After one exciting retail season ends, another one begins as July kicks off, what is well-known as the second biggest shopping time in the year with brands and retailers reinventing ways to ensure that students and parents spend this year on Back-to-School (BTS) shopping. BTS brings in around US $ 70 billion in sales each year, and for many brands, this represents a vital share of their overall yearly revenue.
Following years of uninspiring economic growth, consumers have already adapted to a certain lifestyle when it comes to budgets and expenses. And, when it comes to BTS spending this season, retailers are likely to see much of the same. Nearly 77 per cent of families with school-aged children believe that the state of the US economy will impact their BTS spending plans, according to a recent survey conducted by BIGinsight. While this is down slightly from 80 per cent last year, it is clearly evident that consumers still feel the pressure. Last year saw many brands in a bid to target spenders in economic crisis coming up with aggressive retail strategies, such as Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) slashing their denim prices to half, followed by other brands like Justice, Aeropostale, GAP, etc.
[bleft]Deloitte’s study of BTS shopping habits last year
- 21% start in early July
- 29% start in late July
- 37% start in early August
- 52% said they’d complete most of their shopping by mid-August[/bleft]
This summer, economy-affected parents may place responsibility on their children to help with school expenses: one-quarter of families with students in grades K-12 will ask their children to dig through their closet to find items they can reuse for the upcoming school year, which has increased from last year. Whereas, others will head to the Internet to compare prices and seek out deals to get the best alternative for their money. Although economic challenges seem to be on the top-of-mind for consumers, parents will also look for coupons purchasing generic products to save money. However, the economy is not only impacting a consumer’s purchase decision, but also on their household as they are cutting back on extracurricular activities and choosing whether their child goes to public or private schools.
Meanwhile, retailers continue to seek innovative ways to communicate with consumers to build a compelling cross-channel shopping experience. Most retailers deploy mobile and social marketing strategies that integrate with e-Commerce sites, which offer consumers capability to connect with brands across their channel of preference to make purchases for shopping seasons such as BTS. With the advancement in technology, students and parents alike will be browsing web stores and spending money online like never before as the consumers’ engagement with social media and mobile devices has fundamentally changed.
[bleft]According to Ebates, BTS shopping includes a lot more than school supplies
- 42% said technology
- 29% said clothing
- 10% said shoes
- 8% said backpacks[/bleft]
As parents and students alike seek the best deals on latest trends, mobile will play a pivotal role in this season. Due to a competitive market, marketers need to be sure that their campaigns are effective and timely. It has become essential for them to find out how to connect with kids, and more importantly, their parents. Not only are consumers highly active on social networking sites, they are accessing emails and making purchases on many different devices. Optimizing campaigns for different devices is necessary for marketers to reach them wherever life takes them – including the office, the grocery store and soccer practice.
[bleft]The role of social media and mobile continues to grow. Deloitte found that 22% of those surveyed, use social media in the BTS shopping:
- 70% to find promotions
- 49% for product research
- 36% to visit a retailer’s website[/bleft]
Many marketers make the mistake of approaching BTS as a one-off campaign, it might be a once-a-year execution, but the customers you create during that time are still yours for the remainder of the year, not to mention years to come. Therefore, it is valuable to have a long-term plan in place to tap consumers at different points throughout the year. The solution is to approach your BTS campaign as a platform for generating a conversation with your target audience, and then utilizing that platform as a means for obtaining and collecting meaningful information from your consumers that will be used in post-BTS initiatives and social channels are the perfect tool for initiating and maintaining this relationship with consumers. A nice campaign to reference in terms of generating a relationship with their consumers is American Eagle’s 2012 “Live Your Life” campaign.
The loss of a BTS purchase due to poorly executed retail fundamentals this year will be a huge loss as the spending powers of consumers are finite due to the post-recession consumption patterns. It remains to be seen what families will spend on school items this BTS season, but one thing is purely evident – the economy remains a big concern for many Americans.
Trends to look forward to at BTS fashion in 2013
Denims in a variety of colour, patterns and textures, whether it’s super-skinny, bleached, neon-coloured, your-boyfriends, super-distressed grungy, cropped, printed, high-waisted and boot-cut… would be the best options for any body type in this summer. In addition, signature 80’s puffed shoulder looks though fashion forward, would be seen everywhere in a month’s time. Also, bombers, long and sleeveless blazers and leather jackets will enjoy their share in this year BTS trends. Prints such as tribal, floral, plaids and thin stripes would be in this season, along with accessories such as bangles, cuff bracelets, brooches, chunky-flowered rings and layered chain necklaces.
