Estimated to be worth over £400m to the gifts and greetings cards industry, Mother‘s Day is one of spring‘s biggest events for retailers. Rakuten Affiliate Network insights reveal that this year could be a ‘Mobile Mother‘s Day‘ after 2014 saw the number of orders from smartphones increase by 169%, while orders from tablets increased by 57%. These devices are now taking a larger percentage share of total sales than ever before, suggesting that shoppers are becoming more confident purchasing on these devices as retailers improve mobile customer experience.
The data also suggests that flower delivery services will bloom this Mother‘s Day. Retail florist Bloom & Wild, which can deliver ‘letterbox flowers‘ and runs an affiliate marketing campaign with Rakuten Affiliate Network, is predicted to see a sales increase of over 148% through its affiliate programme this year, compared to last year. Most mums can also expect to receive fashionable gifts, as Rakuten Affiliate Network‘s highest performing sectors leading up to Mother‘s Day 2013 and 2012 were apparel and accessories, luxury items and beauty.
Typically, consumers are shopping for their Mothers six or seven days before the event, but in 2014, retailers across the Rakuten Affiliate Network saw sales peak closer to Mother‘s Day, indicating that consumers are becoming increasingly last-minute with gift-buying. Peak shopping days fell five days prior to Mother‘s Day and on the day before Mother‘s Day, suggesting that shoppers were taking advantage of faster delivery services and “click and collect”, which were not so widely available the year before.
Commenting on the findings, Mark Haviland, MD Rakuten Marketing Europe said:
“We all know that in fact every day is Mother‘s Day, or at least that‘s what I tell my sons, but this weekend is when we like to show extra affection. And the numbers back that up; we saw sales rise by a quarter year on year in 2014. But with mobile growing so fast too, that affection is coming as we multi-task, so brands have to be fast and nimble to get the right offers to loyal sons and daughters wherever they are. We don‘t have to wait till we get home/to the office; we can act on the move and that‘s how many of us are shopping these days.”
