The mother of all sales opportunities.

If there is one certainly these days, it is that children and adults alike will be spoiling their mums come Mother's Day. And that can only be good news for retailers and record companies, who are increasingly gearing their products towards the annual celebration - a period during which the industry celebrates one of its biggest sales spikes outside Christmas

As the cold grey winter months drag on and the first signs of spring lift consumers' spirits, a succession of gift-giving occasions help them empty their pockets.

With Valentine's Day, the Brit Awards, Mother's Day and Easter all taking place within five weeks, February and March offer a real opportunity for retailers and record companies alike to generate a series of sales spikes and help secure a profitable first quarter.

While a number of music consumers show little interest in religion and others are hopelessly unromantic, the vast majority at least admit to having a mother.

Mother's Day - or Mothering Sunday, as it is traditionally known in the UK - has taken place on the fourth Sunday in Lent since the 16th century, when villagers would bypass their local parish church to attend the nearest large `mother' church.

Unsurprisingly, over the years the event has increasingly been exploited for commercial gain, meaning that for many a canny music marketer and retailer Mother's Day provides one of the most significant opportunities outside Christmas.

"A lot of the product we make as a catalogue marketing company is aimed at exactly the type of people who are the recipients of Mother's Day- type product," says Demon Music Group sales and marketing director Danny Keene.