Online spending in the Flowers & Gifts category showed continued growth, peaking in the week prior to Mother’s Day at $195.8 mln in sales. That weekly total eclipsed the coinciding week in 2004 (week ending May 8, 2005) by nearly $28 mln and marking 16% YTY growth. Looking for last-minute Mother’s Day gifts, consumers flocked to sites in the Flowers, Gifts & Greetings category during Mother’s Day Week. Nearly 18 mln visited the category during the week, which amounted to 60% more traffic than the average of the previous 5 weeks. American Greetings and Hallmark, the most-trafficked sites in the category, saw double-digit gains over prior weeks. American Greetings jumped 15% to 3.3 mln visitors, while Hallmark drew slightly fewer visitors (3.2 mln) but showed a larger gain (32%).
However, flower retailers experienced the biggest jumps in visitation for Mother’s Day Week, with the top sites increasing their traffic by multiples. FTD.com saw the biggest gains and was the most visited site in the category, drawing 4.2 mln visitors during Mother’s Day Week, which marked a 504% increase over the average of the previous five weeks. ProFlowers.com jumped 327% to 2.5 mln visitors, while 1-800-FLOWERS.com rose 277% to 2.3 mln visitors.
| Traffic to flowers, gifts and greetings sites before and after Mother’s day |
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| Daily audience, 000 | |||
| Apr 3 – May 7 | May 8 – May 14 | Change | |
| AmericanGreetings | 2,819 | 3,250 | 15% |
| Hallmark | 2,431 | 3,215 | 32% |
| FTD.com | 703 | 4,245 | 504% |
| ProFlowers.com | 592 | 2,530 | 327% |
| 1-800-FLOWERS | 606 | 2,284 | 277% |
| RedEnvelope | 372 | 669 | 80% |
| Total for Flowers, Gifts & Greetings |
11,117 | 17,807 | 60% |
| Source: comScore | |||