Budget UK retailer sells engagement rings for only £1

Poundland sells over 20,000 place holder rings in the first seven days of selling

A budget engagement ring has proven popular in the lead up to Valentine's day. 
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With less than a week to go until Valentine’s Day, news that a retailer in the UK has sold more than 20,000 bargain engagement rings in the first week of the product’s release proves that love isn’t dead, but it may be cheap.

Budget UK retail chain Poundland released the engagement rings which cost £1 (or Dh4.5) each as part of its Valentine’s merchandise. In just seven days, thousands had been snapped up by shoppers.

The Bling Ring comes in four different varieties. Two are diamond-like and set on silver-coloured or gold-coloured bands. The other two are set on silver bands with either a red heart-shape or turquoise-oval ‘gemstone’. The gemstones are actually cubic zirconia.

The Dh6 ring comes in a red heart-shaped box and in a choice of four varieties. Courtesy Poundland
The Dh6 ring comes in a red heart-shaped box and in a choice of four varieties. Courtesy Poundland

Presented in a red heart-shaped box with a snap top to make proposing run smoothly, the rings are intended to be placeholders that can be given to a partner before investing in the real ring. The budget rings are packaged in a plastic box with the tagline ‘Because we promise they’ll want to choose their own’ emblazoned on it.

An estimated 50 per cent of proposals happen on Valentine’s Day and a survey by Bing.com revealed that rings generated the most search traffic during the first seven days of February.

When it comes to who does the actual proposing, attitudes could be changing as people move away from tradition. Research by bridal-party organisers Chillisauce discovering that of the 10,000 UK-based participants surveyed, 57 per cent of women said they’d be happy to ask a partner to marry them while 76 per cent of men were in favour of the idea.