Mother’s Day is celebrated in over 50 countries all over the world, but no two markets are completely alike in the way they celebrate moms. This year, GrabAds – the advertising unit of Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, Grab – conducted a survey with consumers in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines to find how they are planning to celebrate their mums for the coming Mother’s Day. Analyzing the survey findings alongside past GrabFood and GrabMart transaction trends for the Mother’s Day period over the past year, has revealed surprising tidbits that could be useful in helping you find the perfect gift that warms the heart, and palate, of your beloved mom.

Here’s what we found:

  1. Mother’s Day shopping, now via superapps – 79% of surveyed consumers in the Philippines plan to buy Mother’s Day gifts this year, with an overwhelming majority (89%) intending to purchase their gifts via apps like Grab this time round1.
  1. Making last-minute dashes for food and gifts on the superapp – Surprisingly, Mother’s Day emerged as the day with the highest user traffic on the Grab app in the Philippines last year. In fact, more consumers use the Grab app on Mother’s Day than on Christmas Day, the second-highest day in terms of user traffic for the entire 20212.
  1. Consumers are more generous when they shop for moms – Consumers in the Philippines are more willing to spend more on Mother’s Day, forking out an average of +40% more money per order on GrabFood and making +30% more GrabFood orders than the average day for Mother’s Day1.
  1. Flowers, sweet treats among the most popular Mother’s Day gifts – While it is expected that flowers will continue to be a perennial favourite for Mother’s Day, Grab saw a 4X increase in deliveries for cakes during Mother’s Day last year, showing that consumers in the Philippines also love to pamper their mums with sweet treats2.
  1. International cuisine, pizza and pork-based dishes saw a surge in orders – If you’re wondering what consumers in the Philippines like to order for their mums on Mother’s Day, this may give you some insight. International cuisine and pizza saw a surge in orders on GrabFood by 2X, while pork-based dishes experienced an increase in volume of orders by 1.5X on Mother’s Day last year2.
grabads Celebrate This Mother's Day With The Help Of Grab

When it comes to e-commerce shopping days, many brands are excited about days like 11.11 and 12.12, but sometimes miss out on traditional shopping days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Since the pandemic has trained consumers in the Philippines to shop on their phones, we anticipate that online-to-offline superapps will play a much bigger role in shaping the shopper behaviours for the coming Mother’s Day. This is where a superapp like Grab is positioned to capture some of these shifts in behaviours, to help brands and consumers meet their needs for a great Mother’s Day celebration,” said Ken Mandel, Regional Managing Director and Head of GrabAds and Brand Insights.


Established in 2018, GrabAds is an integrated advertising solutions provider which provides advertisers with multiple channels, such as in-app advertising, branding and product sampling via the Grab ecosystem, for building awareness, engaging audiences and triggering action across the Grab platform. Through its advertising and technology capabilities, GrabAds aims to help people discover, engage, and connect with the best businesses in Southeast Asia. For more information, visit GrabAds For Business.