Australians won't dish out for dad this Father's Day

According to IBISWorld, Australians spent an estimated $1.4 billion on Mother's Day this year, compared with a forecast total spend of $676.5 million for Father's Day 2013.

Explaining this trend, IBISWorld general manager Karen Dobie said it is a combination of a "save rather than spend" mentality and the perception that dads would be satisfied with a gift card or a meal with the family rather than an expensive present.

The average adult will spend around $37.30 on their dad on Sunday 1 September. Spending on gift cards and vouchers is expected to outperform all other Father's Day categories, with forecast growth of 8.4 per cent from last year to total $75.1 million.

"Plenty of dads will be opening gift cards rather than unwrapping presents this year, as convenience comes into play alongside strong marketing from online group-buying websites, which have promoted discount offers targeted at Father's Day," Dobie said.

According to IBISWorld, increasing consolidation across the retail landscape means individual gift cards can often be used at a number of different brand stores – giving dads the ability to choose a gift they actually want.

But in terms of overall spend, dining out will dominate this Father's Day with "Australians tipped to spend $174.5 million in cafes and restaurants for dad's big day, a 5.8 per cent increase from 2012", Dobie said.

"Our day-to-day spending on dining out has been subdued of late and a number of prestige restaurants have closed their doors. Consumers perceive restaurants as 'special occasion' destinations, and Father's Day is such an event."

On the flipside, IBISWorld is forecasting spending will slump for sporting goods, books and clothing – with e-books particularly affecting the fortunes of the publishing industry. IBISWorld expects offspring will opt to buy hardware and electrical products for their dads instead.

"The rising popularity of DIY and renovation television shows has been somewhat of a boon to hardware and electrical goods retailers, with expenditure forecast to rise by 2.5 per cent this year to reach $148.2 million. This is second only to our spend on eating out," said Dobie.

As for where we'll be doing our shopping, IBISWorld suggests we'll spend most of our money ($375.4 million) in specialty stores, followed by department stores ($140.1 million), online outlets ($93 million) and discount stores ($68 million).