Editor’s note: Phil Ahad is vice president at Toluna QuickSurveys, Washington, D.C.
Fifty percent of consumers typically start thinking of back-to-school shopping when they start seeing advertisements, which is perhaps why most brands begin talking yellow school buses, pencil sharpeners and fall fashion (Oh my!) before we’re allowed to wear white for the summer. Consumers are, however, slow to actually take action: 33 percent of them say they do their actual shopping between August and September.
Of those shoppers, 60 percent plan to spend between $100 and $699. For this large pool of money-spending procrastinators, below are insights marketers can use to reach them this year.
When purchasing a back-to-school items for their children, a quarter of parents (25 percent) allow their children full input in the decision making process of what to purchase, and another 52 percent say they allow moderate input from their little ones.
Ensure ads appeal to both generations. For the one who will be breaking out the credit card, focus on savings, safety features and practicality. For the one saying yay or nay, highlight the cutting-edge nature of the product – yes, children want cutting edge pens and notebooks. No need to share that much hasn’t actually changed since their parents were in school!
Finding a happy medium can be tough but if done successfully, sales will follow.
Forty-nine percent of consumers say they don’t typically start thinking about back-to-school shopping until they start to see those advertisements to remind them. Though most likely it’s more of an out of sight, out of mind situation. But once alerted, 53 percent of consumers say that they will do one-to-five hours of research to ensure they’re getting the bang for their buck. What they see influences what they research online: 78 percent of parents say the advertisements their children see on TV and social media influence their personal taste.
Draw on your early research and make your deals widely known among consumers – important mediums include TV, Web and social media. If you can reach consumers there, they’ll be more likely to pop in your store for their back-to-school shopping.
In-store trips still a must
According to a national poll, most back-to-school shopping will take place in the store. As much as consumers might like to avoid parking spot searches and food court tantrums, they will inevitably make their way to your brick and mortar. This is true of all major categories: clothing, supplies, food, etc.
A recent survey asked consumers if they plan to buy in-store or online. The breakdown is as follows: buy:
- Clothing and accessories: 73 percent say in-store, 21 percent say online.
- School supplies (paper, pens, binder, calculators, etc.): 81 percent say in-store, 15 percent say online.
- Dorm room accessories: 31 percent say in-store, 14 percent say online.
- Food: 82 percent say in-store, 8 percent say online.
- Backpack: 56 percent say in-store, 22 percent say online.
- Text books: 37 percent say in-store, 33 percent say online.
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No one wants to wait in line for hours, especially this particular group of shoppers who have put this task off to the very last minute. Think experience. Every shopper should have easy access to a store representative to make them feel special and taken care of. If budgets are tight, focus on what takes place in-store, not flashy online banners or celebrity endorsers.
Methodology: This study surveyed 1,000 respondents over three days and was run with SmartSelect, which relies on statistical matching rather than probability sampling, and weights on age, gender, region, ethnicity, race and education.
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