More than a quarter of all shoppers will buy their Mother’s Day gifts online this year.
Though average spending is projected to decline slightly, more shoppers will buy online this year than last, according to a report from the National Retail Federation trade group and Prosper Insights & Analytics, which surveyed 7,000 shoppers in early April. 27.3% of all shoppers say they intend to buy something for their moms online, up from 25.0% last year. Regardless of where they shop, consumers will spend an average of $172.22 this year, down slightly from $172.63 last year. Mother’s Day is Sunday.
A greater share of consumers will complete those purchases on their smartphones. 15.5% of adults 18 and older surveyed plan to buy a gift for mom on their smartphone this year, up from 13.7% last year. Meanwhile, 17.9% will buy using their tablets compared to 18.3% last year.
The NRF projects shoppers will spend $21.393 billion on Mother’s Day this year, up 1.1% from $21.165 billion last year. Jewelry is the top category in terms of spending, with shoppers expected to spend $4.199 billion, down 2.7% from $4.317 billion last year.
Flowers are another top pick for the holiday, and florists are making a big push. AdGooroo tracked desktop paid search advertising in the flowers and gifts category between April 1 and May 1 on nearly 2,000 nonbranded keywords. The paid-search firm found that 1,944 advertisers—led by floral advertisers—spent $8.1 million advertising on searches related to flowers and gifts during that period.
Among AdGooroo’s findings:
- 1-800-Flowers.com Inc., No. 57 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, led all advertisers with $906,000 spent, followed by FTD (No. 116) at $715,000, FlowerDeliveryExpress.com at $710,000, FromYouFlowers.com at $701,000 and ProFlowers.com at $633,000.
- ‘Flowers’ and ‘flower delivery’ led keywords with $1.8 million and $548,000 in paid search spend, respectively.
- Roses’ popularity may be fading. The only specific flower variety that made the list of the top 20 search terms was ‘Hawaiian flowers.’
- Wine.com (No. 252) had an average click-through rate that was nearly double the nearest competitor, yet it sponsored only 29 keywords.
- Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1) ranked 12th in spend but had the lowest average cost per click.
Whether flowers, jewelry or some other gift, retailers and consumer brands hoping to grab shoppers’ attention in emails will boost results with subject lines that pack an emotional punch. Email marketing provider Yesmail Interactive, the email marketing vendor for 13 retailers in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, looked at more than 118,000 emails sent by companies in 12 industries in the two-week period before Mother’s Day 2014 and 2015 in conjunction with Persado. When companies included some sort of emotional trigger in the subject line, the open rate was 10.3%, or 21.5% greater than the 8.5% open rate on Mother’s Day emails whose subject line did not pull on heartstrings, Yesmail says.
“To ensure they have a successful Mother’s Day marketing effort, marketers can craft a few subject lines that speak to a variety of different emotions, starting with encouragement and curiosity, and test their performance in order to identify the most effective one,” Yesmail writes.
With Mother’s Day falling earlier this year than it did last year – May 8, compared to May 10th last year — retailers are trying to woo shoppers who are pressed for time. Sears Holdings Corp., No. 14 in the Top 500, is using the lure of a $5,000 gift card to win last-minute Mother’s Day online business. Members of its You’re your Way rewards program who buy online and opt for Sears’ in-vehicle pickup service, wherein shoppers can order online, drive to the closest Sears retail location, park, and have their online order delivered directly to their car, are eligible to win the gift card. The offer applied to orders placed from Tuesday through Saturday of this week. The retailer is also offering discounts on jewelry, kitchen appliances and other Mother’s Day gift items.
Source: The National Retail Federation