected.
Unlike past generations, Gen Z doesn’t subscribe to the traditional idea of romance. Instead, they see love in networks of friends, community and self-affirmation. 60% of Gen Z plan on celebrating Valentine’s Day with their friends this year, rather than romantic partners. They value authenticity over perfect imagery, diversity over narrow roles, and real-time experiences over static campaigns.
Whether Pal-, Gal-, or Zalentine’s Day is how you’re celebrating this year, it’s important for brands to know where they can fit in. The dinner for two deals might be great for a certain subsection of your audience, but a five-for-the-price-of-one on face masks and Chicken Wine might hold more sway in that one group chat.
This generation interacts with brands through snackable, shareable content – especially in group chats where social behaviours and shopping inspiration intersect.
71% of Gen Z want the advertising content they see to be shareable, because an ad is not static, it’s a kick-starter for a conversation that will really drive conversion and awareness.
The truth is that Gen Z don’t mind being advertised to in most contexts. They accept it as part of the digital world they live in. But what they don’t like is when an ad doesn’t land authentically or tries to disguise itself as other content. Transparency, in both love and advertising, is what young people really want.
Make Zalentine’s shareable, not just sale-able
If Christmas taught us anything about Gen Z’s shopping mindset, it’s that shareability is becoming essential. Clear product info, transparent branding and shareable visuals help young shoppers communicate with each other, compare options and co-create plans and activities together.
For Zalentine’s Day, that means digital-first creative that Gen Z will want to share with friends and communities, not just passive ads that once scrolled past are forgotten. Retailers should think beyond hero products and develop moments – AR lenses, polls, creator-collabs, quick-tap shopping experiences, and in-chat content that helps groups decide what to gift or how to celebrate together.
Retailers aiming to reach Gen Z need to meet them where their social and shopping lives already intersect.
Digital platforms are uniquely positioned for this – they’re where young people communicate visually, share candid moments and discover products through friends and creators within their social graphs. And that matters because the purchase journey for this generation is anything but linear. Rather than moving down a funnel, Gen Z jumps from discovery, community, ideation to decision – and social platforms are embedded at every step.
At Snapchat, for example, retailers are taking advantage of new and evolving ad formats like augmented reality, in-map advertising and reaching users directly in the chat.
For Zalentine’s Day, retailers can lean into this digital ecosystem by creating AR experiences that help friends celebrate each other such as custom lenses that visualise shared experiences or virtual try-ons that get instantly shared back and forth. Activations like this prioritise interactivity and engagement.
A Gen-Z love story
The future of Valentine’s Day is being directed by Gen Z. This means turning away from over-the-top expressions of love and towards a recognition that every person can celebrate love and friendships in their own unique way.
In 2026, love isn’t just romantic – it’s platonic and digital, but most of all it’s meant to be shared. Retailers that respect how Gen Z choose to love are the ones who’ll win the hearts (and carts) of Gen Z along the way.
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