For back-to-school buyers, value is at the top of the list

The back-to-school shopping season is in full swing, with the new school year already underway in parts of the country. This year, brands are tasked with convincing more inflation-averse and, shall we say, price-conscious parents to spend.

Christina Boni’s days of glue sticks and crayons are over, but she still has to shop for a high school student.

“We’ll be shopping for office supplies,” Boni said, adding that there may be negotiations on some less demanding requests, like fancy sneakers and a new backpack. “Then it’s a question of how much I’m willing to spend on my wallet.”

Boni, a retail analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, said many parents will be more strict about the list of classroom supplies this year.

“You know, since parents are more financially constrained, this may be the right approach,” Boni said.

Shopping for school supplies can be an emotional affair, says Lupine Skelly, head of retail research at Deloitte, because no one wants to feel like they’re skimping on their child’s education.

“There is also a kind of nostalgia component. Parents want to experience something nice with their children and give them a good farewell,” said Skelly.

That doesn’t mean they don’t feel financially burdened, says Chip Lupo of WalletHub, which surveyed parents on the issue.

“More than three-quarters of the parents we surveyed believe that schools ask them to buy too much during the back-to-school season,” Lupo said.

And Lupo said a third of those parents plan to apply for a new credit card to help pay for back-to-school expenses.

Low- and middle-income families in particular will look for bargains rather than allowing retailers to rely on brand loyalty, says Claire Tassin, an analyst at Morning Consult.

“It’s going to be extremely competitive for retailers as to who’s actually making those dollars,” Tassin said. “Consumers might say, ‘OK, I’m going to go to a discount store now, even though I may have shopped at a traditional big-box store before.'”

Or take advantage of the “buy now, pay later” services that some retailers offer.

And some consumers spread their spending across a certain level, like Deloitte’s Lupine Skelly, who is sending her child to kindergarten this fall.

“I bought him a pair of shoes in July because they had a good sale,” Skelly said.

And she said she is in no hurry to buy new clothes, like jeans before the first day of school. She will wait for the best deal.