How deeply has the economy cut into consumer spending? So much so that even Mom is getting pinched this year.
Consumers will pull back their outlay this year on clothing, jewelry and even flowers for their mothers when the annual day of admiration rolls around May 10, according to the National Retail Federation.
Spending on Mother's Day gifts this year will fall to $123.89 a person, down nearly 11% from last year, respondents told pollsters at BIGresearch, which conducted the survey for the trade group.
"No one will forgo celebrating Mother's Day because of the bad economy, but they will put careful thought into what they buy and how much they spend," said Phil Rist, executive vice president at BIGresearch.
Even mothers who are getting a gift -- and 83.3% of them can expect their offspring to spring for one -- won't likely see any blue boxes from Tiffany. More than 30% of poll respondents said they will head to a discount store to pick up mothers' gifts; only 5% will look to specialty retailers.
"Budget-friendly gift ideas will abound this Mother's Day," said Tracy Mullin, NRF chief executive.
High on the list of offerings this year -- like most other years -- are flowers. But the bloom is off the rose even there: The amount expected to be spent on flowers this year is down 5% from a year ago to $1.9 billion, the study found.
And moms who are yearning for an iPhone are going to be disappointed too: Spending on electronics is expected to dive nearly 29% to $857 million.
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Spending on apparel and accessories will decline 12% to $1.23 billion this year, the survey found, while spending on gift certificates will be off 5% to $1.5 billion.
We'll still get Mom her card: Spending on greeting cards is expected to slip slightly to $672 million, and 85% of us plan to send one. But except for sentiment it's likely to be empty; spending on gift certificates is set to decline 5% this year to $1.5 billion, according to the survey.
This article was reported by Jennifer Waters for MarketWatch.
