Thanks to Business 2 Community for sharing our guest contributed article.
Late summer and fall is the time when parents and their kids are shopping for backpacks, binders, and the latest styles as students head back into the classroom. But teachers are making plans much earlier. They spend springtime finalizing their lists for the following school year.
March through June is when lists start showing up on school websites, which means brands that start reaching out to consumers in September are months too late. Brands that want to reach the coveted top spot on back-to-school lists need to be creating awareness. It’s a market worth spending a little extra time reaching. Back-to-school spending topped $80 billion in 2018.
Our research also shows that 73% of educators request specific brands — Crayola, Elmer’s, or Expo, for example. Some also recommend specific stores, especially if the school has an official retail partnership. Getting your products or retail store name-dropped on school shopping lists could drive millions in revenue when parents head into stores to buy all the items their children will need.
