After registering its strongest growth in six years in the first quarter, Retail Forward's Future Spending Index retreated in May to 95.9 from 107.5 in April, reports Internet Retailer. Interest in online shopping is still strong, however. In the last six months, 50 percent of consumers had shopped at a website of a retailer that did not have a store near them, and 44 percent had used a website to locate a store.

Also, some 38 percent had looked at a store's ads online; 27 percent had gone online to find out what was in stock at a nearby store; 13 percent had done so to use a gift registry; and 6 percent accessed a site while shopping in that retailer's store.

"More than eight out of 10 primary household shoppers (85 percent) take advantage of retailers' web sites and the expanding array of features they have to offer," Retail Forward said.

For Mothers Day, more than half of consumers (54 percent) expect to spend as much as they did last year, while 10 percent expect to spend less, 8 percent more and 28 percent nothing at all.