Tag Archives: Back To School

Oct 05 2020
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School’s in for autumn!

The back to school market was worth £1.7bn last year, according to GlobalData and it is a very lucrative time for brands that target children and parents in education. However, like with everything else in 2020, the lead up to this Back to School period has been extraordinary. We have witnessed a time of unprecedented turmoil for young people, from algorithms determining grades to having classrooms swapped for living rooms as the new seat of learning. With schools returning in September, anxious and tired parents will be preparing for every eventuality in ensuring their children don’t fall behind.

There has been a lot of hasty pivoting for brands depending on whether or not kids are physically back to school or not. Retailers and brands should take notice of a series of key trends impacting the market, ensuring they maximise the opportunity and connect with parents at this crucial time.

With a lengthy lockdown and parents becoming teachers overnight there has been a huge rush to buy electronic equipment for home schooling. With the potential of a second wave, parents may have to don the metaphorical mortarboard hats again. However it is laptops not whiteboards that have been their key props. Consumer Electronics has in fact been one of the few winners from the pandemic. Consistent growth is forecast due to the new demand for laptops for working & for schooling from home. Notebooks have been at the centre of a demand surge in particular. 73% of retailers have reported growth in sales for these products.

Pent up demand as parents return to retail
The economy grew by 8.7% in June on the back of the return to retail and steeper growth is forecast for July. With schools off since March, there is a lot of pent up demand with parents needing to get their children ready for the new school term. Clothing should still be a driver at the historical peaks of July and August, however stationary and tech products have been in demand during lockdown as both children and adults have been at home, with discounts readily available to take advantage of. The latest GDP figures showed Ireland, which is slightly ahead of the UK’s “return to normal” steps has shown positive precedent of customers returning to retail to buy their laptop and seek expert advice to do so. For many starting university or college it will be a virtual first term where lectures and study will not happen on campus but remotely, which could have a further effect on the tech market. Students will need the right equipment for working remotely and there is a huge opportunity to meet this need.

Allied to this, a clear trend that is coming through is that people are shopping with purpose. Parents looking to buy equipment for back to school are seeking expert advice but also looking to minimise unnecessary journeys with the virus still circulating. According to research from Kantar, since the Covid-19 induced lockdown began in March, shoppers have typically taken fewer trips to stores but have bought more items. We’ve found this ourselves, where some of our in-store brand teams have been achieving conversion rates well over 60%, however this can present some challenges. Many retailers will have a strategy to retain stock at their central locations to service online first, but also encourage stores to process click and collect or web orders for customers to allow the stock to go where it is in demand. This does mean limited opportunity for instant gratification, which is often the reason a customer will visit bricks and mortar. Retailers should look to ensure they can match the needs of customers so they can avoid a wasted journey. After all while online is growing it still can’t fully replace the bricks and mortar experience.

With necessity driving purchase and parents out in larger numbers looking to buy, brands and retailers should ensure they are still offering promotional activity to attract new customers. For example Dixons are offering consumers a 1-in-20 chance to win money back on laptop purchases of £349+. They are also offering Buy now pay later also on devices £349+. Meanwhile John Lewis are planning to run an “Off to Uni” online event from Mid Aug showcasing needed items.

With consumers less willing to venture out unless they have a ‘purpose’ we are seeing the high conversion rates indicated above of product demonstration leading to a sale. Having staff that can influence a sale was critical before the pandemic and is now more important than ever. With a plethora of hardware options out there for pupils, it is vital that in-store staff and those on the telephone can sell parents the products that meet both the needs of their children and their schools.

With new patterns of learning and pent up demand from parents, brands and retailers should learn the lessons and ensure they have a top of the class offering this Back to School period.

To read the full article please visit PCR.

The photo that acompanies this article by Julia M Cameron from Pexels

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Oct 02 2020
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How retailers approached Back To School season this year

Retailers still took advantage of the Back to School marketing season this year despite the uncertainty that remained with schools reopening amid the Covid-19 pandemic. So how exactly did did retailers create desirable in-shopping experiences for these uncertain parents?

“The customer journey has changed for some, not all,” said Daniel Todaro, managing director of marketing agency Gekko.

“It may now more often start online, but retailers can use an omnichannel approach in the ‘considered purchase’ space to drive footfall into store to encourage the right equipment students require.

“The message should be that it’s better to get hand on advice from an expert in-store who will have sold to many students over the years and therefore better understands the need of the consumer.”

While retailers may turn to a multichannel approach to drive footfall, marketing tactics also needed to adapt from its usual tone in order to match the mood of anxious parents.

