It’s that time of the year again! The leaves are changing color and the air is getting cooler, which can only mean one thing: back to school sales are just around the corner. When does back to school shopping start? When it is time for parents to start thinking about supplies, clothes, and all the other things they need for the new school year.
Back to school sale has been a part of the American and European culture for decades. The idea of going back to school is associated with shopping for a new pencil case, notebook and clothes. However, it is important to be aware that this tradition has changed in the last few years.
What Is A Back To School Sale?
A back to school sale is an event that takes place in the summer, typically in August or September, when retailers offer discounts on items for students and teachers. These sales are often called “Back to School Sales” or “Back to School Promotions” and can include discounts on clothes, shoes, school supplies, and other items.
Successful Back To School Sales From Famous Brands
The back to school season is a very important time of the year for many companies. This is the time when their products, such as laptops, clothes, and shoes are most in demand.
Apple
Apple’s back to school sale 2021 was titled “Back to School with Apple” and this back to school list included a variety of deals on products like iPads, Macbooks, and iPhones. The company also offered free BeatsX wireless headphones with any purchase of an iPad Pro or iPad Mini 4.
HP
The company has been a leader in technology for over 50 years, so it’s no surprise that they’ve got a great line of products for students and teachers alike. From printers to laptops, HP has what you need to succeed in school! They have wonderful back to school laptop deals going on called “Save $100 on Select HP Laptops with HP coupon code!”
Amazon
Amazon has been a major player in the retail industry for years now, but back to school has always been one of their most popular seasons. This year was no different, as they had their best back to school deals ever with over $3 billion worth of orders. The success can be attributed to a few different factors:
- Amazon Prime Student memberships grew by 50% this year compared with last year;
- They offered free two-day shipping on more than 100 million items.
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Levi’s
The brand was able to get consumers excited about their new line of jeans by offering something new and different with their back to school management campaign. They gave away a free pair of jeans if customers could find differences between two pictures of their products. This got people talking about the product and participating in the conversation.
Nike
Nike has been running a campaign called “Just Do It” which promotes living an active lifestyle and being true to oneself. The company has been releasing back to school activities that feature famous athletes such as LeBron James and Serena Williams who are role models for young people across the world.
TOP 5 Hacks For Back To School Sales
The back to school season is when students get ready for the new school year with clothes and supplies, so it’s a perfect time for retailers to start increasing their revenues. if you want to boost your back to school sales, you need to know about the hacks that can help you achieve your goals.
1. Make Research Before Planning Back To School Activities
Any business owner knows that the end of summer is a great time to plan ahead and make sure you’re prepared when school starts up again. Back to school sales are a great way to get your store’s name out there while customers are thinking about all they need for their kids and themselves. If you want your store to outpace your competitors, it’s always good to check out what they have done, and how the results turned out for them.
You’ll want to research their strategies in advertising, their prices, and what profit they made. The same goes for your own company — you may find that you either made more or less money than expected, and this will help you know what to expect during the next school year. Target back to school information that can also help you decide on new products or services to add to your store’s inventory.
2. Choose Products To Stand Out From Competitors
- Preparing your inventory for back to school. The first step is to prepare the product pipeline for the season. This can be done by selecting the product line for your shop and setting up inventory.
- Picking the product line. The first thing to do is to pick the category you want to sell. This could be back to school backpacks, shoes, pencils, pens, notebooks, roller blades, or basically anything related to school supplies.
- Provide variants. When doing a sale, be sure to include a variety of different options for your customers. For example, if you sell pens and pencils, don’t just offer a pack of 12 pencils in varying colors — offer a set of 12 that includes at least one of each color, or offer 24 pencils with two colors of each pencil. This allows customers more freedom when purchasing from you.
3. Rethink Pricing Strategy
- Consider discounts
Buyers tend to bulk up on back to school essentials and then splurge on fun items they wouldn’t normally buy when school is in session. You have the opportunity to offer some discounts that will make them feel like they’re getting more bang for their buck than usual. The question is how much of a discount to give.
A 33% discount may seem like the most straightforward way to draw traffic, but it puts you at risk of sending the wrong message about your store. If you offer dramatic discounts on everything, you run the risk of devaluing your brand image as one of high quality. Plus, if certain items regularly sell at higher prices than others, it’s better to take into consideration the value of those back to school products (or lack thereof) when determining which items should receive discounts during promotional periods. You can also keep an eye out for items with a limited shelf life — it might be worth using a sale event as an opportunity to clear those out.
- Check out what competitors offer
Although it may be tempting to triple your prices during back to school season, this is not an ideal strategy because customers will not appreciate being tricked into thinking they’re getting a deal when they’re really spending more money than they would have at other times throughout the year. Instead, keep your prices low to attract more customers.
If people search for “when is apple back to school promotion 2022” and you are selling DellXPS 13 laptops in three colors: Silver, Rose gold, and gold. What should you do? If you are going to sell this laptop during back to school sales, which one people are going to choose? You have to produce the strategy to sell Dell laptops over Apple first.
- Remember – psychology matters.
