This Sunday May 11, families will celebrate Mother's Day by spending roughly $18.1 billion on gifts and meals to honor mom.
That figure is up 3 percent from last year, with the average household in 2014 expected to spend $156.60 on related purchases, according to a report by market research firm IBISWorld.
Nearly half of the money spent this year on gifts will go towards jewelry, restaurant outings and flowers. The study also found that gift certificate sales will reach $1.9 billion this Mother's Day, up 3.2 percent from last year.
Electronics will be another big winner for mom, with $1.2 billion being spent on smartphones, tablets, music players and other tech items. This category makes for the highest percent increase year over year, with a 6.2 percent rise over 2013.
E-commerce merchants should garner a majority of Mother's Day sales this year. Sixty percent of shoppers are expected to make a Mother's Day purchase online, with 50 percent planning to shop from their computer and 10 percent from a mobile device, according to PriceGrabber. Online shoppers this year plan to spend an average of $225.87, or 38 percent more than the average Mother's Day shopper according to data from the National Retail Federation. Shoppers buying gifts on the Web will spend an average of $47 on jewelry, $37 on a special outing such as brunch or dinner, $27 on consumer electronics and $25 on flowers.
When it comes to the kinds of gifts moms are requesting this year, the majority of mothers say they'd actually prefer no gift at all. Quality time with family was ranked as the number one Mother's Day wish among moms polled by PriceGrabber. Gift cards were the next most popular choice at 29 percent, with 28 percent of mothers saying they wanted flowers. Jewelry and dining out share the fourth spot at 26 percent.
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