Back To School Retail Trends from SAP

Back to School: A Family Affair Social Media Insights to impact 2014 retail strategies

Back to School Insight Social media conversations increasingly have a direct impact on retail strategies -- and back-

to-school season is no different. But the chatter from millions of parents expressing their angst

about the looming school year can be overwhelming. To help today's retailers turn big data into

intelligence data, we analyzed over 600,000 conversations across Twitter, Facebook, and

other social channels.

Kids aren’t the only ones

worried about back to school

Retailer Insight

Focus your promotions around deals and sales to reduce

shopper anxiety among parents.

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As school gets closer, parents’ moods

expressed on social media get worse

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Parents respond negatively to

commercials that only serve the

purpose of reminding them about

back to school.

Parents react positively when

advertisements include deals and

sales that help them squeeze more

into smaller budgets.

Families prefer to do their

shopping together in-store

Retailer Insight

Make your promotions valid online and in-store.

© 2013 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. 7

The majority of social media mentions about back to school

center around in-store experiences as parents try to avoid

shipping costs and kids make sure their new shoes fit.

Families tackle the most

expensive purchases first

Retailer Insight

Continue timing your promotions to match the buying seasons

of different product categories.

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Based on the number of social media mentions around

each product category, it’s clear that parents shop for

supplies like folders and pencils later in the season.

They also time more expensive purchases around deals and sales.

© 2013 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

To learn more about retail industry trends,

visit SAP’s Business Innovation site

http://spr.ly/BIBRetail

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© 2013 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company.

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