4 Smart Strategies to Win the 2026 Back-to-School Season
Updated in 2026 from a previous version to reflect the most up-to-date research, stats, and recommendations.
If you’re still treating back-to-school as just another retail season, it’s time for a pop quiz:
- When do parents start shopping?
- What’s the average spend per kid?
- Which audience is quietly dropping $3 billion of their own money each year?
If you didn’t know the answers, don’t worry; you’re not getting graded. But your ad strategy might be.
Back-to-school (BTS) isn’t just about pencils and promos anymore. It’s a $128.2 billion cultural moment driven by mobile-first parents, last-minute college students, and ultra-resourceful teachers, all of whom are shopping with intention.
So whether you’re promoting snacks, sneakers, or software, here’s what you need to know (and do) to make your back-to-school campaign actually earn top marks.
Who’s Shopping? What’s Driving Their Spend?
Back-to-school audiences are diverse, but they share one thing: they’re out to make the most of every dollar and every click.
Students and Parents Are Shopping Early and Everywhere
Back-to-school shopping now moves fluidly between physical stores and digital channels. 77% of shoppers plan to purchase supplies in-store, while 65% plan to shop online, making a connected experience across both environments essential.
Affordability is also shaping nearly every decision:
- 84% of shoppers plan to be more active in seeking discounts and deals.
- 82% of shoppers prioritize value over brand.
- 98% trust creator opinions when choosing back-to-school products.
Timing is becoming more complex, too. By early July 2025, 67% of shoppers had already started shopping, and 82% planned to take advantage of major July sales events such as Prime Day, Walmart Deals, and Target Circle Week.
But an early start does not mean an early finish. At that same point, 84% still had at least half of their shopping left to complete. Rather than concentrating purchases into one frantic weekend, families are spreading them across the season as promotions, budgets, and school lists evolve.
That gives advertisers a longer window to engage shoppers, but it also means campaigns must remain relevant from the first summer sale through the final days before classes begin.
Parents Are Managing Significant Budgets
Parents are budgeting approximately $858 per child for back-to-school supplies, with total U.S. K–12 spending projected at $39.4 billion.
College purchases raise the stakes even further. The average household spent $1,325.85 on back-to-college shopping in 2025, often covering higher-cost categories such as electronics, furnishings, clothing, and dorm essentials.
For advertisers, this creates opportunities well beyond notebooks and backpacks. Financial services, telecommunications, grocery, personal care, home goods, transportation, and technology brands can all play a meaningful role in the broader back-to-school experience.
Teachers Remain a Powerful, Often Overlooked Audience
Teachers continue to fill gaps in classroom funding with their own wallets.
More than 94% of teachers spend their own money on classroom supplies and other student necessities. The average teacher spends approximately $860 per year, while U.S. teachers collectively spent an estimated $3.24 billion on classroom supplies in 2025.
That spending represents roughly 1.2% of the average teacher salary of $74,495.
Teachers are also increasingly relying on Amazon Wish Lists to fund classroom needs, with items such as loose-leaf paper, glue sticks, backpacks, cleaning products, and tissues remaining in high demand.
Brands selling practical classroom essentials should treat educators as a distinct audience, not simply an extension of the parent segment. Messaging centered on affordability, utility, bulk options, and easy fulfillment can help brands stand out.
Influence Matters More Than Ever
Back-to-school discovery is increasingly shaped by creators.
With 98% of shoppers trusting creator opinions when choosing products, polished brand messaging alone may not be enough. Shoppers are looking to TikTok hauls, Instagram reviews, YouTube demonstrations, and other creator-led content to compare products and decide what deserves a place in the cart.
Advertisers do not necessarily need a celebrity partnership to participate. Creator-style content that feels useful, relatable, and specific to the shopping moment can help demonstrate products in context and provide the social proof shoppers are seeking.
Think dorm-room setups, lunchbox ideas, teacher supply hauls, first-day outfit inspiration, and honest product comparisons.
How Advertisers Can Make the Grade
Understanding the audience is only the first assignment. The next step is building a campaign that reaches shoppers throughout a longer, more fragmented buying journey.
Here are four strategies for a smarter 2026 back-to-school campaign.
1. Show Up Across the Full Shopping Journey
Back-to-school shoppers are moving between devices, platforms, stores, and media environments throughout the day. An omnichannel strategy allows advertisers to connect those moments rather than treating each one as a separate interaction.
That could mean:
- Building awareness through CTV and online video
- Reaching shoppers with mobile-first creative while they research products
- Using digital out-of-home near retailers, campuses, and high-traffic shopping areas
- Retargeting interested audiences with relevant offers
- Using commerce and transaction data to refine messaging and targeting
The goal is not simply to appear everywhere. It is to create a connected journey in which each interaction builds on the one before it.
2. Put Retailer First-Party Data to Work
Retail Media Networks give advertisers access to purchase, browsing, and behavioral signals that can reveal what consumers are actively considering.
For back-to-school campaigns, retail data can help identify audiences researching backpacks, comparing laptops, buying dorm furnishings, or stocking up on classroom staples. It can also help brands reach shoppers exploring complementary or competing products.
Retail media offers several advantages:
- Deterministic audience data
- Targeting that is not dependent on third-party cookies
- Full-funnel activation across the customer journey
- Measurable, commerce-focused outcomes
- Opportunities for cross-format amplification
- Access for both endemic and non-endemic advertisers
A retailer does not have to sell your exact product for its data to be valuable. A beverage brand, insurance provider, eyewear company, or wireless carrier can still use retail signals to connect with consumers preparing for the school year.
3. Make Value Impossible to Miss
With 84% of shoppers actively seeking discounts and 82% prioritizing value over brand, promotional messaging should not be buried behind a landing-page click.
Put the offer directly into the creative through:
- Discount codes
- Limited-time promotions
- Loyalty offers
- Product bundles
- Countdown clocks
- Dynamic pricing or inventory messaging
- Scratch-to-reveal and other interactive ad formats
For more expensive purchases, value does not always mean the lowest price. Messaging can also emphasize durability, product lifespan, warranties, flexibility, and how an item will remain useful beyond the first semester.
4. Go Local, Then Go Hyperlocal
Back-to-school shopping is often shaped by immediate context. A parent may be comparing options inside a store. A college student may be searching for dorm essentials near campus. A teacher may be looking for supplies available for same-day pickup.
Hyperlocal targeting allows advertisers to reach consumers based on real-time or historical visitation to relevant locations, including:
- Stores carrying the advertised product
- Competing retailers
- Shopping centers
- College campuses
- School zones
- Nearby pickup or fulfillment locations
Creative can then make the next step easier by including store locators, directions, current promotions, or product availability.
Combined with CTV, mobile, and digital out-of-home, hyperlocal activation can surround shoppers with coordinated messaging while still keeping the experience useful and relevant.
Back-to-School Campaigns Need More Than a Last-Minute Media Plan
Back-to-school shoppers are starting earlier, shopping across more channels, and taking longer to finish their lists. They are prioritizing value, responding to creator recommendations, and relying on a mix of online research and in-store purchasing.
That means advertisers cannot afford to show up for only one week, on one platform, with one generic promotion.
The strongest campaigns will use audience and commerce signals to understand where shoppers are in the process, coordinate messaging across the journey, and make the value of the product immediately clear.
Ready to plan your smartest back-to-school campaign yet? Let’s talk strategy →
Looking for the full breakdown of 2026 spending trends, audience behaviors, and campaign recommendations? Download the Complete Back-to-School Advertising Playbook here.