60 Pct of Women to Buy Valentine's Chocolates for Themselves

Tokyo, Feb. 5 (Jiji Press)--Over 60 pct of women who plan to buy chocolates for Valentine's Day are considering buying chocolates for themselves as a treat, a survey by Matsuya Co.'s <8237> Ginza department store in Tokyo has shown. Of all respondents, 94.1 pct answered that they will buy Valentine's Day chocolates. With multiple answers allowed, the survey also asked the women who they plan on buying such gifts for. Those who said that they plan to treat themselves to chocolates stood at 61.8 pct, followed by those who will give the sweets to family members, at 56.7 pct. Those who plan on giving chocolates to loved ones or the object of a crush came to 36 pct, while those who will purchase the confectioneries for people at work totaled 35.2 pct. The average budget for the chocolates that women will buy for themselves was 4,204 yen, while that for chocolates given to loved ones or a potential sweetheart stood at 3,808 yen. The budget for chocolates given to family members, coworkers and others stood at 1,033 yen. A total of 41.6 pct said that they will prepare a present to go with the chocolates. The budget for such gifts dropped around 3,000 yen from the surveys in the last two years to 5,251 yen. "While Valentine's Day used to be a special day in which (women) gave presents and confessed their love to someone, nowadays it's a day in which women buy and enjoy chocolates that they picked for themselves and (the survey) backed these trends," an official from the department store's public relations section said. The online survey, conducted in December last year, covered 781 women aged 18-78. END