Consumer shifting from pools to school

Bentonville, Ark. -- It’s the dog days of summer and that can only mean one thing: consumers are thinking back to school.



At least that’s according to data by Walmart. For the past two years, the four days from July 31 to Aug. 3, traffic to Walmart.com has suddenly doubled from weeks prior as customers turn their attention from the pool back to school. To mark the shift, Walmart on Friday kicked off “Back to Class Cyber Days” online and on its mobile app featuring 30% more price cuts and hundreds of special buys timed to a historical spike in traffic when customers start the bulk of their back-to-school shopping.



“When the calendar changes from July to August, it’s like a switch flips in parents’ minds,” said Steve Breen, senior VP of merchandising for Walmart.com. “We can literally start to see it happen with a traffic spike on July 31, and this year we’re timing thousands of the season’s biggest Rollbacks to when we know our customers are coming to our site to check-off their back-to-school shopping lists.”



Back again this year is “Classrooms by Walmart,” an online tool that helps parents access their child’s school supply list from anywhere, letting moms check the items off their list with ease. And new this year, Walmart is bringing some fun to the season – giving customers a chance for their community to host a concert with The Vamps. Customers simply search for their child’s supply list at Walmart.com/classroom and share on social media using #RockTheSavingsPromotion and the market with the most classroom supply lists searched for will have The Vamps preform to help start the school year.