As we sit more than half way through 2024, residual effects of the pandemic stubbornly remain including unrelenting inflation. This year being an election year may also add to more economic uncertainty. When it comes to back-to-school shopping, the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics report that over half (55%) of respondents began their shopping earlier this month while the vast majority (86%) still had at least half of their shopping still left. The reasons for this are two-fold:
On one hand, nearly half (45%) of respondents are holding out and waiting for the best deals to save the most money while another 45% simply aren’t sure what they’ll need to purchase yet and don’t mind waiting to take advantage of those deals. In total, anticipated back-to-school spending is set to hot $38.8 billion, just behind last year’s record-breaking $41.5 billion.
This year, Deloitte suggests that parents are once again thrust into the second-largest shopping event of the year struggling to find compromise between necessity and novelty in an economic environment rife with cost-of-living increases. Yet despite this, there is still $31.3B up for grabs in potential sales this back-to-school shopping season.
So what does all this mean for your partnerships in terms of the numbers and what consumers are spending on? Check out our latest eBook: Your Complete Back-to-School Affiliate Planning Strategy to learn more!