Inflation and prices may be high, but they can’t drive consumers away from back-to-school shopping. 96% of consumers say they’ll shop this year, according to a recent survey from Cint¹.

Shoppers start as early as July. Now is the time to plan your strategy! Here are some insights to help:

What are they shopping for?

• 62% will shop for clothing¹.
• 72% will shop for school supplies¹.

Where will they shop?

Big-box retailers seem to be a little more popular for back-to-school shopping than online retailers.

• 59% will shop at retailers like Target and Walmart¹.
• 39% will shop on Amazon¹.

How Has Their Shopping Changed?

• Comparison shopping online: from 2021 to 2022, the percentage of back-to-school consumers shopping around online increased 13% (from 30% to 43%)².
• Shopping sales: 6% more consumers were shopping sales more often in 2022 compared to 2021².
• Buying store brand/generic items 8% more than brand names in 2022 than in 2021².

What type of ads are they responding to?

Back-to-School Shoppers have responded to advertising across a variety of media channels in the past 12 months, and they are more responsive than consumers nationwide:

• 64% have responded to a streaming TV ad (16% more than the rest of the U.S.) ³.
• 63% have responded to ads or coupons in the mailbox (11% more than the rest of the U.S.) ³.
• 59% have responded to a pre-roll video ad (15% more than the rest of the U.S.) ³.
• 55% have responded to advertising inserts or circulars (11% more than the rest of the U.S.) ³.

Mspark can help you craft coordinated print and digital ads to maximize reach and frequency of your campaigns to create a truly powerful mix that drives results.

• 60% of consumers have visited a brand’s website after receiving direct mail⁴.
• Integrating digital with direct mail increases program performance as much as 28% vs. direct mail alone⁵.
• 58% of rural consumers are influenced by print delivered via mail and digital tactics as they make purchase decisions⁶.

Reach out today to plan a back-to-school marketing strategy that will target and activate your best potential customers.

Sources: Back-to-school shopping should be robust in spite of inflation (retailbrew.com)¹; NRF | Back-to-school trends to know 2022²; AdMall AudienceSCAN 2022^3; SG360⁴; Historical program performance⁵; Prosper Insights & Analytics MBI⁶