Back-To-School Marketing Campaigns Every Ecommerce Brand Should Have

The start of a new school year is an exciting time for students, parents, and teachers. For ecommerce brands, it's also a prime time to ramp up marketing efforts and capitalize on the increased spending that takes place during the back-to-school shopping period.

Back-to-school sales are expected to reach $32.5 billion this year. Let’s go over why it’s a vital period for brands, some campaigns that might inspire you and how to improve conversion rates for your back-to-school campaigns. 

Why is the back-to-school season so important?

The back-to-school season is one of the busiest times of the year for retailers. Families are preparing for their kids to head back to school and are looking for the best deals on supplies, clothes, and more. 

In 2022, more than 50% of U.S. parents were planning to spend more than $251 on back-to-school supplies and 25% of them planned to spend more than $500 on back to school shopping, according to data from Insider Intelligence. 

For ecommerce brands, this is a great time to market your products and make the most of the increased spending that takes place during the back-to-school season. 

Tip #1: Offer special discounts for educators and students

Offering special discounts to customers is a great way to attract shoppers, capture sales, and stay relevant during this season. Show some appreciation for educators and provide exclusive discounts for them to supply their classrooms. Offer special deals for students to prepare them for the school year.

Don’t stop there. Differentiate your store from competitors by providing shoppers a fast and convenient shopping experience with Bolt’s One-Click Checkout.

Tip #2: Create curated shopping guides for shoppers

Shopping can be a hassle, especially when there are so many supplies shoppers need to buy for the upcoming school year. Make it easier for your customers by creating specific back-to-school shopping guides they can reference. This way, you can promote your products, provide resources for your customers, and show up in keyword searches for back to school.

Go one step further and offer your shoppers the option to checkout straight from the product page with Bolt Checkout Everywhere. Turn readers into shoppers by allowing them to checkout directly from the shopping list.

Tip #3: Offer a smooth omnichannel and online shopping experience

Research shows that 50% of back to school shopping will be done online, contributing to $34.4 billion in back-to-school sales this year, up 5.8% from last year. But, 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned, which is a $1 trillion dollar problem, and a lot of money you’re missing out on. During this transitional time, provide an omnichannel strategy where you meet shoppers at every touchpoint in the customer journey.

With solutions like Bolt’s Checkout Everywhere, you can turn any digital surface into a shoppable experience for your customers, which is game changing. Not only that, but offer fast and frictionless shopping experiences with one-click checkout.

Tip #4: Maximize social media channels 

The newer generations use social media to influence purchase decisions and opinions. According to research, 35% of shoppers use social media for back-to-school shopping. 

It’s expected that a reputable brand would have an established social media presence. Going beyond that, you can leverage social media to host back-to-school giveaways or use hashtags to engage and reach your shoppers, establish brand loyalty, and boost sales.

Tip #5: Take the stress out of back-to-school

Back-to-school can be a hectic season, so make the lives of your shoppers easier. Prominently display exclusive back-to-school discounts as banners at the top of your online store, create a dedicated back-to-school category in your navigation menu, provide multiple shipping options like pick-up in store, ship to store, and ship to home, and lastly, offer a fast and seamless one-click checkout experience with Bolt. 

With Bolt’s One-Click Checkout and checkout everywhere, back to school shopping is now easier than ever. Create satisfied customers by integrating Bolt One Click into your online store in mere minutes, so you can convert more shoppers and boost your sales. Sign up now for Bolt One-Click checkout.

4 marketing campaigns to emulate for back-to-school 

LD Products 

LD Products is one of the largest online retailers that sell printer supplies in the U.S. In preparation for back-to-school shopping season, they display a banner with back-to-school deals. 

Not only that, but they’ve built out a specific section called “Back to School headquarters” with curated product lists and shopping guides for all back-to-school shopping needs. Creating a conspicuous promo banner like LD Products is a certain way to attract customers with exclusive discounts.

Forever 21

Forever 21, the big fashion retailer, runs multiple back-to-school discounts and promos to entice shoppers during this season. They run multiple tiered discounts that run during different timelines, but prelude the back-to-school season with flash sales like "pre-fall flash sales". Running exclusive discounts like flash sales are a great way to create buzz and excitement around limited-time offers for shoppers.

PC Liquidations

PC Liquidations, a brand that refurbishes and resells office equipment, features a special back- to-school section on their navigation browser to create an easy browsing experience for shoppers. Doing so reduces friction in the browsing experience and allows shoppers to navigate straight to where they need to go. Also, be creative with messaging around your brand products to fit back-to-school shopping needs.

Fun and function

Fun and function, an award-winning company for children’s play and therapy products, features a dedicated category for back-to-school on their website. This allows an easy navigation experience for shoppers and encourages them to browse products under back-to-school. This even inspires them to buy products they wouldn’t have thought they needed. 

Capitalize on your back-to-school campaigns with seamless checkout

With all these back-to-school marketing strategies to capture customers this season, make sure your online store is optimized for the best shopping experience. Even the smallest inconvenience for shoppers could lead to abandoned carts. So, focus on conversions this season by offering shoppers a frictionless, one-click checkout with Bolt.