Ernst and Young Back-to-School Shopping Study – Retailers Get Ready

According to an Ernst and Young study of last year’s back-to-school shopping season, Canadians were heading out far earlier to start their shopping, following the lead of our neighbours to the south. If this year is anything like last year, most shoppers will not be waiting until the week before to get those school supplies. The annual back-to-school shopping season can mean big ROI for retailers, and Canadian merchandising companies can make all the difference.

Here are our top 3 reasons why retailers need to make sure their back-to-school retail plan is ironclad, and how merchandising companies can help.

1.      Back-to-school shopping is highly lucrative. The back-to-school shopping season offer retailers the biggest sales aside from holiday shopping in December. Need some numbers? Statistics Canada reported $123.6 million was spent on school supplies in 2012, and the overall average education expenditure for all households in Canada was $1151. No matter what is being sold, recognizing that the opportunity is there is crucial. Knowing this, a smart plan is to rely on a merchandising company to ensure that your retail merchandising plan is effective.

 

2.      Kids are shopping too and you need to market to them. Parents often shop with their kids for those items to take back to the classroom, so you need to be sure to cater to their wants – they heavily influence the purchases made by their parents. A great way to do this is through an experiential marketing campaign. Kids love to try new things – and what better way to get them interested in a product than by trying it. For example, with parents out there filling their cart with back-to-school lunch items, kids can work for you. Get a merchandising company to develop an experiential marketing campaign with this in mind (lunch snacks for example) and the marketing is easy.

 

3.      Discount stores are getting a big share of the profits. Keeping in mind the amount of money most families spend on back-to-school shopping, many parents are opting for the sales that discount stores offer, so you have to be able to compete. Sales and promotions play a big role (and merchandising companies can help with this), but so too does customer service. Many consumers will remain loyal if a company offers excellent service. Merchandising companies can provide the necessary people support at this busy time to ensure that your customer service levels remain high.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of back-to-school shopping. Let Canadian merchandising companies assist in your retail merchandising planning. And don’t wait until the last minute – if this year is anything like last year, those sales will start rolling in very soon.

For more information about how merchandising companies can help you implement a smart merchandising plan for back-to-school shopping please contact Storesupport at 1-877-421-5081.