There are so many businesses that are reliant on only one holiday during the year, which brings in the majority of their revenue. American Greetings for example, they make a killing on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s/Father’s Day. When you think of the biggest holiday spending, which comes to mind? Christmas is on top of everyone’s mind, but I bet you didn’t think of “Back to School” spending as the next largest retail shopping season. Over 76 million Americans go back to school every year, (source & figures; Entrepreneur Mag) and this is a recurring model model you can truly bank on!
$3.7 Billion will be spent on new shoes.
$594.24, average back to school spending per child.
$54.1 Billion spent on back to school gear.
So who’s already banking every year and making money on this? The obvious winners are retail stores like Walmart and Target, that already sell what most parents are looking for. The next best thing is the Internet, where once again, the huge powerhouse sites will generate a ton of money; Amazon.com. Keep in mind there is $54.1 billion up for grabs and even the smallest percentage of that is a great deal of money.
Parents and back to school shoppers aren’t loaded rich, and everyone wants to save. Coupon sites are the source to all of these big outlets, and will earn a hefty commission on all referred sales.
Just because we are almost into October, it doesn’t mean you have missed this year’s big back to school spending. Parents are continually buying for their kids throughout the whole school year. Put some ideas into effect on how you can build up a coupon or resource site for parents and you can continually bank on “back to school” buying year after year.
Tell me about it – with 4 kids the pricing is insane. I’m most thankful I’ve raised my kids to appreciate garage sales for saving money.
Would not have guessed back to school as 2nd place. $54 billion is a lot of money. And you are right, any piece of it would be great. Did you come across any stats on when the majority of that money is spent? Better start now to prepare for next year!
at Indonesia… the school has started two month a go…
Although you say it’s not too late, everyone is already back to school starting this week so the big push has passed.
Good to have some money earned from these spendings as well …
I only have one child.I cannot imagine to have like 3 or even more.
<a class="replyTo" href="#comment-110902" rel="nofollow">@Steve:
Don't forget about buying for "dances/proms", back to school after Christmas. College books when a new semester starts. Buying continually happens throughout the year.
I agree with Zac. Most people just focus on the start. In schooling there is really no “cut-off”. It almost never ends. School guys buy different things in different period of school years..
nice post,thanks for the back link.
I agree that the expanses are coming al over the year, but let face it the biggest amount you have it at the begining of the year. Or this is my opinion at least
Yeah, Melvin is right. Buying has been a trend throughout the years.
It is worth noting that plenty of these special occasions, including Valentine's Day or Office Clerk Day were invented by creative marketers only for the purpose of generating more sales
Interesting post. I agree that most of us have probably overlooked this seasonal trend. It sounds like there is a lot of money to be made though. So I really should get some seasonal type websites going. I just wouldn't look forward to the long time between peak seasons.
This just makes sense, Wal-Mart, Kmart, etc go crazy when "Back To School" comes around. I used to hate it as a kid because it meant.. well back to school, summers over, eh! Thanks for the article Zac.
Good advice. Back to school is a big spending season. I'm sure a lot of those purchases are made online these days. It makes sense since a lot of the items are generic products that can be purchased in a wide variety of stores. Still a lot of them would be in-store purchases since kids often get supplies lists on the first day of class. They can't always wait for products to be shipped from ecommerce stores.
Decent advice, back to school shopping aint the money it used to be.
Two Voices | Two Guys
Definitely back to school is big business, I know this first hand being a student, and I am sure there are others that know as well, the funny thing is… most of the time people over spend to much during back to school time, which is great for retailers and those of us marketing online =D
Till then,
Jean
this isnt my field, but a good read regardless.. thanks.
This is so insightful. You are so so right. I have never thought about it. Thanks