Inflation Hits 2023 Mother's Day Gift Categories Unevenly, per Catalina

Sparkling Wine, Scented Candles Best Options for Value-Conscious Shoppers

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With Mother's Day ranking as the second most popular gift-giving holiday in the U.S, per the National Retail Federation, and with inflation still an ongoing concern, shoppers across the country are seeking the perfect present for the moms in their lives. Historically popular gift items that currently offer the most bang for the buck, per data insights culled from Catalina's Shopper Intelligence Platform, include sparkling wine and scented candles, prices for which only increased 5% and 7% respectively during the first quarter of 2023 vs. the same period in 2022.

"Inflation isn't impacting the major Mother's Day gift categories equally," said Sean Murphy, Catalina's Chief Data & Analytics Officer. "For example, the cost of Premium Box Candy, Cut Flowers, and Fragrances are all trending higher than the Consumer Price Index's 8% rate of inflation for grocery store purchases in March 2023."¹

Source: Catalina Shopper Intelligence Platform, Q1 2023 vs. Q1 2022

Digging deeper, premium boxes of candy cost 18% more than they did for the same period in 2022, rising to an average price of $4.18. At $19.55, grocery bouquets of Cut Flowers are the most expensive option, up 10% over 2022. Prices of fragrances, which have increased 11%, have also risen higher than the inflation rate, costing on average $17.23.

That's why, for value-conscious shoppers, a bottle of sparkling wine may be the best option. The average net price rose only 5% to $12.79 in Q1 2023. Scented candles are also a relatively economical choice in that their prices increased 7% to $7.50 for the same period.

These purchase data insights are based on a few of the 1,700+ syndicated and custom segments in Catalina's extensive audience catalog, including Chocolate Candy Buyer, Greeting Cards Buyer, and Air Freshener & Scented Candles Buyer.

The NRF expects shoppers to spend $32 billion on Mother's Day, the second most popular gift-giving holiday in the U.S. following Christmas, based on estimates that Americans spent an average of $152 on presents for their moms in 2022.

About Catalina
Catalina is a leader in shopper intelligence and highly targeted in-store, TV, radio and digital media that personalizes the shopper journey. Powered by the world's richest real-time shopper database, Catalina helps retailers, CPG brands and agencies optimize every stage of media planning, execution and measurement to deliver $6.1 billion in consumer value annually. Catalina has no higher priority than ensuring the privacy and security of the data entrusted to the company and maintaining consumer trust. Catalina has operations in the United States, Costa Rica, Europe and Japan. To learn more, please visit www.catalina.com.

¹ Consumer Price Index, March 2023

SOURCE Catalina