A Card for Nearly Every Mom
Just about every mom will get, at minimum, a Mother's Day card this year, with 84.5 percent of shoppers surveyed saying they will purchase a greeting card for the upcoming holiday. Nearly 40 percent of moms will get to pick their own gift since 39.3 percent will get a gift certificate as their present.
The National Retail Federation survey, conducted by BIGresearch, shows 29.3 percent of moms on tap to receive either books or CDs. Another 18.5 percent will receive either housewares or gardening tools, and 11.3 percent will open packages containing consumer electronics or computer-related accessories.
Almost 20 percent of Mother's Day gift givers will treat mom to a trip to either a spa or beauty salon, up from 14.5 percent last year.
As for stores, specialty retailers will be the primary beneficiaries of the holiday, with 37.5 percent of gifts purchased at a shop such as a florist, a jeweler or an electronics store. Twenty-four percent of Mom's Day buyers will do their shopping at a discounter, 29 percent will hit a department store, and 2.9 percent will go catalog shopping.
More consumers than last year -- 20 percent vs. 16.9 percent -- will shop online.
Anna M. Jarvis, the woman credited with originating the Mother's Day holiday in the United States, in 1878 listened to her mother teach a Sunday School class on mothers in the Bible. "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother's day," Miss Jarvis's mother reportedly said. And, so, according to Floramex, Anna M. Jarvis did just that.
Enough history for me. I've got to go shopping. I'll be among the 37.5 percent of people shopping for Mom's Day gifts at a speciality store.
