On Valentine's Day, credit union consumers were apparently in the mood for love, as merchants saw a 19% increase in dollars spent compared to last year, according to CO-OP Financial Services in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
"Valentine's Day this year happened to fall on the Friday before the three-day President's Day weekend, which perhaps fueled additional spending on what is normally a busy day for merchants," said Stan Hollen, president/CEO, CO-OP Financial Services. "That factor combined with an improving economy made Valentine's Day 2014 a perfect marriage of love and commerce."
Transaction data was pulled from the debit and credit transactions of cardholding members of credit unions across the country using CO-OP Total Revelation, a data analytics tool from CO-OP.
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The dollar amounts were tracked from Feb. 12 to 14, 2013, and compared to cardholder spending from Feb. 12 to 14, 2014.
Among the highlights of the CO-OP Total Revelation data:
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Data was tracked for a total of 16 different types of merchants. The grand total for all merchants saw a 19% increase in dollars spent in 2014 compared to the previous year.
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Cash withdrawals by transactions were up by 18%.
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Restaurants showed a 20% increase in dollars spent year over year.
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Pay television services showed a 28% increase in dollars spent year over year.
The only category to show a decline from the previous year was video rentals – down 4%.
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