After celebrating love and friendship in Colombia, we can see how much Colombians spent on their gifts

Celebrating the day of love and friendship has become another tradition of the year. For that reason, it is not strange that in the offices, people play secret friend and that friends and couples exchange gifts.

Leer en español: ¿Y tú qué regalaste en el día del amor y la amistad?

However, this practice has not always been part of the Latin American traditions. Initially, the celebration is English and was introduced in the region thanks to the Americans, who celebrate it year after year, moving millions of dollars during the month of February. In Colombia, the date is celebrated seven months later and it has also become a key day for merchants and the economy.

However, while this year in the United States the Americans spent on jewelry an average of 4.700 million dollars and sold 36 million boxes of chocolates, in Colombia the situation is different.

A study carried out by Ofertia, a mobile and web platform that groups the catalogs of offers, declared that the average of the cost that the Colombians made is between $ 50,000 pesos and $ 100,000.

Juan Esteban Orrego, director of FENALCO Bogotá, said that "love and friendship is a date that every year leaves better results" and expects sales to increase up to 33% in sectors such as food, florists, hotels, and restaurants thanks to Bogotá Despierta. The day that expands the schedules of 7,000 commercial establishments and also of public transport.

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However, the situation is not as favorable in all regions of the country. For the last quarter of the year, DANE reported a growth of 2.8% of GDP in the country.

FENALCO Barranquilla has declared with little hope regarding the economic movement of the celebration. In statements to El Heraldo, Héctor Carbonell, manager of FENALCO Atlántico, said that although the date helps to reactivate the economy, the union declares itself somewhat pessimistic because in the last 3 years the number of people who have decided to join the celebration has dropped 10 percentage points, from 90% in 2016, to 80% this year.

The purchases

According to the FENALCO Bogotá survey, the citizens usually celebrate the day of love and friendship with their partners, their friends, or with their family. Likewise, it estimates that the gifts are sweets and chocolates (29%) and gift vouchers (12%), which in many cases can be seen translated IGNORE INTO clothing items or technological articles.

The same study by FENALCO states that when making purchases, many choose to do so in malls (36%), chain stores (15%) or online (13%).

In contrast, the study by Ofertia indicates that its people use the internet (40%) or social networks (31.5%) to consult offers for the Day of love and friendship and 64%, in addition to spending on the detail plans to go to a restaurant for dinner.

The affirmation is supported by the FENALCO study, which ensures that the favorite places and most visited during the celebration of the Day of love and friendship are the restaurants (21%).

LatinAmerican Post | María Alejandra Gómez
Translated from “¿Y tú qué regalaste en el día del amor y la amistad?”