Clothing, footwear and accessories sectors should lead sales on Mother’s Day

The clothing, footwear and accessories sectors are expected to lead sales on Mother’s Day, with expected revenue of R$5.10 billion this year. The value corresponds to a growth of 2.1% compared to 2023. Other sectors that are also expected to register significant sales include pharmacies, perfumeries and cosmetics stores (R$2.64 billion), furniture and household appliances (R$1.83 billion) and domestic utilities and electronics (R$ 1.63 billion). The estimate is from the National Confederation of Commerce in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC).

In total, according to the research, retail trade focused on Mother’s Day is expected to reach R$13.23 billion this year. If confirmed, this forecast will represent an increase of 3.5% compared to last year’s value.

Yashilla Vaz, a 20-year-old law student and resident of Uberlândia (MG), says that she tries to give her mother jewelry, such as watches, for example; shoes and pajamas. She says she didn’t notice much of a difference in prices compared to last year.

“You can find affordable prices, depending on what you want to give and, obviously, there is a difference compared to last year, I believe there was an increase, but it wasn’t that much, at most 10%, which is what I analyzed this year,” he says.

Sales volume and hiring

Optimism for this year’s Mother’s Day stems from improved consumer conditions. After reaching a peak of 59.87% per year in May 2023, the average interest rate for operations with free resources for legal entities began to fall, reaching 52.46% per year in February, the lowest level since June 2022 (51.51% per year), according to data from the Central Bank.

There is an expectation of a real increase in sales and, as a result, the expected hiring of 25.9 thousand temporary workers to meet seasonal demand this year, surpassing the 23.79 thousand vacancies last year. The average admission salary should be R$1,794, an increase of 7.1% compared to the same date in 2023. According to the CNC, around 6,800 of these temporary vacancies should become effective after the Day of Mothers.

Other scenarios

Guidi Nunes, economist at the Brazilian Cooperative of Business Services (CBRASE), assesses that there has been stability in results since 2021. The best sales year was Mother’s Day 2014, with R$ 14.4 billion and the lowest sales year was of 2020, with R$8.20 billion resulting from the pandemic.

“As the population is able to pay their bills, reduce their debts and have the prospect of remaining employed for longer in the face of a possible drop in interest rates, this scenario will favor the improvement in sales, with credit as an alternative, mainly for the purchase of durable goods”, he comments.

According to data from the Central Bank, at the beginning of the year, the average commitment of Brazilians’ income to debt fell to less than 24%. Default rates also follow this trend, remaining at 5.5% of credit for individuals in February, the lowest rate since July 2022. Other favorable factors include the unemployment rate, which is at the lowest level in a decade, and the slowdown inflation, which rose just 1.4% in the first quarter, the lowest value for this period in the last four years.

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