Mother’s Day 2019 Spending Survey Reveals Surprising Results

Americans are expected to spend a record $25 billion on Mother’s Day this year according to the National Retail Federation. The NRF’s report comes out at the same time as our own Mother’s Day spending survey which also revealed that quite a lot of Americans are planning on splurging on their moms in 2019!

During the first week of May 2019, ChargeItSpot surveyed 1,250 shoppers at malls located across the US about their Mother’s Day spending habits. Some of the results were shocking! We’ve broken down the results into 3 graphics: general spend data, spend by gender and spend by age group.

 

 

The general spending results from the ChargeItSpot QuickPoll survey indicated that the majority of Americans (52%) are planning on spending less than $50 this Mother’s Day. A modest yet healthy budget! On the other end of the spectrum, 14% of shoppers reported that they were going to spend more than $300! About a quarter of respondents (26%) were anticipating spending $50-$100, and 8% said they were spending somewhere between $100 and $300 on a gift for mom this year.

The results get more interesting when you dive into the differences in spending by gender:

 

 

They say a boy’s best friend is his mother and judging by the results of this survey, sons are definitely splurging more on their moms than daughters! There are twice as much men spending over $300 on a Mother’s Day gift than women. Women were simply more budget-minded this year, with 59% of them reporting to spend less than $50 this year, versus 46% of men.

Other fascinating findings were uncovered when we broke down Mother’s Day spend by age group:

 

 

The variations in spend by age group are quite obvious – especially when you compare millennials to seniors! 58% of shoppers under 21 are planning on spending less than $50 on a Mother’s Day gift this year, compared to 44% of seniors over 61. Even more contrasting – but perhaps not surprising –  is the difference between millennials and seniors when it comes to splurging: only 15% of shoppers under 21 were going to spend $300 or more on a gift, versus a whopping 42% of seniors over 61!

In fact, seniors were shown to be the most extreme spenders of all: they’re either spending very little or totally lavishing their moms with gifts. Only 14% of shoppers over age 61 were planning on spending between $50 and $300 – they were either in the $50 and under camp, or the splurging over $300 one.

Other interesting findings: teens and young adults (under 21) and people in their 40s reported almost identical spending. Teens were even more generous than their older peers! 15% of them were planning on spending over $300 this Mother’s Day, whereas an average of just 9% of older age groups (21-60 years old) were planning on splurging this year.

Mother’s Day spending habits are certainly varied across the board, by gender and age group. Stay tuned for the results of our Father’s Day spending survey!