Let’s say that you sell back to school backpacks in four colors and two sizes. Your top-selling backpack will be black, and medium, and have a suggested price of $29.99. Black is the most popular color because it’s the cheapest. However, if you add a red backpack, then you’ll see this color become your top-selling backpack, with a higher profit margin.
Be careful not to overdo it, though: let’s say that your top-selling backpack is now red, medium. Now you offer a black medium for $24.99 and people will simply buy the cheaper option with no second thought because of how easy it was for them to compare prices in their heads (even though you’re actually making more money off of them).
4. Push Your Back To School Sale To The Market Wisely
“Omnichannel” is the term used to describe businesses that have a presence across all channels: the internet, physical stores, and social media. In order to be successful in back to school product experience management today, it’s important to be omnichannel at all times. By using different types of ads — native ads, targeted ads, and social media — you can reach a wide audience while simultaneously increasing revenue at your store.
- Social media
Post regularly on social media. Offer sale updates or sneak peeks at items. Increase your online visibility by offering free shipping on back to school shopping items. Hold a contest with your customers to win one of your top-selling items. Be creative: your sale should be designed to increase sales, not just generate a lot of media mentions for the sake of publicity.
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- Advertising
There are various platforms that can be used for promoting back to school sales, including Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. It’s a necessity to start advertising as early as July – August in the runup to the season.
- Native ads
Native ads are more than beautiful visuals and catchy headlines. It is quality content, which is relevant and useful to the current situation. The purpose of native ads is to lead the user to the desired action. In this case, these actions are visiting your school gadgets online shop, contacting your call center, or requesting a quote.
- Targeted ads
As the saying goes, “Don’t leave money on the table.” Make sure you cover every piece of business you can touch by using Facebook and Instagram ads. Create small ads that stay on the page and do not require users to scroll down. Help your readers receive all the information they need in the space they are already on. Form an ad that will grab people’s attention. Use bright and vivid pictures of school items and effective text. Tell about the benefits of your product, not just its features.
5. Consider Enhancing CX And PX Factors
There are many factors that go into creating a perfect customer experience – from the back to school product itself to the packaging, pricing, and even down to the tone of voice used in advertisem*nts. However, two key factors that businesses should always consider are CX (customer experience) and PX (personalized experience). Enhancing these two areas can take your business’s customer service from good to great. Think about ways you can make small changes in your CX and PX without breaking the bank.
- Customer satisfaction first
Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer’s needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high-quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer’s purchase.
The most important component of great customer service is creating a positive experience for customers, also known as enhancing their Customer Experience (CX). This can be done in a variety of ways such as reducing wait times, being more responsive to inquiries or concerns, offering more personalized experiences, and following up with customers post-purchase.
- Enrich product content
When it comes to back to school shopping, parents are looking for detail-oriented product information to make sure they’re getting the best value for their investment. As a retailer, you can help guide these individuals in the right direction by ensuring your product content is accurate and informative.
- Keep PX solid across sales channels mix
In order to create the best customer experience, businesses should focus on personalization. Customers want to feel like they are the only ones that matter and that their business is important to you. There are a few key ways to accomplish this.
First, make use of data collected about your customers in order to give them individually tailored experiences. Take the time to understand their needs and wants. What back to school things do they like? What do they dislike? What motivates them? This could mean something as simple as showing relevant products or content based on past behavior or engaging in personalized conversations with them via chatbots or live chat.
Employ PIM Capabilities To Enhance CX And PX
Your product information management (PIM) system can actually have a big impact on both your customer experience (CX) and your product experience (PX). Here are three ways you can use your PIM system to enhance both CX and PX.
Easy Content Enrichment
PIM can help businesses manage their product content more effectively, making it easier to provide accurate and up-to-date information to customers throughout the purchase journey. In turn, this can lead to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as increased sales and revenue.
Effortless Connection To New Sales Channels
Sales teams are always looking for new ways to reach potential customers and grow their businesses. In today’s digital world, there are endless opportunities for sales channels. However, with so many options, it can be difficult to know where to start or how to connect with potential customers through these channels. This is where product information management (PIM) comes in. PIM provides the ability to manage product data and connect it with the right sales channel quickly and easily.
Swift Product Content Syndication
PIM systems can help create consistent user experiences across your product versions and revisions, making it easy for customers to find the latest information on back to school sales. They can also enable easy updates, so you can keep your products current and customers happy.
Smooth Back To School Sales With Top-Level Product Data
Every business can apply these sales hacks to planning the next sale, so don’t let yourself be intimidated by the prospect of getting ready for the fall rush.
To start back to school sales, you need to have a lot of relevant and verified product information and to sell on different marketplaces, you also need the information to meet the requirements of these marketplaces (formats, data standards, etc.).
Gepard PIM can significantly speed up all the processes of getting ready for sale across all channels. We help to get all important product information by automating content collection from suppliers, keeping content accurate, and combining numerous product channels. Gepard’s unique approach allows us to create a single database containing all information related to your products – all in one place. This means that when it comes time to plan marketing campaigns or prepare for a sale, you’ll have everything you need right at your fingertips.
Boost your sales with accurate and top-notch product data – request your free personalized demo now.
