Mother’s Day is looking good for retailers, with Australians set to spend more than $750 million on gifts to spoil mums across the country.
Recent research by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan shows that people will spend an average amount of $80 on gifts such as flowers, clothing and food.
Indeed, flowers are the most popular gift for Mother’s Day (34 per cent), followed by alcohol and food (23 per cent) and clothing, shoes and sleepwear (mentioned by 11 per cent of Australians).
Being one of the key sales events of the year for retailers, they have already begun their Mother’s Day promotions to capitalise on this special day, says ARA CEO, Paul Zahra.
“With just two weeks to go till Mother’s Day, Australians are set to flock to the shops and head online for gifts for mum, with $754 million to be spent on presents, and not surprisingly, flowers top the list with champagne and chocolates also set to be popular gifts,” he says.
“Whilst it’s an important day to celebrate the immense contribution of mums and the sacrifices they make, Australians will also use the day to acknowledge other significant people in their lives. Around one in four people will purchase gifts for people who are not their birth mothers including mothers-in-law, wives or partners and other family members.”
Indeed, Mother’s Day celebrations have expanded beyond traditional gift-giving for birth mothers and people are now using the day to acknowledge others who have taken on this important role in their lives.
“Despite ongoing cost of living pressures, retail sales remain strong in Australia and continue to be spurred along by key retail events, with Easter providing a boost to food retailers and businesses in popular tourist destinations as people got away for the holidays.
“More than $7 billion was forecast to be spent on trips away over Easter and $1.5 billion was set to be spent on food and chocolates, and now with Mother’s Day just around the corner, retailers are gearing up for the next big event on the retail calendar.”
