flowers. a couple billion dollars spent on that. apparel, accessories, jewelry sales are up as well. which is a positive sign for the economy. $3 billion on jewelry. $1.6 billion on gift cards. and then another $1.2 billion on other things such as spa services, personal services falls into that category. spas and whatnot. the thing i find surprising, tricks. you don t think about mom as being active in tricks. they re becoming much more tech savvy. more people are buying their mom tricks, e-readers, digital cameras. only 9% of us last year were going to buy mom electronics. this year it s up to 13%. that s a rise of 48%. as you pointed out, they have to keep up with their kids. they have to stay technologically savvy. restaurants? big day for restaurants. 55% of us plan to take mom out for brunch or dinner.
spending is up. feeling in the mood to give our mothers something, giving them love, luxury. spending on average $140 a person. $14 more than last year. tote afl spending of $16.3 billion. that s good. is this surprising you? it is a little bit surprising. given that gas prices are so high, food prices are so high. we love our moms. we are giving them what they deserve. what are we buying for them? flowers. big one. two-thirds are buying flowers. my mom is a nflower person. jewelry sales are up. $3 billion on jewelry. up 19% from last year. to another you know, consumers buying clothing, and accessories. 1.2 billion on personal services, massages, manicure, pedicure. you know what i m hearing a lot about, people are i heard some friends saying we are getting together and giving our
companies added almost 300,000 jobs. in the united states last month. that s triple the number of jobs the experts were expecting. it was just one of several positive economic reports today. ashley webster with the news live from our newsroom in new york city. if more people are making money, then more people are spending it along those lines, some good news today on the holiday shopping front. the retailers smiling from the period of november 5th to christmas eve spending came in at $584 billion. this according to the latest report from spending puls. that is up a .5% from the year before. biggest increase in five years. the most popular items actually this past holiday season, clothing and jewelry. in fact, jewelry sales were up 10% and online sales also did very well indeed. up 1% over the year before. some $32 billion spent online and by the way, cyber monday, the heaviest shopping day of the year coming in at about a
biggest selling item of the year. any sweater or reindeer sweater? all sweaters, not just reindeer sweaters. but not where it s 80 degrees f. you re a jewelry fan, 40% this is hard to believe 40% of all jewelry sales for the year are made in the seven days before christmas. wow. that s a lot of desperate boyfriends and husbands, is what that little figure indicates. a lot of bling. you re right. a lot of guys in trouble. janet shamlian at the mall in austin. thanks so much. appreciate it. one big issue when it comes to spreading cheer during the season of giving, tipping, what is the right amount and who should get a tip? with me is steve dubloni kafrnlths. let s get your kre tenls, how
the mall traffic. it doesn t look too awfully bad. it s earlier. it s an hour earlier here, chris. but there is a lot of talk about the spike in online sales this year but, still, if you want to see it, touch it, taste it, try it on, the mall still has it all. we re at barton creek square mall. this is 200 mid to high-end retailers. they say this feels like the first normal christmas in about three years. where are the gains? coming in places like apparel. up 4.4% for women. up 8.4% for men. also in luxury market, jewelry is up 2.6% and luxury items are up 2.8%. interesting to note, 40% of all jewelry sales for the entire year are made in the last seven days before christmas. so, what s hot in the mall this year? the teen market. those stores like forever 21 or claire s accessory stores and