Jewelry was the top gift US moms received this Mother’s Day, with most consumers purchasing online due to store closures, according to a survey by MVI Marketing.
Some 57% of husbands who bought their wives a Mother’s Day gift purchased jewelry, while 13% gave their partners a watch. Meanwhile, 31% of daughters and 47% of sons bought their mothers jewelry for the holiday.
Other popular gifts among respondents included gift cards, perfume, edible treats and something for the house. In total, 87% of husbands bought their wives a gift of some sort.
Consumers predominantly made online purchases due to coronavirus-related lockdowns in most states. Chain jewelry stores such as Tiffany & Co., Zales, Kay and Helzberg Diamonds were the most popular, chosen by 48% of those surveyed, while 36% bought from an internet-only retailer, such as Amazon, Etsy or Blue Nile. Locally owned fine-jewelry stores clocked up 26% of the market share, the survey found, while department stores also accounted for 26% of sales.
Nearly half of family members who purchased jewelry chose yellow-gold pieces, higher than the 33% who picked white gold. Some 31% of respondents went for diamond jewelry. On average, consumers spent $450 on their Mother’s Day jewelry purchases.
As for moms who received something other than jewelry, 28% said they may have liked jewelry instead, but they had received it before, while 27% said they already had enough jewelry. Just over one-fifth of mothers noted they would have liked jewelry, but their family didn’t have the budget for it this year.
Meanwhile, the largest portion of gift-givers who did not give jewelry said they didn’t choose it as a gift because they had either given it before, or the recipient already had enough.
MVI completed the survey on May 11, questioning 405 American jewelry consumers with a median age of 37 and a household income between $50,000 and $150,000.
