Learn more about consumers' planned spending for Mother's Day, including total spend by demographics, gift categories and historical data. Explore more.
Moms deserve to be celebrated every day of the year, but consumers are going all out to give mother figures in their life a little more love this Mother’s Day. Eighty-four percent of consumers plan to celebrate Mother’s Day this year. And they’re breaking last year’s record highs: Consumers plan to spend a record $274.02 per person on average and a total of $35.7 billion on gifts.
Read on for more insights into how consumers are making mom’s day extra special this Mother’s Day — and consider this your reminder to get a little something for your mom before May 14!
Making memories
What do you get the mom who says, “Oh, you’re already the best gift I could ask for”? Almost one-third of consumers (31%) plan to gift an experience and almost half (46%) are interested in gifting a product subscription box. Both of these activity-based gift options are at their highest since NRF first started asking these questions — NRF first started tracking gifts of experience in 2016 and product subscription box services in 2019.
Younger consumers are leading this trend. Consumers aged 18-24 are the most interested in giving a gift of experience, with almost half (48%) planning on doing so, followed by those aged 25-34 (47%) and 35-44 (43%). Those latter age groups are most likely to give the gift that keeps on giving — 66% of both say they’re interested in gifting a subscription box.
Whether yours is into clothes, coffee, crafting or cocktails, there’s something for every mom.
Looking for inspiration
Retailers, consumers are looking to you for inspiration more now than ever before: 38% of those celebrating Mother’s Day say they “always” or “very often” look to retailers for gift inspiration, the highest since NRF first asked this question in 2019. That’s higher among men, 43% of whom say they “always” or “very often” look to retailers for gift inspiration, compared with 33% of women.
Men are also much more likely to get back in-store to find something special for the moms in their life. While men and women plan to shop online at about the same rates, men plan to shop at department stores, specialty stores and specialty clothing stores significantly more than women.
Prioritizing mom
Inflation is still a top issue for consumers in 2023 and 72% of those celebrating Mother’s Day say they’ve seen higher prices on items they’re considering gifting, particularly flowers, clothing and jewelry. Despite this, making mom feel special remains a priority. Rather than passing on gift giving altogether, consumers seeing higher prices have become more value-driven and are taking advantage of sales and promotions (44%) or cutting back in other areas (34%) to make sure mom still has her special day.
Even though consumers are being price-conscious, “finding a gift that’s unique or different” (47%) and “finding a gift that creates a special memory” (42%) are still their top priorities when shopping for something special this year.
For more information on how consumers are celebrating Mother’s Day, visit NRF’s Mother’s Day headquarters.
Related content
