Customers will spend extra on mother

On this Mother’s Day, it’s more like breakfast in bed than an opulent buffet.

Although consumers are expected to spend more on their mothers this year, the celebrations will likely still take place at home, despite rising vaccination rates.

“There are more people planning a Mother’s Day brunch or a special getaway, but we’re not where we were before the pandemic,” he said Katherine Cullen, Senior Director, Industry and Consumer Insights, National Retail Federation. “I think consumers are still reluctant to plan these types of activities.”

In a recent survey by the trade group, only about half of the 7,818 consumers surveyed said they were planning a special getaway for their vacation, although consumers expect to spend more money on the occasion.

With caution, many restaurants offer brunch and dinner menus for Mother’s Day, which you can pick up or prepare at home.

“I’ve seen many restaurants that have a Mother’s Day deal that gives you all the ingredients. It can be partially assembled and you take it home and heat it and you can have a restaurant-quality meal at home.” “Said Cullen.” I think a lot of these trends and services will stay here. “

Flour, a Boston bakery with nine locations and a commissioner’s kitchen, has special Mother’s Day menu options, including frozen, ready-to-bake sticky buns and cinnamon rolls that can be picked up in-store. There’s also a second menu for items, including a coconut cake, which can be shipped across the country.

“We’re making a Mother’s Day gift box that we don’t normally sell and that is very popular for e-commerce,” said Holly Najdzin, senior operations support manager at Flour. The box contains homemade muesli, a crunchy butter toffee, sable biscuits, English breakfast tea, a tea towel and a mug for Mother’s Day.

Flour also offers virtual baking classes that can be offered as gifts, with the option to send the ingredients to the recipient for an additional charge.

Numerous other online courses are also available. For example, 1-800-Flowers.com offers workshops that teach you how to arrange flowers or make a sausage board. Both were popular Mother’s Day gifts this year.

“Live streaming experiences are also increasing compared to years before the pandemic as consumers try to connect with their mom virtually or simply from the comfort of their own home,” said Chris McCann, CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com.

Americans plan to spend an average of $ 220.48 on celebration plans and gifts for Mother’s Day from April 1-9 this year, according to the NRF poll. This brings the total expected spend for Mother’s Day to $ 28.09 billion.

It’s also an average of $ 15.74 more than consumers for 2020 and $ 24.01 more than planned for 2019.

“This is the highest anticipated Mother’s Day output we’ve seen since we started this survey over a decade ago,” said Cullen. “It’s really about giving things instead of gaining experience.”

After the greeting cards, consumers are most likely to buy flowers. 68% of respondents say this is part of their plan.

“Mother’s Day is the biggest flower holiday of the year and our brand 1-800-Flowers.com expects approximately 23 million stems to be shipped for the holiday,” said McCann.

Due to the shortage and higher transportation costs, buyers may spend more on flowers this year. Some florists say consumers should be willing to accept replacements and pay up to 25% more than last year, media reports said.

“Farms that don’t know how to plan for this year have withdrawn and there is a bit of an argument,” McCann said in Squawk Box on Thursday. “That, along with some weather conditions, has created the challenge we see in the flower industry today.”

1-800-Flowers said it was able to secure enough flowers to meet its demand.

McCann said he also sees greater demand for gifts for groceries, and NRF’s Cullen said consumers intend to spend more on jewelry.

“Despite all the difficulties that Covid has caused, despite all the uncertainties, consumers are really enjoying moments when they can celebrate,” said Cullen. “And we’ve seen that in pretty much every vacation and special event during the pandemic.”