Mother’s Day can be traced back to ancient Greece. In order to express respect for Rhea (Zeus), the mother of the Greek gods, people would hold celebrations. In the 17th century, the British set the fourth Sunday of Lent as the Sunday of visiting mothers. In order to express gratitude for their mothers’ upbringing and maternal love, the British would go back to visit their mothers on this day. Even poor people who worked as servants in rich people’s homes could generally get permission from their masters to go home and visit their mothers. With the spread of Christianity in Europe, this festival has become a day for more and more people to thank their mothers. The modern Mother’s Day originated in the United States. In 1876, an American mother, Anna Mary Jarvis, taught a course on the American Memorial Day in the chapel. After the mother finished telling the heroic story of sacrificing her life in the American Civil War, she prayed: “I hope that somewhere and at some time, someone will create a Mother’s Day to commemorate and praise mothers in the United States and the world.” After her death in 1906, her daughter Anna Jarvis began to call for the establishment of a national Mother’s Day in order to commemorate her kind, loving and hardworking mother, and launched a series of social activities for this purpose. She first persuaded a local church to hold some celebrations on the second Sunday of May, the second anniversary of her mother’s death. With her further efforts, the Philadelphia area held Mother’s Day on May 10, 1908. Under the call of Anna and many other social figures, more and more states supported holding Mother’s Day celebrations at this time. In 1914, the United States Congress officially named the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day to express people’s love and respect for all mothers in the United States. Then Mother’s Day was gradually accepted by many countries and became an international holiday.
Currently, many countries in the world set the time of Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May every year, and of course some countries set Mother’s Day at other times.
Russia: the last Sunday of November every year
Spain: the first Sunday of May every year
France: the last Sunday of May every year
UK: the fourth Sunday of Lent (the forty days before Easter in the West minus the Sunday) every year
India: April 5th every year
Norway: the second Sunday of February every year
Thailand: August 12th every year
The arrival of Mother’s Day will leverage a very wide range of business opportunities. The consumer demand for this business opportunity is mainly reflected in any product that can “please mothers and make them happy.” Mothers in different countries have different requirements for their favorite Mother’s Day gifts. For example, mothers in Asian countries like jewelry the most; in the United States, mothers prefer traditional gifts, so clothing and flowers are their favorites; in Russia, because Mother’s Day is November every year, mothers in different countries have different requirements for their favorite Mother’s Day gifts. For example, mothers in Asian countries like jewelry the most; in the United States, mothers prefer traditional gifts, so clothing and flowers are their favorites; in Russia, because Mother’s Day is November every year, mothers in different countries have different requirements for their favorite Mother’s Day gifts. Mother’s Day is the last Sunday of the month, so a large handkerchief is often a good choice for a gift to mom. From the perspective of cross-border e-commerce sellers, the commodity demand brought about by the Mother’s Day business opportunity mainly includes the following categories.
(1) Clothing, shoes, and women’s luggage products. The demand for clothing is for middle-aged and elderly people, and the larger sizes can be customized according to the different body shapes of people in different countries.
(2) Jewelry and accessories products, which are in line with the styles preferred by middle-aged and elderly women. (3) Functional home appliances or household products, such as sweeping robots, vacuum cleaners, juicers, hanging irons, etc. (4) Health products, such as massage equipment, lumbar or cervical spine treatment devices, oxygen concentrators, hearing aids, blood pressure monitors, blood sugar meters, etc.
(5) Skin care, cosmetics, and perfume products.
(6) Electronic consumer products, such as tablet computers, mobile phones, etc.