36% of Consumers Plan to Give Mother’s Day Gifts, 34% Plan to Dine Out; 54% of Mother’s Day Alcohol Buyers Opt for Wine
CHICAGO, May 8, 2024 (GlobeNewswire) – Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, is highlighting consumer plans for Mother’s Day 2024, sourced from verified purchase data and a sentiment survey of over 5,500 consumers on their 2024 holiday intentions. Overall, 78% of consumers plan to celebrate Mother’s Day, with Gen Z being the most likely generation to celebrate, make plans far in advance, and give gifts.
Consumer Sentiment Findings Include:
- Three-quarters of consumers plan to celebrate the holiday, just like last year. Overall, 78% of consumers (no change from 2023) plan to celebrate the holiday, with Gen Z being the most likely generation to say they will celebrate (83%), followed by Millennials (81%).
- Gen Z is the most likely generation to plan ahead for Mother’s Day. The majority of celebrators (68%) said they typically start planning for Mother’s Day 1-2 days to 1-2 weeks in advance. However, Gen Z consumers are 3x more likely to plan 3-6 months ahead of time (17% vs. 5% for all consumers) and 1.8x more likely to plan 1-2 months in advance (37% vs. 21%).
- Mother’s Day plans center on gathering with family and friends. Top celebration plans include gathering with family and friends (44% of respondents), giving gifts (36%), going out to eat (34%), cooking or baking at home (19%), and grilling or barbequing (18%).
- Gen Z and Millennials are the most likely generations to give gifts. 36% of all celebrators said they will give gifts this Mother’s Day, with Gen Z almost 2x more likely to do so (70%) and Millennials 1.3x more likely (46%).
- Gifts and food top Mother’s Day shopping lists. 89% of celebrators plan to purchase something for Mother’s Day, with the top items being gifts (54%), food (51%), and alcoholic beverages (15%).
- Flowers and plants account for nearly half of Mother’s Day gifts. Among celebrators who plan to purchase gifts, 48% plan to purchase flowers or plants. 39% plan to purchase gift cards, 18% plan to purchase jewelry, 18% plan to purchase apparel, 17% plan to purchase spa or beauty products, and 16% plan to purchase home goods.
- Wine is the top alcoholic beverage choice for Mother’s Day. Among celebrators who plan to purchase alcohol, wine is the top choice (54%), followed by beer (44%) and hard seltzers or canned cocktails (28%).
- Most Mother’s Day shoppers expect to spend less than $100. 73% of celebrants plan to keep their purchases under $100 for the holiday. Gen X is slightly more likely to spend between $100-$199 (21% vs. 19% for all celebrators), and Gen Z is twice as likely to spend between $200-$299 (11% vs. 5%).
Mother’s Day 2024 Planned Shopping Locations
Where do you expect to purchase items for Mother’s Day?
| Location | % of consumers responding |
| Big box stores (e.g. Walmart, Costco, Target) | 34% |
| Online retailers (e.g. Amazon, Etsy) | 32% |
| Grocery stores (e.g. Kroger, Publix) | 31% |
| Local shops / small businesses | 21% |
| Restaurants, bars, or food delivery services | 16% |
| Discount or dollar stores | 12% |
| Specialty retailers (craft, costume, etc) | 9% |
| Liquor stores | 8% |
| Small format stores (drug, convenience, etc) | 5% |
Consumer Purchase Data Findings Include:
- In the two-week lead-up to Mother’s Day 2023, more households purchased fresh-cut flowers and greeting cards. 4% of US households purchased fresh cut flowers in the two-week lead-up to Mother’s Day 2023 vs. 5.6% in the prior two weeks (+8.8 points). 32.5% of households purchased greeting cards in the two-week lead-up to Mother’s Day 2023 vs. 18.4% in the prior two weeks (+14.1 points). In the two weeks following Mother’s Day, household penetration drops (fresh cut flowers: 6.2%, greeting cards: 20.9%).
- Consumers in western states are more likely to purchase flowers. Consumers living in the Mountain region of the US are 19% more likely and shoppers living in the Pacific region are 33% more likely to purchase fresh-cut flowers in the lead-up to Mother’s Day, compared to all US shoppers.
- Many consumers save their Mother’s Day purchases for the last minute. When looking at total spend on flowers in the two-week lead up to Mother’s Day 2023, over half (51.5%) of spend occurred on Mother’s Day weekend, with 25.8% on Mother’s Day itself. For greeting cards during that same period, 27.6% of spend occurred on Mother’s Day weekend, with 17.7% on the Saturday/day before Mother’s Day.
Numerator’s Q2 2024 Holiday Preview survey was fielded to 5,577 consumers in April 2024 and highlights consumers’ celebration, shopping and spending plans for five key holidays occurring in May, June, and July 2024. 1,000 shoppers shared details of their Mother’s Day plans. Mother’s Day 2023 fresh cut flower and card purchasing data was compiled using Numerator’s 150k household Total Commerce Panel, looking at data from 05/01/2023 to 05/14/2023 versus the prior two weeks.
About Numerator:
Numerator is a data and tech company bringing speed and scale to market research. Numerator blends first-party data from over 1 million US households with advanced technology to provide 360-degree consumer understanding for the market research industry that has been slow to change. Headquartered in Chicago, IL, Numerator has 2,000 employees worldwide; 80 of the top 100 CPG brands’ manufacturers are Numerator clients.
