Back-to-School Period in E-Commerce

The back-to-school period is a crucial time for many e-commerce businesses. With parents purchasing school essentials online due to the convenience of digital shopping, you can not only experience demand peaks—you also have to actively convince the parents to select your store.

In this article, we look into the back-to-school period from multiple perspectives—starting with the reasons for parents buying online, ending with logistics tips. We invite you to read on!

Shift to Online-First Shopping for School Essentials

Online shopping is more convenient than visiting brick-and-mortar stores, which is reflected in customer behaviour. According to Digital Commerce 360, around 55% K-12 items and 48% college items are now purchased online, rather than in department stores and discount outlets. However, even in this case, the shopping behaviours aren’t straightforward.

According to the same research, around 46% of consumers use buy online, pick-up in store (BOPIS) rather than home delivery or other delivery methods. This already shows the importance of building an omnichannel shopping experience—one in which customers can swiftly navigate between traditional and online shopping. So, although you have to focus more on the digital channels, you shouldn’t overlook the traditional ones—they have to work in perfect unison.

Back-to-School Shopping Trends

The shift to online-first shopping for school essentials isn’t the only trend we can observe during the back-to-school period. Let’s look into customer behaviour in more detail.

School Preparations Start Earlier

According to IntaSend, school supply shopping starts earlier than it used to. In 2025, around 67% of consumers began their shopping sprees in July, a big rise from 55% in 2024. Considering that July is the peak season for returns management, this tendency adds an extra layer of challenges to e-commerce businesses—you need top-notch logistics to handle the demand effectively, without delays.

Main Shopping Categories

Shopping for the new school year does not involve purely school supplies. Customers also purchase everyday-use products at the same time, such as clothes or cosmetics. Therefore, even if you don’t sell electronics, notebooks or pens, you will likely experience a peak during the back-to-school season. What categories drive sales in July and August?

• Fashion/apparel,
• electronics (laptops, earbuds),
• office/school supplies,
• backpacks and bags,
• sports gear,
• accessories (e.g., lunch boxes),
• beauty products.

This is reflected in bundle offers available at Amazon. These include not only notebooks and backpacks, but also water bottles, MacBook laptops, AirPods, shoes and lunch boxes.

How to Build Your Advantage in the Back-to-School Period?

While you might expect a sales peak caused by school preparations, if you don’t do anything, you won’t be able to gain as much of an increase in sales as your competitors. Hence, it is crucial to prepare your whole business for this period and attract new customers to your store. How to do that?

Perfected Logistics

Start with your logistics—if you cannot handle the transactions logistically, you will create terrible experiences. Especially since back-to-school supplies need to arrive before the new school year starts. Hence, your main priority should be reliability in terms of delivery speed and product safety.

To achieve this reliability, particularly when selling cross-border, partner with experienced logistics companies, such as Landmark Global. Utilise on-site facilities in your target markets to store products and allow for faster delivery. Also, remember to adjust the deals and stock based on the school year starting date, which differs across countries.

Effective Marketing

Who wins the back-to-school race? Established brands that have built a presence in social media, partnered with influencers and offer the best deals. Therefore, make sure you are seen and start working early on—some marketing strategies, such as SEO, take time to bring in the results.

Remember to ensure you meet the reasons why consumers purchase school supplies online in the first place, namely:

• convenience—ensure the buyer’s journey is intuitive and polish the UX,
• cost-effectiveness—provide bundle deals and sales to encourage consumers to choose your store, but also to upsell additional accessories.

If you don’t provide the above benefits, consumers will have no reason to choose you over other e-commerce stores or even traditional retailers.

The Takeaway

The back-to-school period is an opportunity to increase sales, but at the same time, it generates challenges. First, you need to get seen, starting your marketing efforts early on. Secondly, you need to plan out your bundles and deals to keep satisfying margins and encourage consumers to buy from you. Finally, you need to polish your logistics (including returns management!), to ensure your business is capable of handling larger order volumes. Need help with the last one? Contact us at Landmark Global!

References:

1. https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2025/07/17/back-to-school-shopping-trends-earlier-in-2025/
2. https://intasend.com/payments/e-commerce-success-2025-back-to-school-tips-and-trends