Folders, notebooks, pens, backpacks, calculators, and slick, new Nikes — parents spend a staggering amount on school supplies for their kids. The National Retail Federation conducts an annual survey to see just how much people are spending when they get their kids ready for school, and the findings are pretty eye-opening.
According to the NRF’s latest findings, the average family with children in grades K-12 plans to spend about $630.36 on school supplies, electronics, apparel, and other school needs. What’s more, back-to-school spending has grown 42% over the past 10 years.
That is — to put it succinctly — a lot. Facing such staggering costs, it’s only natural that parents would seek out the best deals they can find, and a new survey from RadiumOne shows that of the 1,452 participating adults, 82% of back-t0-school shoppers share their purchases on Facebook.
In other words, four out of fivepeople go on Facebook to let other parents know about the deals they found (or brag about it, either way).
That’s not all the survey shows, either. About 90% of respondents say that they’d shop in a store, while 45% say they plan to buy online. About one in three shoppers also plan to use their mobile phones to find good deals.
The point here is something most already take as fact. Whether it’s finding the best price online, or simply sharing awesome deals with other parents on Facebook, the Internet is changing the way people shop, and marketers need to be able to rethink how the best way to reach them is.
