Mother’s Day is right around the corner on May 12th and the National Retail Federation predicts a record amount of spending on mom. The trade group expects the amount of money laid out on mothers to reach $25 billion, up from $23.1 billion last year, based on its annual survey. Mother’s Day ranks only behind Christmas and back-to-school shopping in the trade group’s list of holiday spending amounts. Those celebrating Mother’s Day is expected to fork out about $196 each compared to $180 last year.
Flowers, jewelry, dinner, clothing, spa, housewares, garden tools, books, electronics and greeting, and gift cards are all expected to be showered on mothers across the nation. The biggest layout will be on jewelry at $5.2 billion, followed by a special outing, flowers and gift cards or gift certificates.
Consumers ages 35-44 are likely to spend the most at an average $248, up from $224 last year, and men are likely to spend more than women at $237 compared with $158.
Planned Gift Purchases for Mother’s Day 2019 | |||
Gift category | % planning to purchase | Expected average per person spending | Expected total spending |
Greeting card(s) | 75% | $6.64 | $843 million |
Flowers | 67% | $20.31 | $2.6 billion |
Special outing | 55% | $36.41 | $4.6 billion |
Gift card(s)/certificate(s) | 45% | $20.65 | $2.6 billion |
Clothing, clothing accessories | 38% | $18.07 | $2.3 billion |
Jewelry | 35% | $40.87 | $5.2 billion |
Personal service | 24% | $15.80 | $2 billion |
Housewares, gardening tools | 20% | $8.82 | $1.1 billion |
Books or CDs | 20% | $4.28 | $544 million |
Consumer electronics | 15% | $17.15 | $2.2 billion |
Other | 24% | $7.48 | $950 million |
Many of those celebrating cited finding something unique (44%) as the most important factor when picking out a Mother’s Day gift, followed by one that creates a special memory (39%). More than 8 in 10 (81%) indicate they will look to retailers for gifting inspiration.