Valentine’s Day Sweets Significantly Priced Up

As Valentine’s Day is here, retailers are relying on shoppers who have left their romantic gestures till the last minute to purchase gifts in-store or online to wipe out the last bits of their festive stock.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the average American expects to spend $185.81 each on Valentine’s Day gifts and activities, “nearly $8 more than the average Valentine’s Day spending over the last five years.” The NRF also noted that the most common Valentine’s Day gift will be candy, with 57% of Americans planning to purchase some to mark the day.

Veronica Fletcher, former data analyst in the supermarket industry and co-founder of the food and cooking site Pantry and Larder, noticed that Valentine’s Day-themed products seem to be priced higher than the regular versions of the treats. They might be packaged in an attractive way, but the price tag that goes along with them isn’t quite as attractive. Products like Haribo, Ferrero Roche, and Sour Patch Kids appear to be marked up beyond their ordinary non-festive price for around the same quantity.

Fletcher studied the cost of a few Valentine’s Day-themed candies at stores such as Walmart this year and compared them to the regular everyday equivalent of the same sweets. She used the price-per-ounce metric as a measure and identified a huge spike in prices.

Fletcher said a heart-shaped box of Sour Patch Kids on Walmart.com is 234% more expensive than a standard-shaped pack. The heart box was $3.96 for 3.45 ounces compared to the regular 3.5-ounce box, which costs $1.24. Additionally, a box of 12 Ferrero Roche chocolates in a Valentine’s themed box costs $11.20 more than the same 12 chocolates packaged in a regular box, which is a 251% price increase per ounce.

Also on Walmart.com, the Haribo Goldbears Gummi Bears Valentine Heart Box (7 ounces) is $5.97 in comparison to the ordinary 8-ounce bag, which is priced at $2.38. This is a 174% increase per ounce.

According to CNN, Walmart said it was looking into the price differences but said some of the Valentine’s Day candy items on its website are listed by third-party sellers on the Walmart marketplace.

Edgar Dworsky, former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts who is a consumer advocate and editor of the website ConsumerWorld.org, said, “Is it unreasonably high price for seasonal products? It sounds like it.” He went on to add, “It almost gets to the greedflation issue, where some companies are taking advantage of a situation where consumers have come to expect higher prices on everything because of inflation.”