It is the time to honour mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers for their contribution to family and society. But how are small-medium enterprises (SMEs) preparing for Mother’s Day? And how does the way these businesses sell products around this date change in different countries? Finally, what are the FX considerations SME’s need to think about?
Consumer spend for Mother’s Day in 2019 nearly reached the 1.6 billion mark, which is an indicator of the type of opportunity for businesses as we near this year’s celebration [1].
For any small business selling gifts for Mother’s Day, it’s important to know that the market grew by 0.9% in 2019. Retailers, in particular, have the opportunity to grow their revenue by increasing their volume of popular gifts such as cards, flower bouquets and chocolates, which centre around Mother’s Day. Cards and gift wrapping paper were higher up in the best-performing category, rising by 1.2% [2].
It was mainly retailers who saw an increase in their revenue for this day last year (on and offline). A category of gifts which are growing in popularity are experiences, such as afternoon tea or a day at the zoo.
Get ready
So, what do SME’s need to factor in to prepare for the increase of shopper activity for Mother’s Day? We’ve got a few ideas to be considered [3]:
- Get mobile optimised: an average 45% of Mother’s Day searches are carried out via mobile, so it’s highly important to ensure that your site is mobile responsive. Make sure your website is responsive and has a user-friendly interface for those shopping on the go.
- Expand your scope and extend your reach: consider the breadth of demographics and evaluate your product offering for mothers, step-mums, daughters, grandmothers and great-grandmothers.
- Consider your pricing: targeting is key here, as is knowing your customer segments. Younger shoppers tend to have a smaller spend range, so think about displaying lower-cost products for them and evaluate how you could target mature customers with a higher spend range with gifts such as spa days, experiences or jewellery.
- Special offers and bundles: outsmart the competition and do your research to see how you can maintain a competitive edge. Have you thought about special discounts, bundling items and including little perks?
Mothers all around the world
Looking at Europe and some countries in the rest of the world, there are some interesting trends to be aware of given Mother’s Day falls on different dates depending on the country. And there are varying customs to be aware of globally which may affect the types of products you promote. Take a look at how a few different countries celebrate Mother’s Day:
United States
The 10th of May is when America celebrates Mother’s Day. Whilst the day is largely focused on church-going, gifting carnations is also commonplace. The main spend for the day in 2019 was on cards, reaching the $843 million mark. Special outings and experiences reached an incredible $4.6 billion [4].
France
The 7th of June is when France celebrates unless Pentecost falls on that day – in that case, it’s celebrated on the following Sunday. Traditionally the day is celebrated with a large meal and small gifts of understated elegance.
Austria, Germany and Switzerland
Mother’s Day falls on 10th May and mothers would traditionally receive Hemerocallis flowers from their sons and daughters on this holiday. The holiday was gradually accepted by people in mainland China in the 1980s, beginning in 1988, where countries such as Guangzhou in Southern China first began to celebrate Mother’s Day.
Asia, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Japan celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Monday of May. Many Arab countries like Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and more celebrate Mother’s Day on the 21st of March. Many Eastern and Southern Eurasian countries including Russia celebrate Mother’s Day together with International Women’s Day on the 8th of March.
Here in the UK and across Ireland the day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday during Lent also known as Mothering Sunday. This year the celebration falls on the 22nd of March for the UK and Ireland.
Make Mother’s Day a success
Once your business has a better idea of which products to increase, think about what types of promotions to offer your shoppers, narrowing down how you will localise your products to all the markets your business covers. Then it’s time to think about how to manage your payments and FX over this holiday.
Let’s all honour the incredible mothers past and present, who blazed a trail for us all. Partner with WorldFirst to get the most out of a holiday like Mother’s Day by opening up a World Account today. You can lower your business FX costs with our tiered and transparent pricing, focusing on serving your shoppers over this holiday. Benefit from free-to-open overseas accounts in up to 10 different currencies, to collect, hold and make payments globally. Get prepared for the Mother of all days by contacting our FX specialists today.