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Yodel and Moonpig report new levels of demand as Valentine’s Day sales moved further online this year

Love is in the air: but how can retailers capitalise on it?

Love is in the air: but how can retailers capitalise on it?

A locked-down Valentine’s Day meant higher levels of online demand for florists and delivery companies this year.

Yodel flower sales surged by 77% year-on-year this Valentine’s day, with more than 220,000 flower deliveries made on Sunday February 14th. 

Yodel chief executive, Mike Hancox, says: “With Valentine’s Day looking very different for people across the country, we saw thousands of new customers embrace digital shopping and opt for online flower deliveries for the first time this year.”

The independent parcel carrier, featured in the eDelivery Top 500 Report 2020, says it is in a strong position to meet unprecedented demand for online gifting, since investing significantly  in its capability to handle everyday premium items. 

Alongside upgrading its infrastructure, Yodel has invested heavily in its people, and the average weekly flower volumes handled by the specialist teams have seen a 300% rise over the past 12 months.

Paul Isaia, UK & Ireland regional director, Euroflorist, adds: “Valentine’s Day is one of our most crucial times at Euroflorist. This Valentine’s Day we had a really successful relationship with Yodel, and they helped us grow our business by over 60% year on year.”

Moonpig, which recently floated on the stockmarket, also experienced a significant increase in demand and reported its strongest trading week to date just ahead of Valentine’s Day. 

The gifting retailer says it has increased its marketing activity accordingly, to accelerate customer acquisition. Revenue for the financial year ending 30 April 2021 is also expected to be approximately double the £173 million revenue for the previous year, it said in a trading update. 

On top of the higher marketing spend, Moonpig have hired additional staff throughout the supply chain, resulting in higher expenditure; in addition to the partial shifting of its production mix to the UK following Guernsey lockdown.

The higher levels of customer purchase frequency and elevated gift rates the company has seen, are expected to moderate as lockdown restrictions ease. 

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