Sunday March 26 is Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday. I always take my mum out for Sunday lunch but many families celebrate by eating in, together at home.

According to market research firm Mintel, in-home food and drink accounts for 14% of Mother’s Day spending. You can imagine that a lot of that will be spent on breakfast items with youngsters greeting their mums with breakfast in bed.

Mintel also found that Mother’s Day was the most ’purchased for’ of the spring season occasions last year, when it even overtook Easter. Not surprisingly flowers were the most popular gift for mums so it’s heartening to see that more and more forecourts are shaking off their poor reputation for these products.

Indeed this month’s Shop Doctor (page 13) praises Tout’s Budgens of Nailsea for its really impressive floral range, supplied by a local nursery. Such partnerships can be great for both parties, especially as consumers are so keen to ’keep it local’ and support business within their local community. A simple sign in the forecourt store saying ’Flowers supplied by x’ can go a long way.

Chocolate, of course, is another popular gift for mums and Mother’s Day cards are obligatory. This means having a display of flowers, chocolates and cards altogether is the ideal way to attract sales as it seems many children buy their mums products from across all three categories.

Then there’s the wine. If you’ve an off licence, you could flag up your Prosecco and site wine gift bags on parasite units. Signage saying "What about a card or some chocs?’ would also work well.

I’m sure you don’t need telling that it’s all about making the purchasing as easy as possible for the shopper.

Mintel surveyed 1,179 internet users aged 16-plus who bought gifts for Mother’s Day last year and the average spend was £34 so they’ve definitely got money to spend. And remember that for a lot of people, Mother’s Day won’t be on their radar until it’s nearly too late.

Little Harry might come home from school with a card he’s made for mummy but not show daddy until the Saturday or even Sunday. Then it could be a mad rush to buy her a little gift to go with it and that means a trip to their local store, which could be you.

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