Valentine’s Day Consumer Data

Author

Jo Hardin

Published

February 13, 2024

library(tidyverse) # ggplot, lubridate, dplyr, stringr, readr...
library(praise)

The Data

Happy Valentine’s Day! This week we’re exploring Valentine’s Day survey data. The National Retail Federation in the United States conducts surveys and has created a Valentine’s Day Data Center so you can explore the data on how consumers celebrate.

historical_spending <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2024/2024-02-13/historical_spending.csv')
gifts_age <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2024/2024-02-13/gifts_age.csv')
gifts_gender <- readr::read_csv('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/master/data/2024/2024-02-13/gifts_gender.csv')

inflation <- c(1, 1.032, 1.021, 1.015, 1.016, 1.001, 1.013, 1.021, 
               1.024, 1.018, 1.012, 1.047, 1.08)
infl_prod <- cumprod(inflation)

historical_spending <- historical_spending |> 
  cbind(inflation, infl_prod) |>
  mutate(perperson_adj = PerPerson / infl_prod)

historical_spending |>
  rename(no_adjustment = PerPerson, inflation_adjusted = perperson_adj) |>
  pivot_longer(cols = c("no_adjustment", "inflation_adjusted"),
               values_to = "spending",
               names_to = "adjustment") |>
  ggplot(aes(x = Year, y = spending, color = adjustment)) +
  geom_point() +
  geom_line() + 
  ylab("Valentine's Spending") +
  scale_color_manual(values = c("red", "magenta")) +
  scale_x_continuous(breaks= scales::pretty_breaks())

Line plot with year on the x axis and average Valentines spending on the y axis. Average spending in 2010 was just over 100 dollars. By 2022, spending was near 175 dollars on average. — Because the inflation adjusted spending isn’t a flat line, it seems as though Valentine’s Day spending is increaing faster than inflation. Seen particularly strongly in recent years.

cbp2 <- c( "#E69F00", "#56B4E9", "#009E73","#000000",
          "#F0E442", "#0072B2", "#CC79A7", "#D55E00")

gifts_gender |>
  filter(Gender == "Women") |>
  pivot_longer(cols = Candy:GiftCards,
               names_to = "type",
               values_to = "percent") |>
  mutate(type = fct_reorder(type, percent)) |>
  mutate(not_spend = 100-percent) |>
  pivot_longer(cols = percent:not_spend,
               values_to = "percent",
               names_to = "spend") |>
  ggplot(aes(x = type, y = percent, fill = type, alpha = spend)) + 
    geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
  geom_text(aes(label = percent, x = type, y = 100, 
                color = spend), size = 5, hjust = 1.2) + 
  #scale_alpha_manual(values = c(0,1)) + 
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = cbp2) +
  scale_color_manual(values = c("white","black")) + 
  theme(panel.background = element_blank(),
        axis.title = element_blank(),
        axis.text.y = element_blank(),
        axis.ticks.y = element_blank()) +
  guides(alpha = FALSE, color = FALSE) +
  labs(fill = "Spending type") +
  ggtitle("Spending habits of women on Valentine's Day")

Donut plot describing spending habits of women on Valentine's Day. Of those women who celebrate Valentine's Day, 59 percent spent money on candy, 43 percent spent money on greeting cards, 29 percent spent money on an evening out, 24 percent spent money on gift cards, 24 percent spent money on clothing, 19 percent spent money on flowers, and 14 percent spent money on jewelry. — Of those who women celebrate Valentine’s Day, the percent who spend money on each of the given categories.

gifts_gender |>
  filter(Gender == "Men") |>
  pivot_longer(cols = Candy:GiftCards,
               names_to = "type",
               values_to = "percent") |>
  mutate(type = fct_reorder(type, percent)) |>
  mutate(not_spend = 100-percent) |>
  pivot_longer(cols = percent:not_spend,
               values_to = "percent",
               names_to = "spend") |>
  ggplot(aes(x = type, y = percent, fill = type, alpha = spend)) + 
    geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
  geom_text(aes(label = percent, x = type, y = 100, 
                color = spend), size = 5, hjust = 1.2) + 
  #scale_alpha_manual(values = c(0,1)) + 
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = cbp2) +
  scale_color_manual(values = c("white","black")) + 
  theme(panel.background = element_blank(),
        axis.title = element_blank(),
        axis.text.y = element_blank(),
        axis.ticks.y = element_blank()) +
  guides(alpha = FALSE, color = FALSE) +
  labs(fill = "Spending type") +
  ggtitle("Spending habits of men on Valentine's Day")

Donut plot describing spending habits of men on Valentine's Day. Of those men who celebrate Valentine's Day, 56 percent spent money on flowers, 52 percent spent money on candy, 37 percent spent money on greeting cards, 33 percent spent money on an evening out, 30 percent spent money on jewelry, 20 percent spent money on clothing, and 18 percent spent money on gift cards. — Of those who men celebrate Valentine’s Day, the percent who spend money on each of the given categories.