If you can believe it – we’re already approaching Mother’s Day, and quickly. While the year is flying by, 62% of consumers plan to show appreciation for mom with a Mother’s Day gift this year.

However, the holiday isn’t the easiest to shop for. How can you possibly decide on the perfect gift for your mother? Especially one who likely told you, “No honey, I don’t want anything.” The answer to your gift search frustrations could be AI.

We surveyed 1,000 U.S.-based adult consumers to try and understand their sentiment leading up to Mother’s Day, how they plan to shop, and what could make this holiday easier moving forward. Keep reading to see some of the top takeaways.

The dawn of an AI-driven Mother’s Day: 70% say if their moms favorite retailer or brand provided an AI shopping assistant, they would use it for gift recommendations.

Related, one in four think AI would buy a better gift for their mom than their dad/mother’s partner. Retailers could see the ultimate benefit by leveraging AI to provide consumers with personalized gift recommendations. While overall, 70% of consumers say they would take advantage of this feature, that number jumps to 78% for Millennials and a whopping 82% for Gen Z.

Additionally, 56% believe that retailers’ wider adoption of AI would make gift buying easier. This number increases for younger generations – Millennials (64%) and Gen Z (64%). Similarly, 68% of Millennials and Gen Z would use an AI chatbot, like ChatGPT, to help brainstorm ideas or provide gift recommendations for Mother’s Day – compared to just 39% of Baby Boomers. Millennials and Gen Z have consistently trended the most pro-AI. According to our recent survey on AI in shopping, 73% of Millennials believe the wider adoption of AI by online retailers would create better shopping experiences. In a similar vein, while one in four would trust AI over their friends when picking out their outfits, this percentage increases to 30% for Gen Z and 35% for Millennials.

Daughters and sons face different challenges: 65% of males think AI would be more helpful when shopping for gifts around Mother’s Day vs. Father’s Day

Daughters – this means you may know your mom better than your brother does. The numbers show that 65% of males would embrace AI for Mother’s Day gifts, over Father’s Day, compared to 42% of females. Similarly, 62% of females say their dads are harder to shop for, while 65% of males say moms puzzle them more. Ultimately, mothers take the cake, with 52% of all respondents saying they’re harder to shop for than fathers and 54% of consumers saying AI-driven gift recommendations would be more helpful for Mother’s Day than Father’s Day.

Navigating a Mother’s Day predicament: 43% of consumers just ask

Due to the challenges of buying gifts for mom, 43% of consumers take a straightforward approach and ask their mom what she wants. Though, consumers find gift inspiration in many ways, like:

• Going in-person to big-box stores (40%)
• Browsing retail or brand websites (39%)
• Visiting local small businesses (28%)
• Leveraging social media like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram (27%)

As for specific gifts, it’s a tale as old as time: April showers bring May flowers. That’s right, 49% of consumers plan to purchase flowers or plants as a gift this Mother’s Day. This is not a surprise – however, could this be because shoppers are just stuck and don’t know what else to buy? Only some shoppers plan to escape the norm this Mother’s Day, buying other gifts like:

• Home and kitchen appliances (10%)
• Books, music, and entertainment (9%)
• Electronics and gadgets (8%)
• Travel (7%)

Personalize, personalize, personalize: Only 27% of consumers say brands/retailers’ communications and marketing efforts around Mother’s Day are very helpful and personalized.

Additionally, 39% say they’re somewhat helpful but not personalized enough, and 13% say they’re not helpful or personalized at all. This is a key indication that retailers must put more effort into providing unique, personalized experiences for their shoppers. This is especially true around big holidays when consumers struggle with finding the perfect gift for their loved ones. Luckily, this won’t surprise retailers, as they know consumer demands for personalized experiences are exploding. That’s why 70% of retailers say personalization is either an integral or large part of their ecommerce strategies over the next 12 months.

Searching for a solution?

Overall, the results from the survey prove that not only are consumers willing to utilize AI-powered solutions when shopping on retail sites, but that’s what they want. This is an exciting time for technology in the industry, and it should show that the time, resources, and efforts put into adopting AI solutions to enhance the shopping experience for consumers are well spent.

With AI search tools powered by LLMs, like Algolia’s end-to-end AI search, retailers can provide ChatGPT-like intelligence in a search bar that truly understands what consumers are looking for. This allows consumers to search as they think, helping them find the perfect gift for their moms this Mother’s Day.