Poundland has sold thousands of engagement rings in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, the budget retailer has revealed.
Loved-up bargain hunters swamped the high street chain ahead of February 14, snapping up almost 40,000 engagement rings, the BBC reported.
The £1 "Man Bands" and "Bling Rings" are not intended as the real deal but as "placeholders" for proper rings, a Poundland spokesperson told the news site.
However, one retail analyst described such discount promotions as "increasingly desperate".
Richard Hyman said he felt retailers were increasingly overplaying events like Valentine's Day with "desperate gimmicks" in the hope of attracting consumers' attention.
"I think as the retail recession takes hold, desperation grows. And the industry is going to be looking for events more and more that they can use as a tool to build a promotion around,” he told the BBC.
But, he said, the reality is “most retailers these days are on promotion most of the time” anyway.
Spending on Valentine's Day reached around £853m last year, up 7.8 per cent on 2018 figures, according to the research firm Savvy.
But only 14 per cent of Brits view February 14 as a “proper” special occasion. 79 per cent say it is celebrated more because of pressure from commercial entities, a YouGov survey found.
The Standard has contacted Poundland for comment.
