Plenty of U.S. consumers who shop on the Internet are planning to buy a gift online this Mother's Day but few are thinking about buying computing devices for Mom, according to a new survey from PriceGrabber.
The price comparison service, part of Experian, polled more than 4,000 online shoppers from March 26 to April 9 about their plans for Mother's Day, which falls on May 13 this year.
More than 50 percent of those survey said they plan to buy a Mother's Day gift online, with the majority saying free shipping was the biggest enticement to do so, following by price cuts and coupons. But those Internet-savvy shoppers will be using traditional PCs to buy Mom her gift—just 5 percent of respondents told PriceGrabber that they planned to purchase a Mother's Day present using a mobile device.
Even though plenty of shoppers are happy to buy a Mother's Day gift online, few indicated that they would be getting Mom a gift that might enable her to do the same.
Just 13 percent of respondents to PriceGrabbers' 2012 Mother's Day Shopping Survey said they'd be buying a computer, tablet, smartphone, or ereader for their mother this year. That may have something to do with the relatively high price of such items—some 62 percent of those polled said they'd be spending less than $100 on a gift.
Not surprisingly, flowers were the top Mother's Day gift choice, with 43 percent of respondents telling PriceGrabber that's what they'll be getting for Mom in a couple of weeks, followed by gift cards (22 percent), clothing and accessories (17 percent), jewelry (15 percent), dinner or other date-type gifts (15 percent), and computers and electronics (13 percent).
Those respondents who do plan on getting at tech-type present lean strongly towards tablets like Apple's iPad. Some 51 percent said they'll get their mothers a tablet, 22 percent are eying a smartphone for Mother's Day, while PCs (15 percent) and ereaders (also 15 percent) brought up the rear as tech-related gift choices.
"PriceGrabber anticipates that shoppers will seek out the perfect gift for under $100 this year and keep it traditional with flowers, gift cards and clothing," Graham Jones, general manager of PriceGrabber, said. "Even though most shoppers plan to honor their mother with flowers this year based on our survey data, it is not surprising to see that tablet computers are the top choice among consumers planning to give a tech-type gift for the holiday. Tablet computers have become one of the top-searched items on PriceGrabber this year."
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