Rose doesn't make the cut, online gift is flavour of Valentine's Day

Bangalore: India’s millennial valentines are in no hurry to grab red roses for their beloveds this time, as they believe a wide variety of personalised gifts can work as better arrows to invoke the blessings of the Cupid.

As per an analysis, apparel, accessories, food and beverages, electronics, health & beauty, travel and cabs, cinema & entertainment are the most bought and booked e-gift items online in the last 13 days for this year’s Valentine’s Day that falls today. Interestingly, over 80 per cent of these buyers are the tech-savvy belonging to Gen X &Y.

Garin Cheb, 25, a techie from Ludhiana, says: “Red roses and bouquets have become just thrown-in items with expensive gifts. No girl is going to be happy with just roses alone.’’

“I’ve asked my husband to get me a pair of diamond ear studs. Well! roses...he can get me a few if he wants,’’ says Pranika Anand, a doctor with a chuckle.

The Indian gift card market is expected to reach $80-85 billion by 2024. Of which e-gift cards are expected to be the major chunk of the market at $70 billion.

“The demand for gift cards and e-gift cards is soaring as they are seen as convenient options both for the giver and receiver. Who wouldn’t like to get personalised gifts, the things that you really want,’’ asks Arvind Prabhakar, CEO and Co-Founder of GyFTR (Vouchagram), an online-to-offline platform that enables brand currencies and create digital gifting & rewards ecosystem. GyFTR currently has more than 50,000 terminals that sell gift vouchers and coupons from over 130 Indian and international brands.

“The e-commerce industry and the coupons space share a healthy symbiotic relationship and it also mutually helps the giver and the receiver,” says Ashok Kumar Reddy, founder & CEO of GrabOn, a Hyderabad-based online couponing company.