The Average Consumer Will Spent $140.73 on Mother’s Day Gifts in 2011

Mothers will get noticeably more love this year, according to a forecast from the National Retail Federation. The NRF expects total spending to surpass $16 billion this year.

According to the NRF and BIGresearch, the average U.S. consumer will spend $140.73 on Mother’s Day gifts this year, up 11 percent from the $126.90 spent per consumer last year. Total spending is expected to reach $16.3 billion.

“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,” said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF.

According to the survey, 13.3 percent of respondents plan on buying electronics for the mothers in their lives, up 48 percent from last year’s 9.0 percent response. These consumers expect to dole out $94.91 on things like smartphones, cameras and tablet devices, up 8 percent from $87.70 in 2010.

Meanwhile, 31.2 percent of respondents said they plan on spending money on jewelry for moms this year, up 19 percent from last year’s response. Total spending on jewelry is expected to reach $3.0 billion this year.

The survey also showed that 54.7 percent of celebrants will take mom out to a restaurant for dinner or brunch, accounting for $3.1 billion in expected spending. Nearly a third, or 31.8 percent, of respondents said they’re going to buy mom clothing or accessories, accounting for $1.3 billion in expected total spending.

Meanwhile, 64.9 percent of respondents said they’ll buy mom flowers ($1.9 billion). The NRF survey also shows that $1.6 billion will be spent on gift cards, and $1.2 billion will be spent on personal services, such as a trip to a day spa.

Thirty-two percent of shoppers will head to department stores for Mother’s day gifts this year, “the most in the survey’s history.” Meanwhile, 29.6 percent will go to discounters, 31.8 percent will head to specialty stores (jewelers, florists, etc.), 21.5 percent will shop online and 7.1 percent will spend money at a specialty clothing store.

“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%).”

The NRF also found that men will spend an average of $168.84 on moms this Mother’s Day, while women will spend an average of $114.01.

According to The Retail Email Blog, Mother’s Day promotional retail emails surged during the week ending April 29, thanks in part to Easter’s passing. However, “it’s still trailing last year’s levels by a significant margin,” according to Chad White, research director at Responsys.

Sources:</strong

http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1114

http://www.retailemailblog.com/2011/04/week-end-trends-mothers-day-messaging.html