“Traditionally, retailers’ marketing investments include a mix of TV and radio commercials, print and online ads, flyers and newspaper inserts,” said Sam Holding, head of international at email analytics firm SparkPost.

“While email marketing remains a direct and cost-effective way to approach consumers, and ensure customer loyalty and repeat business.

“But, to be more effective, retailers should adapt and invest in segmentation, analytics and email marketing to get the best results for their brands and improve customer experience.”

To read the full article please visit Retail Gazette.

The photo that accompanies this article is by Marina from Pexels

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Sep 17 2020
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Key trends impacting the lucrative back to school market

With schools and offices finally back this week, we are finally seeing some measure of the ‘old normal’ returning. This will come as a relief for brands and retailers targeting the lucrative back to school market. It was worth £1.7bn last year, according to GlobalData. However, like so much of the rest of the economy, we are seeing huge differences in how this market operates in 2020.

The home has been the new setting for schooling for most of this year and many parents remain nervous about sending their children back. There is even a strong possibility 2021 exams will be pushed back by several months with children losing so much time from the classroom. So with the school gates re-opening, what are the key trends those targeting the back to school market should take notice of?

Consumer electronics serving at home studying

When the lengthy lock down first hit, parents across the country collectively groaned. Their next move was going online to buy consumer electronic equipment. Laptops were needed for living rooms that had now become classrooms. In fact this category has been one of the few winners of the pandemic. While most sectors are significantly down, Electricals 2020 sales growth of 0.7% is predicted for the year, according to Retail Economics. Notebooks have been at the centre of a demand surge in particular. 73% of retailers have reported growth in sales for these products on the back of home learning. Looking to the future the momentum is likely to be maintained. A recent opinion poll by Redfield and Wilton Strategies suggested just two-thirds of parents were preparing to send their children back to the classroom with many remaining unconvinced schools are safe. If cases spike there could be a return to at least some element of home schooling which will necessitate further demand for these products.

Instore retail figures confound expectations

Recent retail figures have confounded expectations with a huge pent up demand now being met. Retail sales volumes rose a better-than-expected 3.6% in July and are now above pre-pandemic levels. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that sales rose 2% ahead of a 0.2% prediction by economists, and a 13.9% bounce in sales in June. Relating to the back to school market specifically, clothing will still be a driver during the historical peaks of July, August and September. However stationary and tech products have been in demand during lockdown as both children and adults have been at home, with discounts readily available to take advantage of. The latest GDP figures also showed Ireland which is slightly ahead of the UK’s “return to normal” steps has shown positive precedent of customers returning to retail to buy their laptop and other back to school equipment and seek expert advice to do so.

Shopping with purpose
Connected to this, a clear new trend is people ‘shopping with purpose’. People are looking to make less retail trips but ensure they have something to show for it. Parents are looking to buy equipment for back to school and still need expert advice. However at the same time they will want to minimise unnecessary journeys with coronavirus still circulating. While there is a good chance of closing a sale from a consumer’s instore visit, it can also present some challenges. Many retailers will have a strategy to retain stock at their central locations to service online orders first. They will also encourage stores to process click and collect or web orders for customers. Therefore there is limited opportunity for instant gratification – often the reason a customer visits physical retailers. Therefore retailers should ensure they can match the needs of customers to make sure they avoid a wasted journey. The feedback is likely to be far more negative if they can’t source what they need on a trip out in 2020.

Promotional activity still strong
Brands and retailers should certainly not skimp on promotional activity during back to school. As we have identified there is a large amount of pent up demand and parents are out in larger numbers looking to purchase. Brands that offer customers what they need on these ‘purpose-driven’ visits can succeed. With lots of competition brands should ensure they are still offering promotional activity to attract new customers. Many brands and retailers have strong offers to tempt sales. For example Dixons are offering consumers a 1-in-20 chance to win money back on laptop purchases of £349+. They are also offering Buy now pay later also on devices £349+. Additionally John Lewis have run an “Off to Uni” online event showcasing needed items.

Knowledgeable staff key to capitalising on purpose-driven trips

Having staff who can influence a sale was critical before the pandemic and is now more vital than ever. With so many hardware options out there for pupils, it is vital that instore staff and those on the telephone can advise and sell parents the products that meet both the needs of their children, but also are compatible with their schools. One really interesting trend we are seeing is a +40% conversion rate of product demonstration leading to a sale. The potential for high conversion rates on purpose-driven trips highlights how critical it is to have knowledgeable staff on hand.

