5 Back-to-School Lessons for Retail Success

We may be in the dog days of summer, but retailers and brands are hard at work gearing up for one of the busiest shopping periods of the year, back to school (BTS).

Second only to the winter holiday season, BTS shopping marks the start of a mad dash for retailers as parents look to stock up on new clothing, school supplies and even electronics. In 2012, parents spent approximately $689 per child on back-to-school items.

Retailers will face strong competitive pressures to win new customers this BTS season, especially as tight budgets and concerns about the economic recovery remain top of mind for price-sensitive consumers. Just like grade school, retail success is all about being prepared and effectively applying key learnings.

Here are five key lessons to learn from last season's successful retailer and brand BTS campaigns:

1. Take a mobile-first omnichannel approach. Mobile is a powerful tool. According to Deloitte's 2012 BTS report, 65 percent of smartphone owners used their mobile device for back-to-school shopping. It's the ideal platform for busy parents. Mobile provides an unrivaled personal shopping assistant and all-in-one tool for researching products, building shopping lists, receiving offers and making purchases.

2. Center on seamless and simple. Given the central role mobile now plays in commerce, and particularly for BTS shopping, mobile sites and branded native apps are especially critical in providing shoppers a seamless online and offline path-to-purchase experience that provides value and convenience.

Toys"R"Us demonstrated this during the most recent holiday season. Operating in a cluttered category and during its busiest time of year, Toys"R"Us simplified its design for form and function, tapping into daily email routines with a simple, visual design that would stop a five-year-old in their tracks.

This, coupled with eMarketer's prediction that digital coupon usage is expected to increase 25 percent over the next two years, demonstrates just how critical an effective email push strategy for mobile is becoming for major shopping events such as BTS.

3. Build a strong and personal brand experience for consumers. While prices can readily be matched, it's much harder for competitors to build better brand experiences that win away your loyal customers.

Amazon.com was the No. 1 destination for BTS shopping in 2012 due to its success in retaining customer loyalty. Using precise customer data, Amazon has created a highly relevant and personalized shopping experience that simplifies the entire path to purchase for loyal customers, providing customer reviews, product information/availability, hassle-free returns and shipping promotions. Amazon has built such loyalty and trust that its customers will willingly pay more for the added convenience of the Amazon shopping experience.

Also focus on building a personalized experience for your shoppers. Take Groupon as an example. Members are blasted with deals on a daily basis, but most deals aren't relevant and the conversion rates show it. Instead, harness data and communicate with consumers in a way that shows you know them and, more importantly, know what they want to buy. Do this and watch your conversion rates grow.

4. Be social by encouraging sharing and collaboration. Purchase decisions are increasingly shared and influenced by friends and family using social media platforms and sharing tools. As Deloitte's 2012 Back to School report found, social sharing strongly influences BTS shopping decisions. One-third of parents use social networking sites to assist with shopping, and nearly seven out of 10 use them to learn about promotions and deals.

Elmer's Glue is a great example of a brand leveraging the power of mobile and social to connect with its customer base. Elmer's understood its role as a "trusted and proverbial part of going back to school to celebrate an exciting milestone for families." Its BTS campaign uses an app supported by a microsite to let parents and teachers capture and more easily and securely share BTS memories through customized photo albums.

5. Be a digital assistant via the smartphone. Keep in mind that mobile for multitasking parents is more than just a connected device; it's the ultimate task assistant that reduces the stress of BTS.

Ikea introduced an interactive shopping list for its 2012 shopping season. The retailer also added social to the mix, connecting the app to Facebook and Twitter for social sharing and a deeper connection with consumers. Ikea's mobile site and app focus on being indispensable personal shoppers by helping to improve the shopping experience while in-store. The app uses location-based, store-specific information on inventory, store maps and promotions to help users get an even richer shopping experience.

Above all, keep it simple and relevant. Parents are looking for brands to deliver relevance and value in a way that removes some of the stress and guesswork out of the BTS shopping season. So, sharpen your pencils and prepare yourself for an A+ school year.

Jeff Fagel is the vice president of marketing and brand development for edo Interactive, a company that helps advertisers connect online advertising with in-store results.