economy
Mother's Day moved more than $1 trillion and boosted sales in stores, restaurants, and flowers
Mother's Day met merchants' expectations. Photo: iStock
TL;DR
- Colombian commerce registered strong dynamism during Mother's Day 2026, one of the highest activity dates for consumption.
- Electronic transactions increased, with over 7.7 million processed during the weekend.
- Floriculture projected exports of $430 million to international markets like the United States, Canada, Spain, and Japan.
- Consumer spending focused on family celebrations, gifts, and eating out, with restaurants, food stores, supermarkets, and clothing among the segments with the most movement.
- Traditional channels gained participation due to proximity and immediate availability, while e-commerce and digital payments continued to grow.
- Sales grew 9.5% compared to an average Sunday, and consumer traffic increased by 8.2%, with an average ticket of $12,062 (a 10% increase).
- Despite an annual inflation of 5.68% to April 2026, overall spending did not decrease, as households prioritized higher unit value items related to gifts and emotional consumption.
- Chocolates saw a significant sales increase, moving from 16th to 4th place nationally.
- Total invoicing exceeded one trillion pesos, with a 20.3% growth compared to the same celebration in 2025.
- Physical point-of-sale purchases represented 81.86% of the total, while e-commerce accounted for 18.14%.
- Saturday, May 9th, was the busiest commercial day, with invoicing close to $588 billion.
- The restaurant category showed the highest growth in average ticket, with an increase of over 71.6%.
- Credit card invoicing grew 20.85%, while debit advanced 19.8%.
- The floriculture sector projected exports of nearly 59,000 tons of flowers, representing about 18% of the industry's annual exports.
- The floriculture industry supports 240,000 formal jobs in Colombia, 60% of which are held by women.