Father's Day is now behind us, and retailers are tallying up just how much Americans love their dads. OK, that might be a particularly cynical way of viewing the holiday, but like it or not, there is a commercial angle to Father's Day.
Our friends at the National Retail Federation (NRF) recently surveyed Americans and found that 72% planned to celebrate Father's Day. For those celebrating it, the average amount spent was expected to be $86, down from the high of $100 last year. That might be discouraging to dads, but it still adds up to some $8 billion in spending, more than the entire market value of companies such as Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), Mattel (NYSE:MAT), or Eastman Kodak (NYSE:EK).
Raking in even more is mom. About 82% of Americans celebrated Mother's Day last month, and they spent a total of nearly $10.5 billion, more than the market capitalization of Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) and almost as much as Campbell Soup's (NYSE:CPB) market value.
Why was dad's take expected to dip this year? Blame Iraq, for one thing. And high gas prices make people feel that they have less money to spend. One way that spending on our fathers might increase is if we ask them what they do and don't want.
According to a Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) survey, 28% of fathers don't like receiving items emblazoned with things like "World's Best Dad" on it, 24% don't appreciate ties, 15% are not thrilled with sweaters, and 13% nix socks. As you might imagine, the folks at Best Buy think that dads would prefer electronic goodies, such as large-screen TVs, stereos, digital cameras, and cell phones.
Meanwhile, we at the Fool think that dad (or mom, for that matter) might enjoy one of our tasty offerings, such as stock and mutual fund newsletters or a membership in our well-respected Fool Community of discussion boards.
Father's Day may be over for this year, but that doesn't mean you can't still take dad out for a meal at Outback Steakhouse (NYSE:OSI) or just write him a note telling him what you think of him. Treat yourself, too, to this classic funny Fool interview with father and businessman George Foreman.
Longtime Fool contributor Selena Maranjian does not own shares of any companies mentioned in this article.
