Who's Getting Spoiled This Valentine’s Day?

Several surveys suggest that while women want jewelry for Valentine’s Day men are less likely to head to the jewelry store. Rose gold and sapphire earrings by Elise Dray go for $6,280 on Femininrascal.com.

Image: Femininrascal.com

Valentine’s Day is a day for sweethearts to bask in the warm glow of coupledom, but for retailers, it’s also a day to make some cold, hard cash in what is otherwise a bit of a post-holiday lull.

So just how much cash and what will be selling or has already sold? According to the National Retail Federation, the average American consumer will shell out $126.03 this year, up 8.5 percent from last year’s $116.21, and the highest amount in the survey’s 10-year history. Most of that will go toward gifts for partners and spouses, but children, friends and pets will get some love too.

Total spending is expected to reach $17.6 billion, according to the NRF 2012 Valentine's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey released earlier this month. The NRF says the biggest gift will be candy, the choice of 50.5 percent of those surveyed, followed by flowers at 36 percent, and an evening out by 35.6 percent. About 18.9 percent of celebrants planned to buy jewelry, up from 17.3 percent last year and the highest percent in the survey’s history.

Meanwhile, a Shoppers Trend Report from coupon site RetailMeNot revealed that 50 percent of consumers intend to spend $100 or less on their significant other this Valentine’s Day and another large percentage (24 percent) of consumers don’t intend to spend anything on their significant other this holiday.

What’s more it showed a gender divide on what consumers were buying and what they wanted. The survey shows 21 percent of women preferred gifts of jewelry, while only 16 percent of male respondents said they intended to purchase jewelry for Valentine’s Day.

The survey showed that 33 percent of men intended to buy their significant other candy, although only 20 percent of women actually want sweets for Valentine’s Day. A similar disparity existed for men planning to take their significant other out for a romantic night on the town, like dinner and a movie: while 38 percent of men said that that was their game plan this year, but only 25 percent of women wanted a night out.

At Price Grabber, a Valentine’s Day Dashboard Report released Monday showed the top-browsed gifts over the weekend: In the electronics arena, the top two items browsed were an Asus Eee Pad tablet, selling for $499 and up, and a Samsung 55-inch 3-D LED TV, which was going for $1,919 and up.

Women hoping for jewelry will be disappointed with the PriceGrabber survey findings. One of the top searched items was a $160 sterling silver money clip from Blue Nile, the perfect jewelry gift—for a guy.

Echoing the theme of the other surveys, PriceGrabber also found that consumers will be looking for a bargain: 42 percent of shoppers who plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day indicated that they will use a daily deal site.

There’s no shame in getting a discount, according to RetailMeNot’s survey: 80 percent of respondents in relationships said that they would be “happy” if their significant other used a coupon to save money this Valentine’s Day. Hey it's better than nothing.