This Mother's Day, Buy Mom What She Really Wants: A Stiff Drink

To reward moms for their sacrifices throughout the year, free shopping rebate app Ibotta is helping Mom buy herself a mimosa this Mother’s Day. Because the app says it empathizes with mothers, who generally spend far more money on their kids than themselves, it will reimburse up to $5 to every account holder in the United States who purchases a mimosa that day.

“Moms are … always doing for everyone around them, yet rarely taking a moment for themselves,” says Bryan Leach, founder and CEO of Ibotta. “This year, we wanted to recognize and celebrate all they do with … a small token to show our appreciation.”

According to the shopping receipts that Ibotta users submit to earn cash back on their purchases, women with children under-index in almost every category except child and baby items, where they over-index by more than 20%. That means mothers buy fewer adult items -- everything from clothes to wellness and beauty products, alcohol, magazines, electronics and more – than anyone else but do more than 1/5 more shopping for kids than do men or childless women. To make matters for moms appear even more bleak, Ibotta found that in the two weeks leading up to last year’s Mother’s Day, purchases of perfume and gift cards spiked dramatically – leaving observers to question whether selfless Mom appreciates perfume and gift cards any more than Dad wants another tie.

With mothers comprising 59% of Ibotta users, the company estimates it may spend more than $1 million on this campaign. But because Ibotta isn’t planning to track the identity of each mimosa buyer and will reimburse $5 to every account holder who submits a receipt, spokeswoman Marney Hatch jokes that savvy moms may want to sign up their whole family.

“If you’re with your husband, father-in-law, sister, etc… you can buck the system by having them download the app and redeem the four mimosas you’re probably going to drink anyway,” she emails.

Though this marks the first Mother’s Day mimosa campaign, Ibotta has run charitable programs during Breast Cancer Awareness Month and others. Senior Vice President of Marketing Rich Donahue says it’s worth it, even if it causes a financial hit.

“Like any business, we wouldn't run the program if we didn't hope, or expect it to generate buzz among our existing users, drive new signups, or gain the attention of the media. However … we will at times run programs that resonate with our user base, even if the calculated ‘return on investment’ would suggest we do something else,” he says.

With 20 million downloads to date, Ibotta claims to be one of the five most-used shopping apps in the country.