Make Mother’s Day a Retail Sales Spike Because of the government shutdown, release of US Census Bureau retail sales data was delayed during January 2019. Many analysts are forecasting a slow start to 2019 retail sales. Mother’s Day shopping could be the first significant boost of the year. The Conference Board’s February 2019 Consumer Confidence Index® increased substantially from January, or 121.7 to 131.4. The Expectations Index increased even more from January, from 89.4 to 103.4. According to a May 2018 Ipsos survey, slightly more women, 67%, would prefer breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day than a gift of brunch, 65%. Breakfast in bed was the top choice of women younger than 35, or 67%, than those 55 and older, or 44%.

Motherhood in the Modern Age Your prospects and clients need information about mothers, so they can offer the right products and services to Mother’s Day gift buyers. For example, women are waiting further into their childbearing years to have children, but they are having more of them. Although, according to Pew Research Center, 68% of mothers were married during 2017, 24% were solo mothers and another 8% were cohabiting with an unmarried partner, doubling since 1997. Unsurprisingly, 82% of all US births during 2016 were of Millennial women and there were 17 million Millennial mothers as of the same year. Despite being in their prime childbearing years, just 48% of Millennial women were mothers during 2016.

Few Families Operate Well Without Mom in Charge According to Edison Research’s fall 2018 survey of 516 mothers age 18–64, 43% said they (“Mom”) handle the majority of responsibilities regarding their children, and 41% do it all, with 87% working full-time and 83% staying at home. “Making children’s doctor appointments” was the #1 task for 89% of moms who are primarily responsible for their children. “Helping with homework” was the task most shared by mothers and the other parent, but it was still a 72%/26% split. Even when the other parent handles parenting responsibilities, mothers are still involved, with 54% reminding the other parent some of the time, 28% most of the time, 9% all of the time and 9% not at all.

A Focus on Ethnicity Can Maximize Mother’s Day Sales The Media Audit’s September 2018 survey, representing 60 markets and more than 120 million Americans, revealed Latina American women had the largest percentage, 62.1%, of children at home of any age, with African-American women second, at 50.9%. The Media Audit survey also revealed data on the women 18–34 with children at home by ethnicity: Caucasian Americans, 48.0%, African-Americans, 11.5%; Latina Americans, 32.7%; and Asian Americans, 5.4%. An important distinction when targeting Latinx American households for Mother’s Day sales is 7% are multigenerational, compared to 4% of total households, indicating there is likely to be more than one mother in a Latinx American household.

Mothers Are a Technological Force According to a January 2018 Edison Research survey, 92% of mothers owned a smartphone, increasing from 86% for 2017; however, their tablet ownership was flat, at 64%, compared to 65% for 2017 and 64% for 2016. Essentially, all mothers, or 98%, had access to the Internet at home, work, school and a library. Mothers said they spent 3 hours, 34 minutes on the Internet, compared to 2 hours, 47 minutes watching TV and 1 hour, 51 minutes listening to radio. More than half, or 54%, of mothers said they were Amazon Prime subscribers. Pandora remained mothers’ favorite Internet-only audio source, at 56%, but Spotify and Amazon Music gained the most, or +7 and +8 points, respectively, from 2017 to 2018.

Look for Mom and Her Interests and Favorite Gifts on Social Media The Edison Research survey also found mothers were using any social networking Website or service less during 2018 than 2017, or 89% and 93%, respectively, and checking social media fewer times per day, or 59 and 62 times, respectively Much of that decrease can likely be attributed to mothers using Facebook less, since it is the dominant social media site. Mothers’ use of Facebook declined from 84% during 2017 to 79% for 2018. Interestingly, Twitter use among mothers actually increased from 2017 to 2018, or 21% and 25%, respectfully.

Advertising Strategies With so many women saying they would prefer breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day, local restaurants with young chefs in training may be able to create a package that includes the chef bringing food items and preparing the breakfast at recipients’ homes. Because there are so many solo mothers and those cohabiting with an unmarried partner, Mother’s Day retailers should consider special packages or offers targeting the men in these women’s lives, maybe a “Prove You’re Husband/Father Material” promotion. Despite more fathers sharing the household duties, mothers still do most of them. A perfect gift could be a personal assistant or au pair for a period of time (a week, a month) to relieve Mom of some of these duties, especially working mothers.

New Media Strategies Retailers can use social media to target women/mothers first (and early), asking them to help create a Mother’s Day gift guide, in which the gift items are paired with the photo and post of each woman to authenticate them. Once a Mother’s Day gift guide has been created based on the input of local women/mothers, retailers can then target men on social media with access to the guide and emphasizing its authenticity because it shows what local women/mothers want. Use social media to reach Latinx American audiences, since Latinx Americans over-index for smartphone owners and social media – and multi- generational household members (mothers and grandmothers). It’s also an opportunity for your first Spanish-language post.