UK expenditure this Mother’s Day is due to increase 11% compared to 2021, with total retail sales forecast to reach £1.49bn, according to analysis of Savvy’s latest shopper research.
While rising prices account for some of the increase, spending is being driven up as more people plan to trade up to buy premium food and drinks to have on Mother’s Day.
“As the cost of living crisis intensifies, cautious shoppers are being more selective in their spending priorities – shifting away from day-to-day expenditure towards making the most of occasions with friends and family. This record-breaking Mother’s Day follows record spending on Valentine’s Day last month and we forecast strong trade across Easter and Father’s Day in the next few months” comments Catherine Shuttleworth, CEO and Founder of Savvy.
Despite the full reopening of pubs, bars and restaurants, a combination of rising prices and high levels of COVID cases mean the majority (64% of those planning to get involved) of us will celebrate Mother’s Day with a home cooked meal.
Among those planning to buy gifts for their mums, around half plan to buy flowers and 42% intend to buy chocolates. As we’ve seen during other events over the past couple of years, a growing proportion of shoppers (43%) plan to buy a personalised gift.
65% of Mother’s Day shopper are going to buy gifts online, raising to 68% among those aged under 35.
Savvy’s research suggests that retailers are missing an opportunity. Unimpressed with the usual gifting options, 67% of Mother’s Day shoppers say that the products available are boring and lack inspiration. 58% say they would happily spend more if better gifts were available.
We also found that 65% of Mother’s Day buyers would like to be able to buy sustainable gifts if they were available. However, in our retail audits we found there was very little available.
Especially for younger shoppers, social media is becoming an increasingly important source of gift inspiration, with nearly half of 18-24s expecting to buy a Mother’s Day gift they see on their social feed.