Back to School 2018: Stats and Strategies

The Back to School shopping season is the second largest of the year, just behind Black Friday/Cyber Monday. From mid-July through September 2018, 29 million households plan to spend a total of $27.6 billion for primary and high school students.

Back to School shopping begins to pick up in mid-August, getting heavier as September approaches.

Based on what categories parents are projecting they’ll need for the upcoming school year, the weighted average spend-per-child is $501. Virtually every parent envisions shopping for Apparel ($284 average) and Supplies ($104 average). Computers and Hardware ($307 average) and Apparel are the most expensive categories.

When it comes to how parents are going to research brands and prices, 60% plan to use mobile devices. According to the same study, 45% of parents are planning to use their mobile devices to actually make a purchase. This means that having a mobile presence is very important during the Back to School season.

How LiftEngine Can Help Make the Most of the Back to School Season

With the heaviest volume of Back to School shopping just upon us, it’s important to stake your mobile presence. When it comes to the best channel on mobile, US consumers are spending an average of 40 minutes per day on Facebook.

ADvantage, LiftEngine’s social media marketing suite of services, is a turnkey solution for acquiring Back to School customers on Facebook and Instagram.

Here are some of the strategies we are recommending to clients:

1. Coordinate a digital campaign with direct mail efforts for back to school purchases.
2. Identify which households on your Housefile or Prospect list have children and target them accordingly. Our Audience Amplify solution is geared for just this.
3. Leverage Mobile News Feed and Audience Network placements to reach these mobile-ready shoppers on mobile.
4. Tap into Facebook’s dynamic retargeting ads to help solidify the deal while your customers are researching the exact items that piqued their interest.
5. Drive engagement and conversion with ease by implementing Full Screen Experience or Collection ads in Facebook. These ads nicely showcase a lifestyle look.

Sources:

• Shopify
• Statista

About LiftEngine

Since 2005, LiftEngine's primary mission has been to help clients better understand and connect with their most responsive prospects and customers, online or offline. Our expertise is behind the marketing campaigns of 400+ clients.

Behind LiftEngine is LiftBase, our proprietary addressable consumer database. Comprised of 250 million US consumers, 140 million US households, and 1,000+ enhanced data elements, LiftBase powers our audience development services and industry-leading products, PortalLink and LaunchPad.

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