This was what South African consumers spent on Mothers and Father’s Day

In the lead up to Mother’s and Father’s Day this year, consumers spent about R50 million, up from the R38 million weekly average.

This was according to data released by FNB, which revealed that fine dining, crockery and pots, flowers and jewellery enjoyed the lion’s share of consumer spend leading up and during Mother’s Day.

For Father’s Day, it was biltong and winery that dominated the spend in the same period.

When comparing spend over the week leading up to Father’s Day and Mother’s Day over the last 3 years, FNB said that the below trends are noticed:

• Biltong spend is 22% higher for Father’s Day than for Mother’s Day, increasing from Friday sharply 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 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.
• Spend at 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 said, “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. We encourage our customers to use their FNB Virtual Cards as these have a dynamic CVV number that changes on a regular basis which reduces the risk of fraud. Customers can use their virtual cards to pay for online purchases, streaming services, subscriptions, and at the majority of QR code providers via the FNB app's Scan to Pay feature.”

“We also like to remind our customers to spoil their loved ones wisely by using value-added benefits included in our eBucks rewards programme to cut back on out-of-pocket expenses. Our eBucks Rewards programme offers relief by rewarding members for their banking behaviour and helping them save and stretch their hard-earned money during tough times,” Nsibande further said.

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