This story appears in the September 2015 issue of strategy.
With young Canadians headed back to class, this busy time for retailers, when brands compete for parents’ hard-earned dollars, is wrapping up. So in honour of the new school year, strategy decided to take a peek into the shopping season.
The dollars and cents of it:
4% Canadians’ projected back-to-school spending increase
42% of Ontario parents spend at least half of their back-to-school budget on clothes
49% of Ontario parents believe BTS shopping is among the most pricey times of the year
The where and when
55% of Canadian college/university-aged students complete BTS shopping prior to Labour Day
80% of BTS buyers spend two weeks or less shopping
36% of post-secondary-aged students had planned to visit two stores or less for BTS shopping
35% of this demo had planned to hit up fewer retailers than last year
The role of online
¼ of Canadian post-secondary-aged students said online will play a greater role in their BTS shopping than the previous year
67% the increase in back-to-school YouTube videos searches in Canada last year
236M+the number of times BTS YouTube videos were watched last year globally
Data sourced from: Google Consumer Surveys, YouTube, Ernst & Young and VarageSale.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
