Yuyu Chen, writing for ClickZ, examines a recent Deloitte survey of 1,015 U.S. parents of school-aged children about their back-to-school shopping plans.
Among Deloitte’s findings:
Nearly 40% of parents think back-to-school shopping is less important this year than it was last year.
31% of parents will not complete their shopping until after the school year starts.
80% of consumers plan to use their digital devices, especially smart phones, in this shopping process for product information, including reviews.
Only 29% plan to buy via a mobile device.
Only 10% of respondents plan to rely on social media for back-to-school shopping. This number has decreased from 18% in 2014 and 35% in 2011. Deloitte believes that shoppers prefer to research via other online sources and also get recommendations from friends.
Kasey Lobaugh, Chief Retail Innovation Officer for Deloitte, concludes that these shifts in back-to-school shopping attitudes and plans could disrupt the retail industry and require retailers to change their back-to-school marketing approach, as well as the management of inventory and product assortment, and promotional planning.
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