Consumers plan to spend more on Father’s Day this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.
According to the survey, consumers are expected to spend an average of $125.92 for the holiday, up from last year’s $115.57. Total spending is expected to reach $14.3 billion, the highest in the survey’s 13-year history but still below this year’s Mother’s Day total of $21.4 billion. Father’s Day is Sunday, June 19.
“It’s encouraging to see consumers planning to splurge on dads,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO. “This increase in spending could be a good sign related to consumers’ willingness to spend more as we head into the second half of the year.”
According to the survey, consumers plan to spend $3.1 billion on special outings such as dinner, brunch or other types of activities (47%). Clothing (43%) and gift cards (41%) are tied at just under $2 billion each while consumer electronics (20%) follow at $1.7 billion. Other popular gifts include personal care, automotive accessories, books, music, home improvement, gardening supplies and sporting goods.
In terms of retail channels when searching for gifts, 38% of surveyed consumers will head to department stores and 32% will shop online while 27% will shop at a discount store, 24% at a specialty store and 17% at a local small business. Among smartphone owners, 30% will use them to research gift ideas while 16% will use them to make a purchase. Tablets are used more frequently both to research (32%) and buy (19%), according to the survey.
The Prosper Insights & Analytics survey of 7,200 consumers was conducted May 2 to 10 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.
