Father’s Day spending set to rise

Washington, D.C. -- The average person will spend $117.14 on dad’s gifts this year, up 10% from $106.49 last year, closing the gap between its biggest competitor: Mother’s Day (consumers planned to spend an average of $152 on the holiday), according to the National Retail Federation’s 2012 Father’s Day spending survey, conducted by BIGinsight. Total spending for Father’s Day is expected to reach $12.7 billion.



According to the survey, more people this year will treat dad to a special outing, such as golfing, eating out or heading to a sporting event ($2.3 billion versus $2.0 billion in 2011). They will also invest in electronic gift items ($1.7 billion versus $1.3 billion last year) and apparel ($1.7 billion versus $1.4 billion in 2011). Others will splurge on gift cards ($1.7 billion), sporting goods ($641 million) and books or music ($645 million).



Department stores will be the location of choice for shoppers this Father’s Day – four in 10 (41.6%) say they will look for dad’s gift there. Others will shop at discount stores (34.0%), specialty stores including greeting card/gift and electronics stores (28.6%), and specialty clothing stores (10.7%). Online retailers will see their fair share of “traffic” this year as well – nearly three in 10 (28.4%) will shop online, up from 22.1% who said so last year.



More than one-quarter of those who own a tablet (25.2%) say they will use their tablet to make a Father’s Day purchase. Overall, more than half (54.6%) of tablet owners will use their device to research products and compare prices, redeem coupons and look up retailers’ information such as store hours and location.



Not surprising, the majority of smartphone owners will use their smartphone to research gift ideas and compare prices (26.7%), but others will look up store hours and location information (18.9%) and use apps to research or purchase products (11.3%). One in 10 (13.7%) will purchase a Father’s Day gift via their smartphone.