• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, May 22, 2006

This timely summary of Online greetings for Mother's Day by Nielsen//NetRatings, though a little late to plan for mother this year, is not too early to plan for upcoming special occasions and events.

The report concludes that Mom "might be disappointed if her "inbox" is empty on Mother's Day. With many families living hundreds of miles and even several time zones apart, the Web has become an important tool in remembering Mom on her special day."

• Greeting Cards Web sites grew collectively 83 percent week over week, increasing from a unique audience of 5.9 million to 10.7 million, in the week ending May 14th
• The top three fastest growing Greeting Cards sites all enjoyed triple digit week-over-week growth

The Web was also popular this week for ordering flowers and gifts for Mom. The convenience of online shopping made it an easy choice for many.

• Gifts & Flowers Web sites grew collectively 38 percent week over week, increasing from a unique audience of 5.2 million to 7.1 million
• FTD.com, 1800flowers.com and proflowers.com were the top three fastest growing Gifts & Flowers Web sites
• Overall, the fastest growing Web site in the week ending May 14th was Yahoo! Greetings, which increased 216 percent from a unique audience of 565,000 to 1.8 million.
• Estimated online advertising spending on Gifts & Flowers image-based impressions totaled $4.6 million in the week ending with Mother's Day.