Back-to-school shoppers have value at the top of their lists

Back-to-school shopping season is well underway, with a new school year already kicking off in parts of the country. This year, brands are tasked with coaxing more inflation-weary, and let’s say, value-oriented parents into spending. 

Christina Boni’s glue stick and crayon days are over, but she still has one high schooler to shop for. 

“We’ll be doing an office supply run,” Boni said, adding that there may be negotiations for some more discretionary wants, like fancy sneakers and a new backpack. “Then, it’s a question of, you know, how much I’m willing to open my wallet.”

Boni, who’s a retail analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, said we could see lots of parents sticking more closely to the classroom supply list this year. 

“You know, with parents being more pinched on their wallets, that may be more of the approach,” Boni said.

Back-to-school-shopping can be emotional, said Lupine Skelly, retail research leader at Deloitte, as no one wants to feel like they’re skimping on their kid’s education. 

“There’s also this sort of, like, nostalgia component, where parents want to have a good experience with their kids and send them off on a good foot,” Skelly said.

That doesn’t mean they don’t feel financially burdened, said Chip Lupo with WalletHub, which surveyed parents on this topic. 

“More than 3 in 4 parents that we surveyed think that the schools ask them to buy too much during the back-to-school season,” Lupo said.

And Lupo said a third of those parents plan to apply for a new credit card to help manage back to school costs. 

Lower- and middle-income families especially will be hunting for deals rather than allowing retailers to be dependent on brand loyalty, said Claire Tassin, an analyst with Morning Consult.

“It’s just going to be enormously competitive for retailers of who’s actually earning those dollars,” Tassin said. “Consumers might say, ‘OK, I’m going to shop at a discount store when I might have previously shopped at a traditional big-box store.'”

Or turn to the buy-now, pay-later services some retailers are pushing. 

And some consumers are spreading out their spending, like Lupine Skelly with Deloitte, who’s sending her kid to preschool this fall. 

“I did buy some shoes for him in July because there was a good promotion there,” Skelly said.

And she said she’s not in a rush to buy new clothes, like jeans before the first day of school. She’ll wait around for the best deal.