Fine dining, crockery and pots, flowers and jewellery continue to enjoy the lion’s share of consumer spend leading up and during Mother’s Day, while biltong and winery dominate spend in the same period for Father’s Day.
According to FNB data, on Mother’s Day in 2024, its customers spent approximately R50-million compared to their R38,8-million weekly average.
Comparing spend over the week leading up to Father’s Day and Mother’s Day over the last three years, these trends emerged:
* Biltong spend is 22% higher for Father’s Day than for Mother’s Day, increasing sharply on Friday for Father’s Day and levelling off on Friday for Mother’s Day.
* Chocolate spend has a sharper increase for Mother’s Day than for Father’s Day yearly and a higher increase for Mother’s Day this year compared to previous years. Spend on chocolates for Mother’s Day is 25% higher than for Father’s Day.
* Flowers spend is 86% higher for Mother’s Day week than Father’s Day week.
* Gifts spend increases uniformly over the week although 2023 showed a smaller increase for Father’s Day.
* Jewellers spend shows a sharper increase for Mother’s Day than for Father’s Day every year, with Mother’s Day spend being 30% higher than Father’s Day spend.
* Nail and beauty salon spend is 20% higher in the week leading up to Mother’s Day.
* Spending on spa and wellness is 11% higher for Mother’s Day, with an increase in spend concentrated near the weekend.
* Winery spend is more pronounced for Father’s Day, with 2023 being an especially popular Father’s Day gifting choice at 63% higher than what we saw for Mother’s Day.
* Restaurant spend increases over the weekend for both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
FNB Card CEO Senzo Nsibande says: “Our card activity indicates that Mother’s and Father’s Day holidays are important to many customers. The transaction volumes we are seeing indicate the safety and convenience of our payments solutions with contactless payments accounting for over 50% of all card payments.”