United Kingdom (UK) Back to school - 2021

United Kingdom (UK) Back to school - 2021

Summary

United Kingdom (UK) Back to school - 2021 report forms part of GlobalData's Retail Occasions series, and offers a comprehensive insight into the consumer dynamics and spending habits of UK consumers for back to school. The report analyses the major players, the main trends, and consumer attitudes.

The proportion of consumers who have spent more than last year on back to school items has increased as children return to school full time. Parents have needed to refresh their children’s wardrobes after a year of home schooling as while a uniform was not needed for all of the previous academic year, children will have outgrown uniform bought for the previous school year.

Key Highlights

• As COVID-19 restrictions have been eased in the UK, consumers feel more comfortable browsing shops, with 48.6% of consumers visiting stores to research back to school items - up 1.5ppts on 2020.
• High street, town centre and in-town shopping centre uniform purchases remain 3.2ppts lower than 2019 and online uniform purchases remain 6.0ppts up from 2019, indicating that while there has been some shift back to pre-pandemic habits, online remains a popular option.
• The grocers were the favoured retailers this year, especially for the critical uniform sector. Consumers cited value for money, quality and price as their main motivators for choosing a retailer to purchase uniform and sportswear & sports equipment from, making supermarkets ideal retailers to fulfil these expectations, due to their focus on durable back to school ranges.

• Use our in-depth consumer insight to learn which back to school categories are shopped the most by consumers, to adapt back to school ranges to current trends.
• Understand what drives consumers to use a retailer for their purchases, such as convenience, value for money and delivery options, in order to maximise sales potential.
• Use our average spend data to understand how much consumers are prepared to pay in each back to school category and which categories consumers are most willing to invest in higher priced items.

Companies Mentioned
AdidasAldiAmazonArgosASDAB&MBlackwellsBootsClaire's AccessoriesClarksCo-opDeichmannDirectSchoolwear.co.ukH&MHome BargainsJD SportsJohn Lewis & PartnersLidlMarks & SpencerMatalanMorrisonsNextNikePaperchasePoundlandPrimarkRymanSainsbury'sSchool Uniform DirectSchoolUniformShop.co.ukSmiggleSports DirectStaplesSuperdrugTescoThe Book DepositoryThe WorksUniform4KidsWaitrose & PartnersWaterstonesWH SmithWilkoWynsorsYourschooluniform.com