Gifts 5 times more popular than flowers for Mother’s Day, but 11% don’t realise date
Research from Hitwise has found that in the run up to Mother’s Day this year, search for gifts are five times more popular than flowers; although visits to the flowers and gifts category will account for over two per cent of total Internet shopping in the UK.
However, the research did find that 11 per cent of all searches for Mother’s Day included the word ‘when’ (it’s 10 March).
James Murray, digital insights manager at Experian Marketing Services, said: “As more of our shopping is being conducted online events like Mother’s Day are getting bigger each year for Internet retailers. The UK now spends 10 per cent of all time online shopping so it is no surprise that there will be 20 per cent more visits to retailers for Mother’s Day this year than there was last year.
“However, although overall more visits are being made the amount of time spent on site per visit is declining quite rapidly. This is in line with trends we saw over Christmas, where consumers are short on time and skimming through sites looking for the perfect gift. More than ever it is becoming imperative for brand to make onsite navigation as simple and intuitive as possible and to highlight offers clearly on the homepage to make the user experience as seamless as possible.
“With only a few days to go until Mother’s Day consumers are looking for reassurance that if they order gifts online now that they will definitely be delivered by Sunday. Just like at Christmas, guaranteeing late delivery or offering click and collect services is a great way to secure last minute sales.”
In total a million hours will be spent shopping online for Mother’s Day gifts this week, with demand for personalised and more unusual gifts continued to rise this year with increased volumes of searches including the word ‘unique’ (1.6 per cent of all gift searches) and ‘unusual’ (1.3 per cent of all gift searches).
Searches including the word ‘homemade’ have more than doubled compared to last year, while the increase in searches for novelty gifts has increased tenfold.