More consumers will shop online this year for Father’s Day, with 28.4% of respondents to a National Retail Federation survey planning to buy from web merchants, up from 22.1% last year. The trade group’s findings are based on a survey conducted between May 5 and May 8 of 8,789 consumers.

Those shoppers also will spend slightly more for the annual holiday honoring dads, $177.75 on average, up 2.4% from $173.64 in 2011.

Mobile devices will come in handy, with 56.8% of respondents planning to use tablets to research products and compare prices, and 43.9% planning to do the same with smartphones. 26.1% of respondents will use smartphones to make purchases, compared with 43.5% who will do so with tablets.

Another survey by shopping comparison provider PriceGrabber—this one of 4,450 U.S. online shoppers—found that 59% of them will shop online because of free shipping offers from e-retailers.  48% will shop online because of lower prices, while 38% plan to use coupons online. Respondents could select more than one answer.

PriceGrabber also found that 57% of respondents said they plan to spend less than $100 on Father’s Day this year. The rest will spend between $100 and $249 (21%), more than $250 (11%) or don’t have a budget for the holiday (11%).  

Some notable Father’s Day promotions this year include:

• A 72-hour weekend-long sale on everything at electronics retailer TigerDirect, a subsidiary of Systemax Inc., No. 25 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

• Special dad-themed gift baskets at GourmetGiftBaskets.com, No. 484, such as for golf or fishing enthusiasts, the latter basket coming complete with gummy worms

• Free two-day shipping on Father’s Day gifts at Vidzea.com, an e-retailer that uses videos to showcase lifestyle goods.

 

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