How Retail Chains Study While You Shop for Back to School

Study in Shopping

For most Americans this is a season of summer cookouts, vacations, and hot, sticky days. If you work in the retail sector, you’re already thinking about the holidays. In fact, the back-to-school shopping season is when retailers really start studying.

In the weeks ahead, Amazon (AMZN) holds Prime Day, Target (TGT) and other retailers will offer competing sales events, and families will begin shopping for the upcoming academic year. All of that spending activity gives companies insight into how Americans are spending. With inflation spiking, firms need to know what people are willing to spend on and how much. That information impacts strategy in terms of what to sell and the prices to charge ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season.

Tracking Trends

Consumers may be able to gain some insight into how retailers plan to approach the coming shopping seasons. Salesforce recently published a study containing three major predictions for back-to-school and holiday shopping.

One of those trends falls under the “Christmas in July” concept. With shipping delays and supply chain snarls fresh on consumers’ minds, retailers expect people to start buying holiday gifts earlier. Inflation, another major financial headline, drives one of Salesforce’s other predictions. The company says prices will be king, with half of all shoppers ready to switch brands in order to save money.

NFT Under the Tree

While digital assets such as cryptocurrency and NFTs have seen their valuations take a hit recently, Salesforce expects them to be popular gift items. Close to half of shoppers told the company they may end up gifting a digital collectible or virtual version of a real world item.

Salesforce predicts nearly half a million NFTs will be purchased between November and December of this year, with a total market value of $54 million. Some analysts compare them to savings bonds, which were a popular gift item in the 1980s. NFTs, which have the potential to grow in value, are sort of the modern, digital equivalent.

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