- Survey highlights spending habits and renewed consumer
confidence for in-store back-to-school shopping
- Sensormatic Solutions predicts busiest weeks for back-to-school
shopping in Midwest, Northeast, Southern and Western regions
- As consumer shopping habits evolve, flexible and scalable
technology can help create new shopping experiences required to
keep up with changing customer expectations
Sensormatic Solutions, the leading global retail solutions
portfolio of Johnson Controls, released its third annual U.S.
Back-to-School Consumer Sentiment Survey, today, finding that three
quarters (76%) of consumers plan to shop in-store this year. The
survey reveals a return to pre-pandemic shopping habits for the
2021 back-to-school season.
“As consumer shopping habits shift, so too should retailer’s
technology,” said Kim Melvin, global leader of marketing,
Sensormatic Solutions. “Flexible and scalable technology can help
create new shopping experiences required to keep up with changing
customer expectations and varying comfort levels for in-store
shopping. Our intelligent operating platform, Sensormatic IQ, makes
it easy for retailers to act on data-driven outcomes and generate
the predictive and prescriptive insights they need to make informed
decisions on inventory to staffing optimizations – two areas that
will be important for retail success this back-to-school shopping
season.”
Back to Pre-pandemic In-store Shopping Schedule
Seventy four percent of respondents expect their children to
return to fully in-person classes this year. As a result, 34% plan
to start their back-to-school shopping (both in-stores and online)
in July compared to only 17% of consumers in 2020 and 39% of
consumers in 2019, marking a shift back to pre-pandemic habits.
When asked how they will be shopping for back-to-school this year
in addition to the 76% of consumers who plan to shop in-store:
- 54% said they will shop online
- 33% will use buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS)
- 22% will use curbside pickup
Additionally, Sensormatic Solutions Shopper Insights data
predicts the busiest weeks of the back-to-school shopping season by
region to be:
- Midwest: Weeks 27-28 (August 1 – 14, 2021)
- Northeast: Weeks 29-31 (August 15 – September 4, 2021)
- Southern: Weeks 26-27 (July 25 – August 7, 2021)
- Western: Weeks 26-28 (July 25 – August 14, 2021)
“In 2020, most communities hadn’t reopened their schools for
in-person learning, which impacted retailers from apparel to big
box and office supplies,” said Amy Shulman, global head
professional services, Sensormatic Solutions. “Trying to understand
traffic trends when most schools in 2021 are expected to be open
necessitates looking back to the most recent year when that
occurred, which in this case is 2019. Doing so not only allows
retailers to assess the ever-changing retail traffic environment,
but also helps them understand expected shopper patterns, which is
critical for staffing and supply chain optimization, such as
last-mile delivery.”
Back to Spending on Apparel and School Supplies
When asked how the state of the economy will impact shopping
habits, there was a notable year-over-year shift back to
pre-pandemic spending:
- 2021: 39% said their shopping habits will not be
impacted and 12% plan to spend more this year compared to last
year
- 2020: 21% said their shopping habits would not be
impacted and 9% said they would spend more than the previous
year
- 2019: 51% said their shopping habits would not be
impacted and 12% said they would spend more than the previous
year
Consumers plan to spend the most on apparel and school supplies
this year. Seventy percent of shoppers said they would spend the
most on clothing/apparel, followed by shoes (55%), school supplies
(53%), backpacks (37%) and electronics (33%). Sixty-one percent of
shoppers said they anticipate spending the most on casual clothes
(e.g. jeans, graphic t-shirts, etc.), followed by 17% who said
athleisure, and 11% who said fitness/sportwear.
Back to Confidence for In-Store Shopping
Consumer confidence about shopping in-store reached new highs in
June. Nearly three quarters (73%) of back-to-school shoppers said
they were neutral or unconcerned about shopping in-store currently.
When asked the same question in spring 2021, 50% of shoppers were
neutral or unconcerned about shopping in-store and only 35% of
shoppers were neutral or unconcerned in winter 2020.
As confidence increases, there is also a resurgence of consumers
who preferred to shop at enclosed malls. Sixteen percent of
consumers said they shop at enclosed malls most frequently,
compared to 9% in spring 2021. Free standing stores and strip
centers remain the most popular format, with 42% of back-to-school
shoppers saying they shop here most frequently.
Sensormatic Solutions and its intelligent operating platform for
retail, Sensormatic IQ, is a vital component of Johnson Controls
OpenBlue technologies and innovations which promotes healthy
people, healthy places and healthy planet. Sensormatic Solutions is
helping retailers solve complex challenges related to consumer
confidence, health and safety as part of its mission.
To learn more about Sensormatic Solutions’ back-to-school
predictions, please visit The New Rules of Back to School: 2021's
Return to Normal.
Survey Methodology
Sensormatic Solutions collected responses from 1,000 U.S.-based
consumers, 18-years and older, via a third-party provider to
determine findings of its 2021 U.S. Back-to-School Consumer
Sentiment Survey. Responses came from 750 U.S.-based parents of
children ages 5-18 and 250 U.S.-based full-time undergrad or
graduate students. The survey was conducted between June 14 - June
20, 2021.
About Johnson Controls
At Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) we transform the environments
where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in
smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to
reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and
the planet.
With a history of more than 135 years of innovation, Johnson
Controls delivers the blueprint of the future for industries such
as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums,
manufacturing and beyond through its comprehensive digital offering
OpenBlue. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150
countries, Johnson Controls offers the world's largest portfolio of
building technology, software as well as service solutions with
some of the most trusted names in the industry. For more
information, visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us
@johnsoncontrols on Twitter.
About Sensormatic Solutions
Sensormatic Solutions is the leading global retail solutions
portfolio of Johnson Controls powering operational excellence at
scale and enabling smart and connected shopper engagement. Our
intelligent digital operating platform – Sensormatic IQ – combines
the full Sensormatic Solutions portfolio, including unmatched
insights into retail inventory, shopper behavior, and loss
prevention and liability, and Retailer and third-party solutions
with advanced technologies, like AI and Machine Learning. This
enables retailers to act on prescriptive, data-driven outcomes and
confidently move into the future. Our retail portfolio features the
premier Sensormatic, ShopperTrak and TrueVUE brands. Please visit
Sensormatic Solutions or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and our
YouTube channel.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210722005640/en/
Jaclyn Messina Sensormatic Solutions by Johnson Controls
Work: +1 561-235-6458 jaclyn.messina@jci.com Anne Lines
Matter on behalf of Sensormatic Solutions Work: +1-978-518-4512
jciretail@matternow.com
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