What you need to know
Within the Spring/Summer months there are a number of important events for retailers. Easter is the largest of these worth an estimated £530 million to retailers in 2015. There is a disparity between the size of Mother’s and Father’s Day with the former the second largest event in the period and some 34% larger, in value terms, than Father’s Day. Valentine’s Day is worth an estimated £430 million but we found that 78% of consumers feel the event is too commercialised. Despite this, some 49% of consumers spent on products of services for Valentine’s Day indicating there is some social pressure to participate in the event.
The Spring/Summer months also host five of the eight national UK-wide bank holidays. Our consumer research found that consumers prefer to undertake leisure activities, such as visiting friends or family, during these holiday periods but a quarter said that they went shopping in 2015 on a Spring bank holiday. The high street and shopping centres are the go-to shopping destinations on a bank holiday, in part because a visit to the high street or a shopping centre can also act as a leisure activity, particularly for younger consumers. This is encouraging for store-based retailers but also highlights the importance of a sense of retail theatre during such days to encourage consumers in.
Areas covered in this report
This report covers the four major events in the Spring/Summer months: Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day technically falls in the winter season but has been included within this report because of the timing of our consumer research.
For each of these events we provide an estimated market size along with in-depth consumer research, which focuses on:
Which products consumers are purchasing for each of these events.
If consumers are planning gift purchases or buying on impulse for these events.
How much on average consumers spend on gifts for these events.
From which retailers they purchased gifts.
What consumers’ attitudes are towards certain key issues around each of these events.
Given that a majority of the UK’s bank holidays are held in these Spring/Summer months, from March to August, we also conducted research to understand which type of leisure activities and shopping behaviours they engage with during bank holidays.
