NEW YORK — Children and spouses are
expected to spend north of $900 million
on consumer electronics this Mother’s
Day, two separate surveys show.
According to a poll by market research
firm BIGresearch for the National
Retail Federation (NRF) trade group, CE
spending for Mom will hit $906 million, a
5.7 percent increase over last year, with
the average shopper shelling out $87.70,
compared with $76.41 last year.
However, the percentage of all shoppers
selecting CE 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, NRF said.
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 electronics
retailers, especially in homerelated
products, as consumers return
after consecutive years of holding back
on such discretionary purchases.”
NRF said 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.
“Even with slight improvements in
the economy, consumers are still looking
for unique, sentimental and inexpensive
ways to show mom that she is
important,” said NRF president/CEO
Tracy Mullin.
Added Phil Rist, BIGresearch’s strategic
initiatives executive VP: “For some,
Mom is the glue that holds the family together.
After a few years of cutting back
on their discretionary spending, consumers
will open up their wallets a little
bit more to celebrate the woman with the
most important job in the world.”
The NRF 2010 Mother’s Day Consumer
Intentions and Actions Survey was designed
to gauge consumer behavior and
shopping trends related to the Mother’s
Day holiday. The poll of 8,197 consumers
was conducted April 6–13 and has a margin
of error of plus or minus 1 percent.
IBISWorld’s Van Beeck added that
consumers 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 observed.
