Mother's Day - an important date on the retail and hospitality calendars.

Mother's Day has always been an important date on the retail and hospitality calendars. But being in the middle of a global pandemic doesn't have to thwart businesses from maximising profit-making opportunities. With a little imagination and innovation, there are plenty of ways to drive sales and even gain new customers.

Over 25% of consumers spent less on Mother's Day purchases in 2020ⁱ, as economic uncertainties grew due to Covid-19 coinciding with lockdown announcements. However, a year on from the first UK lockdown, businesses have learnt to adjust, adapt and respond to their customers' needs.

What can Your Business do to Maximise Mother's Day Profits?

Make Your Products Accessible

If your business operates in non-essential retail or hospitality and customers can't come to you, then take the products to them. Delivering afternoon tea packages, Friday night fine dining bundles, and even Sunday roasts to homes has become popular. It's a safe and effective way of overcoming restrictions that prevent customers from enjoying in-house dining experiences.

Consider offering free Mother's Day delivery as an incentive. If you operate locally, explore options to partner with other local businesses to provide packages. For example, combine edible treats with flowers from a local florist.

Spread the Word

Promotion and marketing is key to standing out from the crowd; make sure you tell your audience about your Mother's Day activities. Use social media, email marketing, and your website to spread the word. Change banners and text on your website's homepage; make sure your messaging is consistent across all channels.

Create a Mother's Day gift guide, putting your strongest products in the spotlight and driving traffic to your website's best-performing pages for sales.

Social Media Competitions

Run an emotive, user-generated social media competition, inviting followers to, 'Tell us why your mum deserves to win…'. Using your social media channels to allow followers to share fond messages aimed at their mums publicly will drive engagement and attract new followers.

You may decide to invest in some online marketing to boost the promotion and attract last-minute shoppers. Social media advertising and Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns in the final days ahead of Mother's Day could catch last-minute online shoppers keen to make sure mum gets a special gift.

Bespoke Mother's Day Products

Make Mother's Day hampers and use your online channels to promote the competitions and attract existing and potential customers. Invite winners to share a picture of themselves with their hamper on their social media; if they use it, it helps raise your business profile.  

Offer Experience-based Gifts.

Cooking, baking, flower-arranging all present lovely one-to-one masterclass opportunities. Typically, this would be done in-store, but this year masterclasses can be broadcast live on social media or video meeting platforms such as Zoom.

Future Marketing Opportunities

If you sell your products online, introduce a discount for new customers to encourage sign-ups to your newsletters as a reward. This will allow you to reach a new audience for future promotions, increasing sales and repeat business.

Lockdown Mother's Day will be different from last year's. Still, there are ways your business can make it unique and memorable for families and, with the right promotion, maximise your profit opportunities.

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