Back-to-school shopping has been one of the busiest seasons in the retail industry. Students and parents have spent the last few weeks grabbing everything they need to get through another school year now that summer is over.
ChargeItSpot recently published our 2017 Back-to School Sales Report. This report examined parents’ shopping habits for the back-to school shopping season. More than 300 shoppers shopped in malls across the nation provided their responses.
Let’s take a look at the results.
Shoppers Use Mobile Coupon Apps To Find the Best Deals
We found that school supplies are becoming more expensive and more high-tech. Parents were keen to find the best deals. 30% of shoppers cited mobile coupon apps when asked where they would look for back to school deals. Other options included newspapers/magazines (19%), magazines (12%), retail newsletters/catalogs (9%) and social media (8%)
While parents may shop online for the best deals, most people still prefer to shop in-store. 68% of respondents stated that they prefer to shop in-store for back-to school shopping, compared to 32 percent who prefer to shop online only.
Parents are looking for only 1 student
According to the survey, 42% of shoppers said they would shop for one student. 30% said that they would shop for two students. 15% said they would buy for three students. 13 percent said they would shop for four students or more.
Shopping for fewer students means less money, with single-student parents spending less than $300. Three quarters of respondents stated they would spend less than $100. Another 30% said they would spend between $100 and $300. Nineteen percent chose $300-$500. The rest selected $500-$700 (11%), $700-$1,000 (5%) and over $1,000 (6%)
28% Of Consumers Start Back-to-School Shopping One Month Before School Began
The majority of consumers wanted to begin school shopping as soon as possible. 28 percent started shopping a month prior to school started, and 27 percent began shopping in the summer. Others started shopping a few weeks prior to school (24%) and a week after school began (9%)
Parents are spending a lot of money on other items than school supplies when they set aside the majority of their back to school budget. 58% of parents said that they planned to spend most of their money on clothes, while only 16% said that they would spend most on school supplies (e.g. pencils, pens, etc.). ).
Retailers can look back at the shopping habits of the past few months and see that consumers value digital coupons, started their shopping earlier in summer, and still prefer to shop in brick-and mortar stores over online. Don’t be surprised to see next summer’s back school report look very different as shopper preferences change.
source https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/back-school-new-study-shows-years-school-shopping-trends/
Simon Property Group Suing Starbucks Over Teavana Closures
Simon Property Group is suing Starbucks Corp. for its decision to close 78 Teavana shops within its malls. Starbucks is accused of violating its leases and closing Teavana stores. Simon also claims that Starbucks “shirked its contractual obligations at Simon’s shopping centers, and the dozens or communities they support”. Simon seeks temporary and permanent injunctions to stop Starbucks from closing these stores. Starbucks stated that it would close all Teavana stores by the spring 2018, but Simon claimed that only two Teavana leases are due to expire before then, and that 76 extend into 2027.
Total Retail Take: Starbucks purchased Teavana in 2013, for $620 million. Kevin Johnson, the new Starbucks CEO, was disappointed by the Teavana store’s performance and blamed the decline in foot traffic at the malls. Simon Property Group didn’t like Simon Johnson’s comment. Simon Property Group stated that the mall landlord made the comment to “deflect blame from itself” and avoid negative investor reactions. Simon pointed out that Starbucks boasted a year ago that its tea business was expanding rapidly. Simon is suing retailers to remind them that they can’t just close down stores or end expensive leases. The lawsuit states that tenants who fail to live up their continuous operations obligations create great turmoil for Simon and their co-tenants.
source https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/simon-suing-starbucks-teavana-closures/