Tweet

For Retail Franchises, the Back-to-School Shopping Season Spells Sales

Guest post by: Jocelyn Chavez

Article Overview: Back-to-school shopping is the second biggest consumer spending event for retailers, behind the holiday shopping season. Retail franchises that carry back-to-school must-haves are benefitting as families prepare for the impending school days.

For Retail Franchises, the Back-to-School Shopping Season Spells Sales

If it seems as though no sooner do schools let out for summer break, and the Fourth of July celebrations conclude, before gearing up for the back-to-school season begins, there is good reason. With earlier school start dates and growing classroom supply lists the back-to-school shopping frenzy is underway. Back-to-school (including back-to-college) shopping is the second biggest consumer spending event for retailers, behind the holiday shopping season. And retail franchises that carry a wide-range of back-to-school must-haves, from clothing and electronics, to school supplies and home products are benefitting as families prepare for the impending school days. The onslaught of back-to-school shoppers armed with shopping lists in-hand that flood stores this time of year account for significant sales in the retail industry. Last year, consumers spent more than $55 billion on back-to-school shopping, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). This year, combined back-to-school and back-to-college sales are expected to reach $68.8 billion.

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic...and Shopping

Getting the school year off to right start requires planning and preparation. With clothing, school supplies, electronics- and in the case of college-age students, furnishings and personal care items- topping back-to-school shopping lists, all of that stocking up can be pricey. According to the NRF's 2011 Back-to-School survey conducted by BIGresearch, families with children in grades K-12 will spend an average of $603.63 on apparel, school supplies and electronics. NRF's 2011 Back-to-College survey, also conducted by BIGresearch, finds that parents and college students will spend an average of $808.71 on everything from apparel and electronics, to dorm furnishings and food items.

Electronics will account for the largest portion of back-to-college shoppers' budgets, with the average person expected to spend $209.93 on electronics. And electronics stores will be a popular stop on many families shopping expeditions. Approximately 20% of both back-to-school and back-to-college shoppers plan to make at least one purchase from electronics stores (21.7% and 19.6% respectively, according to the NRF surveys).

Shoppers are also planning to hit department stores, discount stores, clothing stores, office supply stores, drugstores, home furnishings stores and retail websites in an effort to check items off their back-to-school shopping lists.

Unlike adults who can often get more mileage out of previous seasons' wardrobes, growing children typically require new clothing and shoes at the start of the school year. By age 17, the average American has spent approximately $14,300 on clothes and outgrown about 1,300 items, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data and a ThredUP (a children's clothes, toys and books swapping website) survey. This back-to-school season families of school-age children will spend an estimated $220.60 on clothing and an average of $104.53 on shoes, according to the NRF Back-to-School survey. Like their younger counterparts, back-to-college shoppers will also purchase, on average, approximately $127.37 worth of clothing and accessories.

In addition to restocking their closets, back-to-college shoppers are also devoting their shopping budgets to outfitting their dorm rooms and apartments, and replenishing their pantries. The NRF Back-to-College survey found that average spending on dorm furnishings is $96.84 and food items is $94.60.

Along with retailers experiencing a spike in sales as the school year approaches, the food and restaurant franchises that help shoppers refuel during marathon back-to-school shopping trips, also see increased traffic.

The back-to-school shopping season is a boon for a wide-range of retailers. Whether you're interested in owning an electronics store, a clothing store, a home furnishings business, or a food franchise, there are numerous retail franchise opportunities that allow you to tap into the dynamic retail industry.

Related Articles
  PoP (Point of Purchase) Visual Merchandising
  Use Your Off Season - How To Get Ready For The Shopping Season
  Holiday Shoppers and the Economy
  Strong Retail Sales Offer a Bright Outlook for 2011
  Prepare Early and Make a Big Increase in Your Holiday Sales
  Finding a franchise location
  Creating The Perfect Holiday PR Pitch: Tapping Into The Billion $ Spending Season
  Holiday Rush?
  Low Cost Franchises Offer Way to Own Your Own Business
  How to maximize store sales during the holiday season
  Hamleys To Expand Further Into Middle East
  Business to Business Franchises
  Don’t forget about Service Franchise Opportunities
  Why Buy A Service Franchise Opportunity?
  Lift Foot Traffic and Retail Sales With Freebie Marketing
  Franchising FAQs
  Landmark Group officially launches the first Centrepoint in City Mall
  Introduction to Franchising - Mash Bonigala
  5 Most Effective Holiday Marketing Ideas for Your Online Business
  Serenity by Freezing

Article Tags: backtoschool shopping season, clothing store franchises, consumer spending, discount store franchises, electronics store franchises, food franchises, restaurant franchises holiday shopping, retail franchises



Related Forum Posts
Happy Worker as of Dec 31 2007 - Here's mine... I'm now off to make an offering to the business planning gods for their help in getting to these goals & beyond. To the combined success of Prophets 2 Profits! ----------------------------------------- 1) Corporate a) Retail - Sales reps covering all major markets (1M or more) - Retail product launch plan - 1 more retail release (TBD) b) The Toy Agency - Systems for: o Creative process o Pricing o Manufacturing o Logistics - Marketing agency strategy in place - 1 new customer every 2nd month (5 new customers); 1 of which will be rev of >= 500K/year c) Business - Creative talent pool management strategy & process - Outsourced and/or weekly bookkeeping - Monthly budgeting & forecasting - Better banking organization (Line of Credit, CCs, automate billing for appropriate vendors) - Team total of 5 - Larger office d) Web site - Daily updates - Start of separation of Blog/TTA/Retail 2) Personal - Most weekends “off”! - Entirely separate personal finances; basic personal financing plan - Family….?
The "Young" Apprentice - I think a cool new idea for "The Apprentice" would be to have all young contestants, rather than just selling sex (e.g. Season 6 in Los Angeles) or using celebrities for ratings. Maybe every applicant for the show would have to be between the ages of 15 to 18 or 18 to 22, since there've been seasons where younger contestants have been stereotyped and discriminated against for their age and limited business inexperience (e.g. Lee Bienstock in Season 5). So why not make the stomping ground fair? Why not have an Apprentice Season where only talented youngsters fight over a job with Trump? I mean, it gets kind of boring hearing the contestants say "I'm older and have more business experience than so and so.... and that's the reason you should hire me Mr. Trump." That's a ridiculous argument because many youths are smarter and more successful than people even twice their age.
New Small Business Topic - Hello everyone, I'm on the lookout for new topics to add to my site. We just launched a Franchising section and are planning Human Resources section. Do you have any thoughts for a new section? Here's a list of what we currently have: Angel Investors Branding Bank Loans Business Coaching Business Plan Franchises (New) Insurance Legal Marketing Public Relations Sales Small Biz Loans Venture Capital
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How To Calculate A Minimum Fee For Your Services

2011 Global Brand Trends Letter

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.