Make the Most Out of Mother’s Day 2018!

Aussies love to spoil their Mum!  A whopping $2 billion was spent during Mother’s Day 2017, proving Mother’s Day is a significant event for both consumers and marketers. For consumers, this is the time to show appreciation for their mum, thanking them for all they’ve done by showering them with gifts. For marketers, Mother’s Day is one of the last key retail events before the End of Financial Year madness kicks into effect.

Mother’s Day also presents an opportunity for brands to evaluate and experiment with different deals and touch points to see what consumers are most likely to respond to and when they’ll respond in relation to the holiday. These evaluations not only provide real insights into current shopper behaviour, they enable marketers to adjust their strategy for the larger shopping events to come later in the year.

Past Trends

Rakuten Marketing data revealed that Mother’s Day shopping began in late April last year, with consumers turning to content publishers during the discovery phase as a means of scooping gift ideas. Further to this, the research shows that many consumers who aren’t buying early, or who are using content for research purposes only, are leveraging deal opportunities the week of Mother’s Day. This means the timing in which marketers target consumers will be critical. The gifts that customers are buying, and the verticals they’re buying from will also become a factor of timing.

Popular Gifts and Purchases

Part of the reason many are shopping the week of Mother’s Day isn’t that they’re late shoppers, it’s because a lot of the popular products for mums are perishables. Flowers and chocolates are among the most popular items to purchase for mum. The shelf-life for flowers makes it one where consumers want to wait until it gets close enough to Mother’s Day to have them fresh, but not so late that they’re picking out weeds because that’s all that’s left.

However, chocolates and flowers aren’t the only things shoppers are looking to give – the third-most popular gift was an outing of some kind for mum. Last year it was estimated that Sydneysiders would spend an average $55 a head dinning out, making Mother’s Day the second-biggest day of the year of the restaurant industry.

Key Strategies for Mother’s Day

Traditional Mother’s Day verticals are the most popular, advertisers who can offer flowers, food and drink, gifts, apparel and accessories, or luxury products should be especially focused on their Mother’s Day messaging and ensuring their promotions are optimised. Brands should look to take advantage of bespoke placement opportunities made available by publishers in the lead up to Mother’s Day.

As consumers are looking to purchase specific items for Mum, it’s important for advertisers to be creative with their marketing strategies. Advertisers that commit to creating ads that are engaging and relevant to consumers are likely see the most success. Personalisation, is a great strategy for marketers to employ during Mother’s Day and can be added in a variety of different ways, from direct messaging to lists of Mother’s Day gift ideas that suggest what activity based on what the mother’s interests are.

Further to this, digital video is becoming crucial to creative marketing. Video is a great way to generate original brand-promoting ads and content that won’t feel invasive to the consumer experience, specifically with video that is promoted through social platforms. When done correctly, videos feel native to consumers and weave effortlessly with social content on their feed.

Mother’s Day provides a great opportunity for brands to create a unique experience for consumers that are looking for a special gift for mum and by utilising key strategies that are tailored to the needs of the consumer.