Luxury Candles Are Ideal Gift for Mother's Day 2005
Mother's Day is the second most important gift holiday and luxury candles are this year's favored gift choice

Stevens, PA April 20, 2005 - Second only to Christmas, Mother's Day is the most gifted holiday throughout the year. This year it will be celebrated on Sunday May 8. About three-fourths of those who buy and give gifts throughout the year, not just at Christmas, will purchase on average two Mother's Day remembrances and spend just under $100 making their gift purchases. These statistics are from the latest study of gift giving and shopping behavior from Unity Marketing.

The top three most popular gifts are also perfectly suited to Mother's Day gifting. Flowers, plants and garden accessories are number one, while candles and home fragrances are the second most popular gifting choice. The third most popular gift selections is jewelry and watches.

"Candles and other home fragrance items including diffusers, electric plug-ins, sprays and potpourris, are one of those gift items that are appreciated by all. This also is a category where the product selection options are exploding with perfect gifts to fit every budget, every mood, every scenting preference," says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses - as well as the Classes.

Latest trend in candles - Go luxury!
This year the candle marketers have been introducing new lines of luxury candles that offer superior fragrance along with more stylish packaging. "If you are looking for a Mother's Day gift that is sure to be appreciated, luxury candles from such marketers as Crabtree & Evelyn, sold in their own stores as well in department stores; Laura Mercier, a luxury cosmetics brand that has launched into candles and sold at Nordstroms and Bergdorf Goodmans; or Diptyque offered by Neiman Marcus, are brands noted for greatly enhanced fragrancing Even popularly-priced Yankee Candle is moving into the luxury realm with a new line called YC that features more stylish Asian designs and exotic fragrances," Danziger concludes.

Unity Marketing offers market research studies on both the gifting and home fragrance candle markets for marketers and retailers that want to need to understand the consumer market better to maximize their marketing opportunities. Unity Marketing's Gifting Report: The Who, What, Where, How Much and Why of Gift Giving & Shopping, presents an experiential research perspective of the gifting market. Combining qualitative and quantitative research, it reveals gift giving incidence and spending throughout the year, including seven major gifting holidays and 12 gifting occasions (e.g. birthdays, anniversary, wedding, friendship, etc.).

The Home Fragrance and Candle Report 2005 was just published and based upon research among recent home fragrance consumers. This report focuses on market opportunities available to candle and home fragrance manufacturers and retailers to help them deliver products and services that satisfy the consumers' craving to fragrance their homes. Visit Unity Marketing's website for more information on studies.

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing

Pamela N. Danziger is a nationally recognized expert in consumer insights for luxury marketers, whether they sell luxuries to the masses or the 'classes.' She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992 to unite marketers with their target markets through consumer insights. She taps consumer psychology to advise clients such as Lenox, Cartier, Herend, Spring Air, Sears, The World Gold Council, The Conference Board and American Express.

Her latest book, Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses - as well as the Classes, (Dearborn Trade Publishing, $27, hardcover) was published in January 2005. She also authored Why People Buy Things They Don't Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).

She has appeared on CNN's In the Money, CNN International, NBC's Today Show, CNBC, CBS News Sunday Morning, Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, ABC News Now, NPR's Marketplace and is frequently called upon by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, American Demographics, Women's Wear Daily, Forbes, USA Today, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune for insight