This Mother’s Day, Mom’s Getting Pampered, According to NRF Survey
Washington, April 28, 2011 – Often known as the voice of reason, and even frugality, mom doesn’t expect much for Mother’s Day. But this year, her loved ones are fully intent on pampering her with some of the finer things in life. According to NRF’s 2011 Mother’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average person celebrating the holiday is expected to spend $140.73 on gifts, up from $126.90 last year, and a return to 2008 spending levels. Total spending is expected to reach $16.3 billion.*
“This Mother’s Day, the woman who often puts herself last is being put first,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “Americans are in a much better position to spend this year and will push the daily stresses of high gas and food costs aside for one day to celebrate the most important women in the world to them.”
This year, husbands and sons across the country plan to spoil mom a bit, as more indulgent gifts will prove the most popular. According to the survey the number of people who plan on buying electronics (13.3%) will rise 48 percent from last year (9.0%) – and they’re spending more, too. Those buying electronics will shell out $94.91 on smartphones, cameras and even tablet devices, up eight percent from $87.70 last year.** Jewelry will also be a popular gift option for mom, with 31.2 percent of celebrants planning to buy mom silver, gold or diamonds, up 19 percent from last year. Total spending on jewelry is expected to reach $3.0 billion.
Restaurants and other businesses will also benefit from the billions of dollars that come in for one of the biggest holidays of the year. More than half (54.7%) of all celebrants will treat mom to a nice dinner or brunch, spending a total of $3.1 billion. Additionally, one-third (31.8%) of Americans will buy mom clothing or accessories ($1.3 billion total) and nearly two-thirds (64.9%) will buy mom flowers ($1.9 billion). Consumers will also shell out $1.6 billion on gift cards and $1.2 billion on personal services such as a trip to a day spa.
When it comes to where people will shop, the survey found nearly one-third (32.0%) of gift buyers will shop at a department store, the most in the survey’s history. Others will shop at discounters (29.6%), specialty stores including jewelers, florists and electronics stores (31.8%), online (21.5%) or at a specialty clothing store (7.1%).
Of the 83.1 percent celebrating Mother’s Day this year, most will shop for their mom (59.9%), while others will buy gifts for their wife (19.6%), daughter (9.6%), grandmother (8.0%), sister (8.4%), friend (7.3%) or godmother (1.8%).
“Whether it’s a special meal at her favorite restaurant or a new smartphone, families want to indulge mom this year,” said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. “As we’ve seen throughout the year, Americans will find ways to save money while at the same time splurging on the perfect gift for all the moms in their lives.”
Men will spend an average of $168.84 on the women in their life this Mother’s Day, compared to $114.01 women will spend. Additionally, adults 25-34 years old will spend the most ($191.35), followed by 18-24 year olds ($183.38) and 35-44 year olds ($155.97).
About the Survey
The NRF 2011 Mother’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the Mother’s Day holiday. The survey was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch. The poll of 8,488 consumers was conducted from April 4-12, 2011. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.
BIGresearch® consumer intelligence provides analysis of behavior in areas of products and services, ecommerce, social media, mobile, retail, financial services, automotive and media. The BIGresearch Consumer Intentions and Actions® Survey (CIATM) of 8,000+ respondents is conducted monthly and the Simultaneous Media Usage® Survey (SIMM®) of 20,000+ respondents is conducted semi-annually.
As the world’s largest retail trade association and the voice of retail worldwide, the National Retail Federation’s global membership includes retailers of all sizes, formats and channels of distribution as well as chain restaurants and industry partners from the U.S. and more than 45 countries abroad. In the U.S., NRF represents the breadth and diversity of an industry with more than 1.6 million American companies that employ nearly 25 million workers and generated 2010 sales of $2.4 trillion. www.nrf.com.
* Total spending is extrapolation of spending of U.S. adults 18+
** Average spending includes only spending of those buying in that specific category (electronics, jewelry, etc.) The Net Average spending amount can be found in complete survey results, which is the average spending of all those celebrating Mother’s Day.
