Mastercard: Love is in the Air in Kenya

February 15, 2024         By: Steven Anderson

Valentine’s Day means different things to different people. It’s a wonderful celebration of love, it’s a terrifying potential disaster, it’s a horrible indirect celebration of loneliness and failure. In Kenya, it increasingly means online shopping, or at least that’s the word out of Mastercard by way of its Love Index.

The Mastercard Love Index found that online transactions for the period between February 11 and February 14 were up 183 percent over the last three years. Such purchases actually indicated planning was taking place, showing that the Kenyans were clearly deliberating just what purchases to make in advance of Valentine’s Day.

The deliberation is actually increasing, reports note, as 74 percent of transactions are made either on or before February 11. An additional 26 percent of transactions are being made on Valentine’s Day proper, which indicates that last-minute decisions are still being made, but more care and planning are going into Valentine’s Day purchases with each passing year.

What’s more, Kenyans aren’t afraid of spending heavily on loved ones; spending related to travel, for example, increaded fully 90 percent in 2017. That represented about 28 percent of spending in the period, and a lot of that spending was online spending. The increased travel spending is reflecting a growing trend that focuses on experiences above material goods, which are down substantially. The standards like flowers and jewelry are taking big hits, down 32 percent overall. Transaction totals are down 56 percent by 2017’s reckoning as compared to 2015’s.

Basically, this presents an opportunity for retailers, particularly mobile retailers. It’s a good time to hit Kenya with plenty of advance advertising. They’re preparing for purchases and aren’t shying away from substantial price tags. Granted, you might have better luck if you’re selling experiences or related matter—increasingly the case in the US, too—but if you’re offering material gifts, there’s still room to make some sales.

Regardless of what’s being sold, it’s clear that Kenyans are taking Valentine’s Day more seriously than ever. That represents opportunity, and it’s opportunity that’s not too different from what’s already being seen. It will be interesting to see what comes of this year’s figures once Mastercard has had a chance to compile them ahead of next year’s installment of Valentine’s Day.