Retailers Adjust Efforts to Entice School Shoppers

Economic changes have kept retailers and suppliers on their toes when it comes to timing product releases and sales.

In 2012, The New York Times reported that parents and kids were delaying back-to-school purchases until the last minute. Analysts noted that cash-strapped families were hoping for deep discounts on clothes, school supplies and electronics and were putting off shopping as long as possible.

That began to change in 2013, however, and this year’s back-to-school and back-to-campus sales began around the July 4 holiday. In fact, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that, according to Kantar Media, mid-July spending on back-to-school advertising has increased by 50 percent.

What’s changed? The WSJ article notes that while consumers are still looking for sales, they are looking for them both early and late in the season. As a result, retailers and suppliers alike are redoubling efforts to attract shoppers.

“Shoppers are astute about getting the best prices, particularly on items they know they will need each year,” said Dina Howell, retired CEO and executive adviser of Saatchi & Saatchi X in Springdale. “Shoppers used to wait until closer to the actual start of school, but in the drive for sales, great prices are now being offered almost as soon as the prior school year ends.”

Interestingly, Walmart’s own data demonstrates the trend toward earlier back-to-school shopping. According to a recent press release, over the past two years Walmart.com’s traffic from July 31 through Aug. 3 doubled.  In response, Walmart launched “Back to Class Cyber Days” sales to meet the needs of families and students who are looking forward to fall.

There are a couple of things worth noting in the press release. First of all, Walmart is clearly paying attention to big data, and is shifting its offerings along with consumer trends. The other is that Walmart won’t let itself be beaten on price. Other retailers are starting sales and specials early, and Walmart won’t be left behind.  

“Conversation for school supplies from Walmart peaked in the first week of August, illustrating consumer interest in purchasing last-minute items rather than earlier in the summer,” said Ryan Frazier, CEO and co-founder of Fayetteville startup DataRank Inc., which records and analyzes consumer conversations on social media. “Over 10,000 tweets were published about Walmart school supplies in July and August alone.”

Other news stories point to this early trend as proving successful for some retailers. Analysts at market research firm YouGov have noted that while Walmart, Target and Old Navy are proving to be early leaders in back-to-school sales, Sears is also making a comeback. While there’s just a little less than a month left before September, it will be interesting to see how Sears’ sales compare to the big-box retailers.

In addition to offering early sales on items for kids, Walmart hasn’t forgotten college students. In fact, Walmart is making the commute to campus a little easier for both students and their parents with its “Back to College” program, which offers students extra time to pick up items that they’ve ordered online.

“Back to College” is offered at about 80 Walmart stores around the country. Students can order items online at their leisure and then take 28 days to pick up the items at a Walmart store. Normally, Walmart limits in-store pickup to seven days after placing an order, but these extra 21 days give college-age customers some breathing room while they prepare to return to their dorm or off-campus apartment.

“This is really smart on Walmart’s part,” Howell said. “This is the start of shoppers making independent decisions outside of Mom’s influence. Getting them to commit to Walmart for their needs by making it very convenient for them to shop and to have it delivered will create a lot of loyalty.”

The beauty of this program is that there is no need to haul the items from the student’s hometown Walmart. Once they’ve made the trip back to school, students can pick up their items from the nearest store and set up housekeeping.

Of course, once everyone is back in the classroom, it’ll be time to start looking toward Halloween and the winter holidays. There will be no rest for retailers, suppliers or analysts anytime soon.