Findings from Savvy’s latest events research indicate that UK shoppers’ interest in celebrating Father’s Day is up three percentage points on 2014 figures and now stands at 57 percent. In comparison, 65 percent of UK shoppers planned to celebrate Mother’s day earlier this year. Savvy estimates the retail value of the Father’s Day market at £737m in 2015.
With many families across the UK having two working parents, tasks from childcare, doing the school drop off and cooking the evening meal are increasingly shared between Mum and Dad. In light of this, and a long-term rise in the celebration of Father’s Day, retailers and brands need to ensure their ranges reflect the needs of modern dad.
Similar to the findings of our Mother’s Day research earlier in the year, Dads are more interested in thoughtful gifts and signs of appreciation, rather than any expectation of more expensive presents. It’s a day when families get together – often with multiple generations spending time with each other.
But are sales opportunities being missed? In-store, we found activity this year fairly uninspiring on the whole. This is a shame as there is more interest from shoppers – especially women – in celebrating the occasion with their dads this year, compared to 2014, and we expect to see the commercial opportunity grow over the next few years
Who will be celebrating the event?
- 57 percent of UK shoppers are planning to celebrate Father’s day this year compared with 65 percent who marked Mother’s Day a couple of months ago.
- 59 percent of all shoppers planning to get involved agree that Father’s day is a special event (compared with 68 percent felling the same about Mother’s day) and 40 percent are looking forward to the day.
- 25 percent of shoppers said they tend to trade up to buy more expensive food and drinks on the day – exactly the same as in 2014.
- Planning in advance what shoppers are going to buy for the event is less on the cards this year – 39 percent compared with 46 percent last year.
- 34 percent of shoppers agree that they ‘don’t mind spending more to make Father’s Day special.
What do Father’s want to receive this year?
- The most popular by a far was (53 percent) was time with their family.
- In second place (34 percent) was a shop-bought card. Homemade cards came in seventh place with 17 percent)
- Beers came in third place with 21 percent of men hoping for this.
- Other popular requests included ‘Thanks from my family’ (20 percent), Meal at a restaurant (19 percent) and Books/CD/DVD (19 percent).
- Novelty items such as socks, mugs, tee-shirts were requested by just nine percent.
- Seven percent did not expect to receive anything or it was not applicable to them.
What do shoppers expect from retailers?
- 55 percent of shoppers would like ideas for presents.
- A good range of gifts to buy to suit different budgets is also a request from 43 percent of shoppers.
- A dedicated aisle for the event was appealing to 35 percent of shoppers.
- 23 percent wanted to see all of the items needed to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner in one place.
- A desire for premium goods was observed – across cards and flowers by 21 percent of respondents.
- A kids card-making area instore was desired by 16 percent of shoppers.