After a chaotic 2020 school year filled with webcams and laptops, parents and children alike are eager to get back to in-person learning. As the summer winds down and the school year creeps closer, the age old tradition of “back to school” shopping & its economics has been on the forefront of every retailer’s mind and marketing.
In April 2020, consumer spending experienced its harshest downturn. It was not until March of 2021 that the economy had finally returned to the same pre-pandemic spending levels of February 2020. This return to normalcy combined with the fact that 78% of households are in a similar or better financial situation since 2020, has paved way for a booming “back to school” season.
Shoppers have begun their spending earlier than previous years, with 59% saying that they had done their shopping in July as opposed to August. In 2021 parents are expected to spend an average of? $612 on back-to-school shopping per child, which is a 16% increase from the $529 parents expected to spend per child last year.
Don’t expect children to be picking up their binders too often. While 62% are expecting to learn in person, technology will still be used heavily in the classroom with technology products seeing a 37% increase since last year while “traditional” products are going to see an increase of only 2%. Additionally, 48% of shoppers said they plan on purchasing e-learning platform subscriptions to aid in their learning, an 8% increase from what shoppers reported in 2020.
The way students learn continues to change year after year and with that comes the demand of new products, services and of course, new opportunities!