Your Back-to-School Selling Strategy
This year’s back-to-school season will look unlike any other. For many states and districts it is still unclear how or when kids are going back to school. This year teachers, students and parents all have different needs, so we’re here to help outline some tips to help guide your business strategy to fit your consumers’ needs:
This year there are less states participating in tax-free weekends than year’s previous. However, many states are still offering the savings relief on items such as school supplies, apparel, footwear and more.
- August 7-9: Florida, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia
- August 9-15: Maryland
- August 16-22: Connecticut
- August 29-20: Massachusetts
Tax-free weekends take place in stores and online. E-commerce sellers are responsible for applying the discounts, but luckily, Amazon makes it easy with product tax codes automatically included in transactions.
In addition to traditional products like kid’s backpacks, sneakers, sweatshirts and jackets, the following, categories should take advantage of this time as well:
- Toys: Often a season product and one reserved for birthdays and special occasions, toys, especially STEM toys, play a huge role in homeschooling
- Furniture: The kitchen table may not cut it anymore. Desks, desk accessories and chairs will all likely see another spike in August.
- Food: Grab-and-go snacks, healthy drinks and easy-to-prepare meals will all become popular as caretakers try to manage schooling, work and home life.
However, as is the case with a good sale, all categories can expect to benefit from shoppers looking to save on sales tax.
Back-to-School Season Advertising Tips
- Create cohesive messaging: Depending on your advertising budget, now is a great time to take advantage of your social media channels. Alert followers with updates about what states are participating in the tax free sale on Instagram Stories, Twitter and Facebook.
- Define Your Audience: Depending on your product, closely pinpoint who you are targeting to see the best results. Are you targeting parent Millennials, younger Millennials or Gen Z? Use this to inform your messaging and what social media channels you are using to convey that message.
- Geotargeting: The DSP allows for advertisers to geo-target customers. However, to see the best return with this strategy, it’s important to have a sufficient audience impression volume. We would potentially recommend this strategy to large brands with a large advertising budget.
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