“ I am overwhelmed by the need to stay informed of the place where the ” offers: the rear shopping is transformed into a price exercise in China

Large retail channels generate online school supplies lists for customers who type their postal codes, then choose a school and a school level. One click and they are ready to check. Some schools also offer occupied parents a single shop shop by associating suppliers who sell preliminary kits with binders, sheets, pens and other necessary items.

However, for all time economy options, many families start their back -to -school purchases before labor festival, seeking the best offers and making summer sales purchases. This year, the possibility of increasing the prices of new American prices on imports has motivated more buyers to start replacing and filling out school backpacks, according to retail analysts.

The retail and consultation council and consultation of CoreSIGHT Technology Research estimates that spending returning to school from June to August will reach $ 33.3 billion in the United States, an increase of 3.3% compared to the same period of three months a year ago. The company predicted that families would complement around 60% of their purchases before August to avoid additional costs of the prices.

“Consumers are of the state of mind where they are very strategic and conscientious around price fluctuations, therefore to return to school, it encourages them to shop even earlier,” said Vivek Pandya, principal analyst at Adobit Digital Insights, the research division of the Adobe Inc. software company Inc.

Get a step ahead

The Miami resident, Jacqueline Agodelo, 39, was one of the throws that started buying school supplies in June, because she wanted to be ahead of possible price increases from new American prices on imported products.

The teacher’s supply list for his 5-year-old son, who started kindergarten earlier this month, forced specific articles in class in large quantities. AGUDELO said that his shopping list included 15 boxes of Crayola pencils, lysol wipes and five boxes of Ticonderoga brands, all sharpened.

AguDelo said she had spent $ 160 after finding a lot of good online deals and shops, including half pencils, but found the experience stressful.

“I am overwhelmed by the need to stay informed of the place where offers have become more expensive over the years,” she said.

Many backpacks, double paper, glue sticks – and Ticonderoga pencils – sold in the United States are made in China, whose products were subjected at a rate of 145% in the spring. Under the last agreement between countries, the general goods of China are taxed at a rate of 30% when it enters the United States

Many companies accelerated China expeditions at the start of the year, storing the inventory at pre-tariff prices. Some predicted consumers would meet higher prices just in time for back -to -school shopping. Although government data has shown that consumer prices increased by 2.7% last month compared to the previous year, the strategic reduction of large retailers may have attenuated any sticker shock for customers looking for school supplies.

The backpacks and lunch boxes, for example, had discounts as deep as 12.1% during the first day sales of Amazon and competing online sales at Target and Walmart in early July, said Adobe Insights. Throughout the summer, some of the largest channels have announced selective price gels to keep customers.

Walmart promotes a return to school agreement which includes 14 supplies plus a backpack for $ 16, the lowest price in six years, said the company spokesperson Leigh Stidham. Target said in June that he would maintain his prices of 2024 on 20 key articles from the start of the school year that cost less than $ 20.

An analysis, a numerator of the consumer data supplier prepared for the Associated Press showed that the cost of retail sales of 48 products that a family with two school age may need – two lunch boxes, two scientific calculators, a pair of boy shoes – on average $ 272 in July or $ 3 less than the same month of last year.

Digital natives in class

The numerator, which follows American retail prices through sales receipts, online account activity and other information of 200,000 buyers, reported last year that households bought fewer notebooks, books of books, writing instruments and other familiar basic products, because students did more their work on computers.

The transition does not mean that students no longer have to appropriate on plastic files, highlights and erasures, or that parents spend less to equip their children for the class. The accounting and advice firm Deloitte estimates that traditional school supplies will represent more than $ 7 billion out of the $ 31 billion which it expects to make American parents put purchases at the start of the school year.

Purchasing habits also change. Teacher lists, an online platform where individual schools and teachers can download their recommended supply lists and parents can search for them, was launched in 2012 to reduce the need for paper lists. It now has more than 2 million lists of 70,000 schools.

Users can click on an icon that fills an online purchase basket in participating retail chains. Some retailers also grant the data to be used on their websites and in their stores, said Dyanne Griffin, architect and vice-president of the teaching lists.

The typical number of articles in teachers’ demand has remained quite stable at around 17 since the end of the coronavirus pandemic, said Griffin. “The new articles that have come to the list, you know, in the past four or five years are more the technological side. Everyone needs headphones, this type of thing, perhaps a mouse,” she said.

She also noticed that many schools requiring clear backpacks and pencil bags so that the equipment cannot be used to store pistols.

Enter artificial intelligence

For consumers who like to search for their options before buying, technology and retail companies have introduced generative AI tools to help them find and compare products. Rufus, the shopping assistant fueled in AI that Amazon launched last year, is now joined by Sparky, a functionality only of the applications that Walmart buyers can use to obtain recommendations for age specific age and other information in response to their questions.

A little over a quarter of American adults say they are using AI for purchases, which is considerably lower than the number that says that they use AI for tasks such as finding information or brainstorming, according to a research survey on the public affairs of Associated Press-Noc Center in July.

Some traditions remain

Before the pandemic transforms many more people into online buyers, schools and local associations of parents’ teachers adopted the idea of facilitating back -to -school purchases by ordering ready -to -use packages of supplies recommended by teachers. Additional costs on the price have contributed to raising funds for the school.

The data from the Edukit market, a supplier of school supply kits held by the family media from the mother of teachers, shows that around 40% of parents end up buying the boxes, which means that the remaining 60% must buy by themselves, said Griffin. She noted that parents were generally committed at the latest in June to secure a package, which focuses on essential elements such as notebooks and pencils.

AGUDELO said that his son’s school offered a box for $ 190 which focused on bases like pencils and notebooks but which did not include a backpack. She decided to spend and shop for the best prices. She also liked to bring her son for purchases.

“There is this feeling of preparing it mentally for the school year,” said AguDelo. “The box withdraws.”