In Europe, Father’s Day is celebrated depending on the country. In UK & France, it is celebrated on Sunday, 18^th June, Spain, Italy & Portugal celebrate on March 19^th; and in Germany, it is on Ascension Day. However, whichever day it is, Father’s Day is an opportunity to appreciate Dads everywhere. To mark the occasion, Rakuten Insight asked over 1,000 people from their proprietary panel in the US to understand how people are planning to celebrate, to give and show their appreciation. Moreover, Rakuten Insight asked Fathers themselves how they feel about the day.

Father’s Day: online shopping

1 in 2 consumers stated that they are planning to buy a present for Father’s Day, with over 55% planning to shop online for a gift. This shows the scale of the day and the opportunity it provides for any e-commerce business. Recent times have seen high inflation, high grocery and energy prices. However, this hasn’t impacted the enthusiasm for Father’s Day, with 16% planning to spend more and 72% planning to spend at least the same. The average budgeted amount is also quite high at $104, once again, showing the scale of opportunity for e-commerce companies around this event. With 1 in 3 consumers planning to buy a gift 2 weeks in advance, there is an opportunity for online marketers to fit in with this consumer behaviour to maximise Father’s Day returns.

The top 3 activities planned are spending time together (40%), Going out for dinner (37%) and Clothing (31%). With 1 in 3 consumers considering buying clothing for their fathers, this is an opportunity for the fashion sector to take note and increase the scale of their marketing activities, especially online. Interestingly, consumers feel their own ideas (62%) help them to decide what to buy rather than influencers or ads. However, this might be a conscious rationalised response to the question, as social media, influencers and online ads would help people to form their ideas over what to buy.

Dads’ views on Father’s Day: appreciation, family happiness, and savings

Rakuten Insight also asked Fathers themselves about the day. Father’s Day does honour dads, with 82% of fathers recognising the planned celebration makes them feel appreciated. However, for Fathers, the day is not just about themselves but the rest of the family, with 26% of fathers stating that their ideal gift is for the kids and family to be happy. Moreover, 30% of fathers feel Mother’s Day is more important than Father’s Day. To emphasise that Father’s Day is not just about themselves, 67% of fathers would like to know that family saved money with CashBack, points, savings or discounts when buying a gift. Likely tapping into the Dads need to make the day more about the family than just himself.

In summary, Father’s Day is a celebration that honours the role of fathers everywhere. However, the scale of business opportunity is clear, presenting opportunities, especially for online retail, cashback/rewards services and the fashion sector, to name but three. For communication content, it is important to reflect the need of Fathers to also appreciate their family back by ensuring the family is happy and also feeling appreciated and rewarded. Whilst Mother’s Day may be recognised by Dads as more important, it is likely from this survey that Fathers also want that to be true.

Related articles: Report – Online shopping – what’s changed? 

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