Washington – Children and spouses
are expected to spend $906 million on consumer electronics for Mom this
Mother’s Day, a 5.7 percent increase over last year.
According to a survey by market
research firm BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation (NRF) trade group,
the average shopper will shell out $87.70 on Mother’s Day CE, up from $76.41
last year.
However, the percentage of all
shoppers selecting CE for mom slipped from 10 percent last year to 9 percent
this year, placing electronics in last place behind clothing, jewelry, flowers,
books, cards and gift certificates as the holiday’s gift of choice.
Total spending is expected to reach
$14.6 billion, making Mother’s Day the second-largest U.S. consumer spending holiday
after the winter holiday season. The average person will shell out $126.90 on Mother’s
Day gifts this year, compared with $123.89 in 2009.
A separate Mother’s Day forecast, from IBISWorld, pegged CE growth at 6.5 percent, second behind only clothing, for a projected holiday take of $910 million.
“Clothing and electronics are set to see the greatest growth for year-on-year sales this Mother’s Day,” said IBISWorld senior analyst Toon van Beeck. “The electronics sector is one area that has observed great swings in growth and decline throughout the past few years. However, this Mother’s Day will prove positive for electronic retailers, especially in home-related products, as consumers return after consecutive years of holding back on such discretionary purchases.”
Van Beeck added that consumrs are slowly moving back to their old shopping habits and are no longer focused solely on price. “A growing number of consumers are willing to pay premium prices for products again, meaning that deep discounting is no longer the only technique driving retail traffic,” he said.
