Back-to-School Shopping Signals Customer Engagement of Children

Back-to-school shopping used to always target parents of school children. But now, maybe those customer engagement efforts need to be redirected at the children themselves?

According to a new survey commissioned by Citi Retail Services, children are driving the Back-to-School shopping season, with parents indicating that nearly half (47%) of shopping decisions are being left completely up to their child. What’s more, the survey shows that 70% of parents also say that they have increased the percentage of purchase decisions they leave completely up to their children.

“As we approach the busy Back-to-School shopping period, retailers should look to ensure their efforts are not just focused on parents, but also their children, who are increasingly being handed decision-making power,” said Leslie McNamara, Managing Director, Business and Market Development at Citi Retail Services. “Somewhat surprisingly, parents believe their Generation Z children are more likely to want to shop in-store for Back-to-School, suggesting that the ability to physically browse and purchase goods in person is still a strong attraction for younger shoppers, who are, in many cases, dictating purchase decisions.”

The survey of 1,000 U.S. parents of children in grades 1-12 also shows that when it comes to Generation Z, 84% of parents believe their child prefers to shop in a physical store, compared to just 16% who feel they prefer online shopping. This underscores the importance that retailers should be placing on the in-store experience for this key shopping moment.

Parents believe the main reasons behind this in-store trend include that their children enjoy the visit to physical stores (59%), like being able to try on or test items they want (59%) and prefer to choose custom types of products, such as color or size (58%).

Despite the growth of online and mobile shopping, the survey reveals that more than three in four parents (76%) prefer to do their Back-to-School shopping in a physical store, in part, to spend more time with their children. This compares to the less than half of parents that would shop in-store for end-of-year holidays (49%), Mother’s Day or Father’s Day (42%), or Black Friday (41%), demonstrating the unique significance of Back-to-School shopping within families.

“Despite the growth of online and mobile shopping, Back-to-School shopping remains a unique, in-store focused shopping event for American families, particularly when compared to other key shopping moments throughout the year,” McNamara said. “To take full advantage of the fact that parents and children are likely to shop in-store for Back-to-School, smart retailers should focus their efforts on creating an exceptional in-store experience that appeals to both generations of shopper in order to build lasting relationships with customers.”
The Citi Back-to-School survey was conducted by Wakefield Research between July 8-14, 2016, using an online survey.

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