According to a study by the firm Moneris, Quebecers will reduce their spending this Valentine's Day, but will not deprive themselves of what could give local businesses a good boost.
• Also read: Valentine's Day: 8 Quebec restaurants ranked among the 100 most romantic in Canada
Data released on Monday shows that spending on Valentine's Day 2023 increased by 913% at florists and 262% at sweets, nuts and confectionery stores compared to the previous week.
Restaurants (+123%), card stores (+109%), jewelers (+102%) and bakeries (+74%) also recorded strong increases in the week of February 14th.
The restaurants are doing well
In terms of number of transactions, it was also florists who recorded the largest increase (+1481%) between the week before Valentine's Day and the week of February 14, 2023, but saw a 36% decrease in average transaction size.
Candy stores saw a 414% increase in transactions, but a 30% decrease in average transaction volume.
The same goes for companies that sell cards: they saw a 136% increase in the number of transactions but a 13% decrease in the average transaction amount.
In jewelry stores and bakeries, the number of transactions increased while the average transaction amount remained unchanged.
Restaurants are the only category to see growth in both number of transactions (51%) and average transaction size (48%).