Schools may have been out for Summer (and Spring), but now they are back, brands and retailers need to meet pent up demand in these uncertain times. Those that help hard pressed parents meet their children’s’ educational needs will reap the rewards in good will and sales.

To read the full article please visit The Drum

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Jul 15 2019
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How retailers can tap into Edtech

Gekko Retail Marketing Grandparents Tablet

The UK is leading the adoption of digital technology in education with schools allocated an estimated £900 million in funding from the Department of Education for 2019-20 for Edtech, according of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

In physical terms this equates to 3,392,100 computers in classrooms across the UK with an average primary school having 70 computers and secondary school an average of 431.

There are currently 32,113 schools in the UK. Of these, 20,925 are primary schools and 4,168 are secondary schools. There are 2,381 independent schools, 1,256 special schools and 351 pupil referral units.

The opportunity to expand Edtech sales are obvious for those who know how to tap into this growing market that values accessible technology to equip young minds for a successful ‘digital’ future.

There are also benefits for already stretched schools to help bridge the gap through Edtech – as it’s proven to reduce teacher workload, boost student outcomes and help create a level playing field for those requiring learning support. So much so that the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds, set out plans in April this year to support innovation and raise the bar in education establishments across England, backed by £10 million injection.

School funding per pupil is expected to be frozen in real terms between 2017-2018 and 2019-20 albeit at a level of above 4%, reports IFS.

Technology in education allows some students to open up channels of communication and makes learning accessible to all. The target audience is not exclusively schools that have the budget to grow Edtech, it’s also parents, as many public secondary schools employ a BYOD program, therefore parents are expected to buy their child a suitable device. However, this is becoming stricter as previously it was an “any device will do”, approach but due to different devices having different capacities and capabilities, this has changed. Today, school book lists stipulate the minimum requirements for a device to create a more uniform and compatible ecosystem that is hassle free for all.

The retail market for back-to-school is worth, in all categories, some £1.45bn in the UK and is an increasingly important fixture in the retail calendar, becoming competitive for both brands and retailers endeavouring to appeal, in particular, to those students heading off to university.

From PC to projection and display technology such as Jamboard from Google and BenQ, the classroom is a place where technology is the norm, and the standard for students as they transition through their education and eventually into the workplace.

It’s not just about the hardware and software solutions, it’s also about the teachers who need professional development and training to understand how each device could work and how they can add them into their lesson plans. Figures from BETT highlight that 74% (rising from 60% in 2018) of educators surveyed said that educational technology is often not sufficiently easy to use for ordinary teachers. Something that vendors need to be considering as part of their proposition.

The classroom of old is no longer the norm. Education, at all levels, relies heavily on technology and some brands recognise this. Those brands that offer the end-to-end solution that enables education access to the best technology with the easiest interface, least maintenance and highest reliability will capitalise on this growing market.

Chromebook by Google is one of these, Google shared in January 2019 that 30 million Chromebooks are now used in education, up five million from the last reported figures in 2018. Growth has been aided by education systems from around the world choosing to use Chrome OS devices and G Suite cloud based computing solutions that enable collaborative learning accessible whenever you need it. In London the brand has worked with London Grid for Learning to help over 90% of schools across the city bring technology to more students by offering free training in Google Classroom, G Suite and other tools to help improve the digital skills of teachers.

Similarly, Epson has identified that 58% of students cannot read all content on a 70-inch flat panel. Epson’s interactive display solutions provide scalable image size. Having the right sized image for a room can make a huge difference to levels of concentration, enjoyment and understanding.

The DFE in April 2019 published a white paper entitled “Realising the potential of technology in education: A strategy for education providers and the technology industry”. This white paper identified 10 challenges for the industry to assist in eradicating within education, quoting: “To catalyse change in the use of technology across the English education system, we are launching a series of Edtech challenges. They are designed to support a partnership between the Edtech industry and the education sector to ensure product development and testing is focused on the needs of the education system. The challenges are to the industry and the education sector (including academia) to prove what is possible and to inform the future use of Edtech across our education system.”

THESE CHALLENGES ARE:
• Challenge 1: “Improve parental engagement and communication, whilst cutting related teacher workload by up to five hours per term.”
• Challenge 2: “Show how technology can facilitate part-time and flexible working patterns in schools and colleges, including through the use of time-tabling tools.”
• Challenge 3: “Cut teacher time spent preparing, marking and analysing in-class assessments and homework by two hours per week or more.”
• Challenge 4: “Show that technology can reduce teacher time spent on essay marking for mock GCSE exams by at least 20%.”
• Challenge 5: “Identify how anti-cheating software can be developed and improved to help tackle the problem of essay mills.”
• Challenge 6: “Challenge the research community to identify the best technology that is proven to help level the playing field for learners.”
• Challenge 7: “Demonstrate how technology can support schools and teachers to diagnose their development needs and to support more flexible CPD.”
• Challenge 8: “Prove that the use of home learning early years’ apps (both those aimed at parents and those aimed at children) contributes to improved literacy and communication skills for disadvantaged children.”
• Challenge 9: “Widen accessibility and improve delivery of online basic skills training for adults.”
• Challenge 10: “Demonstrate how artificial intelligence can support the effective delivery of online learning and training for adults.”

