As you read this, especially if you’re a mom or dad, you know that your kids are heading back to school or college and in many southern states like Texas they are already there. Either way, as a parent or a retailer selling back-to-school, these are the key weeks for all kinds of purchases across the apparel and home goods fields.
This year, the competition on the retail side for that business – as much as $180 billion depending on what’s included (and who is doing the counting) – is more frantic than ever. In apparel, Walmart and Target have gotten increasingly competitive with their marketing and advertising to gain business, as have some of the specialty chains like Gap, H&M, and others.
On the home side, the absence of one of the biggest players in the space, Bed Bath & Beyond, which had as many as 35 million customers, has created opportunities for market share grabs as new purchasing patterns set in.
Dormify, primarily an online resource, this year is partnering with 75 campus bookstores as well as 200 Office Depot locations to offer its assortment of dorm room furnishings. Those college bookstores, 1,100 of which are run by the third-party operator Follett Higher Education, are also putting in larger home furnishings departments, including room-organization products at 225 locations. Barnes & Noble College, a separate company from the off-campus Barnes & Noble, that runs more than 700 physical college and K-12 stores, is also expanding its home assortments.
Gina Logan, principal retail analyst for Kantar, told the Modern Retail newsletter that college bookstores offer advantages for overwhelmed students looking for a more edited assortment. “Gen Z is overwhelmed right now; they’re overwhelmed by the state of the economy, they’re overwhelmed by the state of the world and they’re overwhelmed with choice,” Logan said. “If you go on Amazon and you look for a chair, you have pages and pages and pages of options. Gen Z isn’t looking for that, they want something curated.”