Spending for Mother’s Day 2025 hit an estimated £1,673 million, up 5.3% year-on-year. Mother’s Day gifting remained strong, with 59% of consumers purchasing gifts. While in-store shopping leads (54%), online shopping grew significantly, increasing from 38% to 44% in 2025. Retailers can leverage a growing cohort of confident and savvy online shoppers with AI tools and technology to further streamline gift shopping. Agentic AI offers promising potential to take this one step further, removing the guesswork by aligning gifts with recipients’ personal preferences – be it their style, favourite retailers, or items from their wish lists.
Celebrating at home with a special meal was also popular in 2025, with 40% of consumers opting for this tradition. However, 40% would like retailers to provide healthier options to enhance these meals. Retailers can position home-cooked meals as both meaningful and health-conscious, tapping into the sentiment that for 72% of consumers, preparing a meal at home is just as significant as giving a gift.
Mother’s Day 2025 saw strong engagement, with gifting and at-home meals at the heart of celebrations. For 2026, there are opportunities to leverage AI for personalised gift recommendations, and to meet growing demand for healthy at-home meal options.
Emily Viberg, Retail analyst
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OVERVIEW
- Overview
- Mother’s Day spending set for further growth
- Use of online for gift buying sees an uptick
- The three big insights
- Analyst opinion: leverage AI technology to make gifting truly effortless
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INSIGHTS
- Help shoppers make healthier choices for dining at home during Mother’s Day
- A need for healthier at home Mother’s Day dining options
- Better-for-you food & drink must feel and taste indulgent
- Opportunities for healthier dining at home during Mother’s Day
- What does this mean for…
- What we are seeing: opportunity to tap into holistic wellbeing trends on Mother’s Day
- What does this mean for marketers?
- Mintel Predicts: healthy indulgence to drive demand for mood-boosting food & drink
- Give shoppers the tools to gift shop with confidence
- Matching gift buyers with the right gift is made easier with AI
- Increase shoppers’ confidence in gift purchases with AI tools
- Opportunities to enhance the gift shopping process with AI technology
- What does this mean for…
- What we are seeing: retailers and brands pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in gifting
- What does this mean for marketers?
- Mintel Predicts: AI tools will streamline shopping, but winning shopper trust remains key
- Position value gifts as ‘must-have’ treats for Mother’s Day
- Help shape what affordable gifting can look like
- Low-cost gifts can have a big impact on making Mother’s Day feel like a treat
- Opportunities to elevate what affordable gifting means to shoppers
- What does this mean for…
- What we are seeing: value in gifting is taking shape in different ways
- What does this mean for marketers?
- Mintel predicts: treat mentality will give retailers a chance to innovate gifting ranges
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INNOVATION
- Launch activity and new product innovation
- Analyst view on innovation
- Key innovations you need to know
- Luxury dupes draw in value-conscious shoppers
- Mother’s Day beauty hampers become a crowded space
- Celebrating all forms of motherhood
- Grocers spotlight how to preserve foods’ shelf life
- Missoma spotlights permanent welding services for Mother’s Day
- Key campaigns
- M&S shows high street shoppers where to go for Mother’s Day flowers
- Retailers taps into sibling rivalry at Mother’s Day
- Tesco Mobile reminded people to call their mum on Mother’s Day
- Morrisons’ mums-only checkout lanes: more time for mothers on their special day
- Moonpig Ireland teams up with tattoo parlour
- Retailer strategies
- Key strategies you need to know
- Retailers promote charity work and partnerships
- Grocers compete on Mother’s Day meal deals
- Make finding products for Mother’s Day easy
- Aldi stands out with humour-led rivalry
- Collaborate with influencers for authentic engagement
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DATA
- Consumer data
- Market
- What are the key factors driving this market?
- Market size
- Graph 1: estimated consumer spending on Mother’s Day, 2021-25
- Market size breakdown
- Florists see uptick in number of customers and transactions
- Graph 2: number of customers and transactions in March based on the Snoop SpendMapper cohort, 2024-25
- Greetings card specialists see increase in spend per transaction
- Graph 3: spend per transaction at leading card and stationery retailers within Snoop SpendMapper cohort, 2024-25
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DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY
- Definitions and abbreviations
- Data sources
- Abbreviations and terms
- Methodology – consumer research
- Consumer research methodology
- Snoop SpendMapper methodology
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
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