What to Expect This Back-to-School Season

The oppressive heat waves across the country have ended. Summer camps are coming to a close and children are scrambling to finish the reading lists they've ignored all summer. This can only mean one thing — the first day of school is just around the corner.

Drawing from a panel of 2 million consumers and the results of its Summer 2011 Shopper Intelligence survey, Compete examined what the hot-ticket items will be this back-to-school season and where consumers will be buying these goods.

The outlook for retailers is positive. Less than one out of five consumers plan to spend less than they did last year on back-to-school items. In fact, 25 percent are planning to spend more.

Forty percent of consumers will be going back-to-school shopping this year. Parents of children in elementary school represent the largest segment of back-to-school shoppers (44 percent), followed by parents of children in middle school or high school (43 percent), and parents of college students (14 percent). That said, marketers shouldn't gear all of their back-to-school messaging towards parents. One in five back-to-school shoppers are students themselves.

Given that the bulk of shopping will be conducted on behalf of students in primary and secondary school, it's no surprise that well over half of all shoppers will buy school supplies, clothing and shoes. Electronics (e.g., computers and printers) will also be in high demand. College essentials will be shopped by a smaller group of consumers.

Consumers will spend the most on electronics this back-to-school season, averaging $469 per person, which isn't entirely unexpected given the high-ticket price on those items. Students will be well dressed on their first day back to school, as shoppers will spend an average of $264 on clothing. They'll also be prepared for class with notebooks, binders, folders and pens, for which the average shopper will spend $183.

Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target are among the many mass merchants that will come out on top this back-to-school season. Seventy-one percent of shoppers said they will conduct their back-to-school shopping at mass merchants, making them the most preferred back-to-school retailers. Other popular back-to-school destinations include office supply retailers, department stores, clothing stores and shoe stores.

The internet will play a key role in helping consumers complete their back-to-school shopping. Fifty-seven percent of shoppers said they will conduct research online before purchasing items. Retail websites, search engines and emails from retailers will be the most popular online resources.

Even more importantly, 80 percent of consumers will purchase back-to-school items online this year. Half of electronics’ shoppers, 46 percent of dorm and kitchen shoppers, and 45 percent of bed and bath shoppers will purchase at least half of those products online. School supplies, however, will be purchased mainly offline, with only 18 percent of shoppers purchasing at least half of those items online.

Retail giants Amazon and Walmart are ready for back-to-school shoppers. Both companies created easy to navigate back-to-school landing pages, one specialized for primary and secondary students and another for college students. Wal-Mart’s pages are already very popular, garnering about 200,000 visitors during the first week in August alone.

Traffic to these and other retailers will no doubt continue to grow over the next few weeks, which means online retailers need to stay at the top of their game. Weekly specials and free shipping promotions are a great way to win over consumers and build brand equity. What better time to build loyalty among your customers than with the holiday shopping season just around the corner?

Debra Miller Arbesman is senior associate, retailer and consumer products, at Compete, a Kantar Media company that helps brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Debra can be reached at darbesman@compete.com.