Whilst the 10 challenges may not apply to all, it enables positive opportunities for all to develop the channel in Edtech initiatives.

Interestingly the DofE chose to release this white paper after the 2019 BETT show, the world largest Edtech event that brings together over 850 Edtech companies and attracting more than 34,000 attendees. I suspect this may lead the conversation at BETT in 2020.

To read the full article please visit PCR.

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Jul 18 2018
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Back to school: a lesson in brand relations

 

Back to school in my youth was always met with a heavy sigh when my parents calculated the uniform costs and I wanted the latest pencils and rubbers. These days, trends have changed. Thanks to the competition among discount supermarkets like Aldi, Lidl and Asda we’ve seen uniform costs and stationary prices plummet, giving consumers a far greater choice at more reasonable prices often using ‘event’ advertising campaigns increasing footfall into store and bolstering revenues in other areas of their business.

There’s one category that’s changed everything as it becomes a staple of the ‘Back to School’ event, particularly in higher education: consumer electronics – to be precise computing – adding a whole new layer of cost parents must budget for. While retailers should consider an all-year-round back-to-education strategy, back to school begins to increase in prominence from August, especially in the technology category. The value of the back-to-school market in the UK is estimated to be worth around £1.45bn and while uniforms and stationery will make up a large proportion of this market, the increasing requirement for technology in the classroom means that edu-tech continues to be a growth opportunity for retailers.

Every school, college and university around the UK differs, but they all require some level of ‘technology’ input and expense from parents. As government budgets for school funding continue to decrease, this need will only get bigger and more expensive. It’s a costly exercise and therefore something no parent or student wants to get wrong. A bring your own device (BYOD) policy is becoming common place and enables the market to grow to support this with the right advertising, marketing and in-store execution. As a considered purchase – and for many their first computer that they don’t have to share – the need to try before you buy is important. It’s a seminal moment for most teens. The look, the feel, the height and size are vitally important to most, especially in our streaming culture where the device is both for work and play.

Not everyone is tech literate and understands what product is best for their child and, yes, some schools have preferred suppliers, but often parents are sent out into the big wide world to get a lap top or a PC and the choice is overwhelming and confusing. This often leads to a whole host of questions: what hardware and platform do I opt for? What software will I need to buy? What about security? Is it going to be out of date before the end of the school year? Is it robust enough? Am I spending more than is necessary?

For teenagers going to University this is a chance to upgrade their old ‘shared’ kit and start fresh with new equipment that has the functionality to assist them in delivering their course and honing their tech skills ready for the workplace. This is a great opportunity for brick and mortar retailers to position themselves as the advisor – the place to go when you’re inundated with choice, don’t know what to buy or where to go to experience the products to touch and feel and work out if they’re right for you.

The ability to choose from a range in an environment geared towards making this decision is crucial for university and tertiary education students; different courses will require the technology to have specific functionality. Retailers need to be inquisitive and understand the student’s lifestyle to match the product to their needs. Technology purchases are not just about the one product these days, they are multi-functional lifestyle solutions, so in-store staff have to be trained to ask the most pertinent questions: What will you study? Is design (weight and size) a primary consideration? How do you consume media and home entertainment? What’s the budget?

Amazon will be a key back-to-school destination – especially for the 30% of Brits that now have Prime membership – but this is something Amazon and other online retailers can never do as effectively when a personal approach to a considered purchase is needed by a brand and retailer.

Never underestimate the first consumer interaction with your brand – an emotional connection that shouldn’t be undervalued. Not only is it a great opportunity for a brand to bring a new customer into their portfolio and up-sell them through their product ecosystem as their needs and lifestyle changes; it is also the chance to create an advocate and customer for life. Brands invest heavily in extra activity around back-to-education including Fresher’s Fairs and NUS affiliated marketing. Paying attention to planning and implementing in-store strategies within retail is an essential part of any back-to-education marketing strategy.

Daniel Todaro is managing director at Gekko

Read the original article on The Drum

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