Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

We spent 15% less on pressies for our mums this Mother’s Day

Tight consumers spent less on presents for their mums for this year’s Mother’s Day than they did last year.

New figures just released by cashback shopping portal eDealsUK reveal the average online spend per gift was DOWN 15 per cent compared to 2007 figures.

It analysed the shopping trends of half a million of its members across more than 100 big name shopping websites.

While the average spend per gift was down, the total amount of online Mother’s Day spend went up 71 per cent year on year.

Flowers, greeting cards and chocolates remained the predictable favourites for the celebration on 2nd March.

But eDealsUK also saw a 62 per cent increase in sale of beauty products such as anti-aging creams.

The site’s marketing manager Nadeem Azam said: “This is a clear indication that the rising cost of living is starting to affect consumer purchases. More and more people turned to the internet as a source of presents for their mother this year, but spent less on each gift.

“It is fascinating to see an increase in online sales of beauty products. Maybe as children have turned to the internet and asked an adult to help them with a purchase, they have been persuaded to buy useful products rather than flowers which look nice, but don’t last.”

eDeals UK Limited has been providing cash back services for 100's of 1000's of customers, who have saved on millions of pounds of shopping over the last four years.

The concept is simple. Shoppers log into eDealsUK before shopping on big name website as normal. Most of the commission earned by eDealsUK is then returned to the shopper as cash back.

It has 44 staff supporting its 180 websites, including more than 50 loyalty reward portals run on behalf of partners.

In all the company gives customers cash back from more than 1,400 UK retailers.

Affiliate marketing grew by 45 per cent in the UK last year, with sales exceeding £3 billion in 2007.