Prepare your business for one of the most important dates of the year. Adapt the graphical elements and content you want to use with the colours, terminology and symbolism of this date
But don’t just stick to the website, both your social networks and the email marketing you carry out should reflect the celebration of this day. Ensure your customers’ experience is unique.
Perhaps you’re thinking that’s everything, right?
We are sorry to tell you that isn’t the case. Here you have the most important information about this date depending on the market and its culture:
If you internationalise in Europe.
If you work in tourism or hospitality, prepare your website for an avalanche of romantic bookings. Italy turns into one of the most romantic destinations around this time and, in particular, Venice. A real experience for lovers.
Flowers are the most popular gift in Denmark and Holland. In Denmark, people give pressed white flowers that look like snowdrops and, in the latter, tulips are the star of the show.
It is important to bear in mind that, in Holland and Germany, it isn’t just Valentine’s Day, friendship is also celebrated. Therefore, people also buy gifts for their closest friends.
In Sweden, Finland and Estonia, sales of cosmetics skyrocket, this happens on a day that the Swedes call Sõbrapäev, Finns call Ystävänpäivä and which is known as Alla hjärtans dag in Estonia.
In Portugal, couples buy each other gift baskets. They usually contain gourmet food, wine, cheese and sweets.
If you internationalise in Asia
The “rules of the game” for this day change depending on the Asian country you are targeting.
In Japan, only women buy gifts and it is usually chocolates. The tradition consists of just women buying a gift for their partner, friends and/or family members. Hence, a box of chocolates, or sweets, can symbolise a declaration of love or, on the other hand, a social obligation. This is compensated for on March 14th or White Day when men buy women gifts, like a second Valentine’s Day.
In China, given that February 14th falls too close to Chinese New Year, this celebration is moved to the seventh day of the seventh month of the year, and the date is called Qixi.
In Korea, Valentine’s Day is held in several variants and dates. On February 14th, women give sweets, on March 14th men give gifts, April 14th is for singletons and November 11th is when both men and women exchange Mikado type sweets.
If you internationalise in America
In the United States, celebrations for this day extend to schools, where pupils exchange greetings cards and buy gifts for their teachers. The most popular gifts around this time are usually sweets, soft toys or flowers.
In Mexico, they celebrate February 14th with the biggest sales of the year of soft toys, wine, balloons, sweets and lingerie, among other things. Moreover, it is a particularly busy day for hospitality.
But, be careful! Some countries don’t celebrate this day on February 14th, including Brazil, where it is celebrated on June 12th. For Colombia it is the third Saturday of September, Bolivia celebrates it on September 21st and Uruguay on October 17th.
Here at BigTranslation we take all of this into account given that translation isn’t just carried out on a linguistic level, but on a cultural one too.
We have more than 17000 native translators that live in their countries of origin. Who are you going to trust to internationalise your project?
