Many consumers go looking for back-to-school deals on Amazon.com for Prime Day. Many others click to rival sites for the same purpose. For a growing number of parents and students, these activities represent the start of their journey to stock up on supplies before the new school year begins.
USA Today published an article yesterday from Reviewed.com that highlighted the five best deals on Amazon for back-to-school: a BIC mechanical pencil, an Echo Dot, an Acer Chromebook, a rapid egg cooker and an external hard drive. Promotional emails from other retailers appearing in consumers’ in-boxes in recent days have listed deals on items specifically for students returning to school.
Research published by RetailMeNot found that 64 percent of parents planned to shop during the Prime Day event, expecting to wrap up 35 percent of their shopping for back-to-school. Prime Day, according to the survey of 1,000 adults, is the number one shopping period for back-to-school, followed by the first weekend in August and Labor Day weekend.
When all is said and done, this year’s back-to-school shopping season promises to be a record breaker for retail. Newly released research from the National Retail Federation (NRF) projects total spending for back-to-school and back-to-college reaching $80.7 billion this year.
Families with kids in elementary and high school are forecast to spend a record average of $696.70, up from $684.79 in 2018. Those households with kids going to college plan to spend $976.78, also a record, up from $942.17 last year.
NRF’s research also points to Prime Day as a symbolic kicking off point for many consumers shopping for school supplies. Fifty-nine percent planned to shop on Amazon for this purpose, 26 percent planned to shop on other sites and 23 percent planned to go to stores in search of deals.