Dads. They’re worth every cent of the $12.7 billion that their admirers are expected to spend for Father’s Day gifts this year. Admittedly not the “spendingest” holiday of the year, that figure still is calculated to bring a smile to the faces of those who peddle electronic “gadgets,” sports goods, tools and, of course, ties, etc., etc.
The 2015 Father’s Day Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics for the National Retail Foundation found that some 75.4 percent of Americans planned to make some gesture for the annual event. The boost in retail sales is being welcomed by retailers who had a lackluster first half of the year, the survey reported. The total is similar to last year’s.
Coming in the wake of Mother’s Day and college/high school graduations and given the masculine resistance in some quarters to any special notice, Father’s Day seems to get short shrift, but the output on gifts for the current holiday is substantial.
Four in ten of the gift-givers will opt for wearing apparel, spending some $1.7 billion for shirts, ties, leisure wear and other duds. Almost half, some 43.3 percent, will give Dad tickets to a sporting event or a special meal out, adding $2.6 billion to the total.
Tablets and smartphones will fill the bill for about 20 percent of the shoppers, increasing the total by $1.6 billion.
Four in ten will throw up their hands and settle on a gift card, letting Dad make his own choice. They will add some $777 million to the pie. Home improvement or gardening supplies will meet the needs of many of the country’s fathers and contribute another $710 million. Sporting goods and leisure items ($665 million) and books/CDs ($538 million) will round out the most frequently purchased gifts.
The largest group of Father’s Day shoppers (34 percent) will buy their items in a department store, while the rest will divide their dollars among online outlets, discount stores and small local businesses.
A growing number of the shoppers will research and purchase their gifts via smartphones and tablets, saving their shoe leather for other things.
Though a slight majority – 51.8 percent – will be purchasing for a father or stepfather, husbands will receive 27.6 percent of the gifts and sons 8.9 percent.
The figures are based on a survey of 6,087 consumers who were polled from May 5 to 12. The margin for error is plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.