Parents Plan More Online Back-To-School Shopping: Study

Email teams should prepare for the back-to-school shopping onslaught that is soon to begin. 

Here’s some intelligence: 35.2% of K-12 parents plan to shop in-person, 30.3% plan to shop online and 26.4% plan to do a combination of both, according to Tinuiti’s 2021 Back To School Shopping Report.  

In addition, 61.7% plan to make more purchases online, while 45.3% plan to shop in-store at off hours to avoid crowds and 35% will use store pickup. 

Among shoppers, 42% say vaccine availability will make them feel safer shopping in-store, but 37% say it won’t make them feel safer and 21% are unsure. Uncertainty is at a 28% rate.

As for store choices, 64% will shop with big-box stores, 58.% through Amazon and 31.7% through office supply stores.

Meanwhile, 40% of parents expect to spend more than $200 per child -- up from 36% in the prior year. That includes 16% who will spend more than $300, and 60% will spend $200 or less. 

Contrary to what we might expect, 68% of shoppers plan to buy traditional supplies such as pencils, notebooks and binders. 

Roughly 50% will spend on digital supplies, while 44% will spend on personal protective equipment (as their first or second priority) and 38% on apparel, unseating the latter from its top slot in the shopping list. 

In addition, 77% plan to purchase buy masks, gloves, hand sanitizers or extra cleaning supplies. 

In 2020, 64.3% bought headphones/speakers, 44.7% bought laptops and 49.7% bought electronics accessories. And 29.3% invested in desks, 28.2% in printers and 33.1% in electronic tablets.

The opportunities for marketers include bundling of categories that can meet several needs at once.

Tinuiti surveyed over 2,000 families with children in K-12 schools. 

 

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