Back to school season means new clothes and school supplies for college students, along with so much more. They will need laptops and other electronics, dorm furnishing, cleaning supplies, and the list goes on. Back to school season even is a part of the parents’ lives; they usually are the ones funding it all! Back to school season is a multi-billion dollar season and, for that reason, it is a prime time to advertise and market.
According to AdAge, “Back-to-school and back-to-college spending accounts for $84 billion in sales, making it the second-biggest season for retailers. Though that’s a far cry from the winter holidays’ $580 billion take, it handily exceeds Mother’s Day, which is the next-biggest holiday-shopping period, with $21 billion in consumer spending.” Besides the winter gift-giving holidays, back to school season brings out the most shoppers with intent to purchase.
The competition is steep and brands are trying to one up each other in order to attract consumers. A couple of examples are: Windows 7 PC coming with a free Xbox 360, a Macintosh laptop coming with a free printer, and JC Penney’s Pennies from Heaven campaign, which urged shoppers to round up their purchase totals to the nearest dollar to benefit local after-school programs.
Not only is it useful to advertise during back to school season, brands can also benefit from advertising when students finally arrive on campus. As students are settling in, they will begin to experience their lifestyle for the next year. Students will see things that other students have or realize that they are missing a useful item. The market will still be open to purchasing items and seeing advertisements will help push them forward – whether they need to rent a book, buy a coffee machine, or other necessities.
Back to school season is when people are looking to shop. They will keep their eyes and ears open to what will benefit them as consumers when they purchase certain items. Marketing towards the college demographic during this time will come with results.
