Survey: Majority of BTS shoppers used sales events to save money this year
The new school year is around the corner, and back-to-school shoppers say that price remains the most important factor in buying new items.
New data from Numerator reveals that over half (57%) of those surveyed said finding the best price on back-to-school items is their main consideration this year, up from 52% who said the same last year. Nearly all back-to-school shoppers plan to employ some sort of money-saving measures this year, with 68% shopping sales events, 58% comparing retailer prices, 57% using coupons or promo codes, and 45% reusing school supplies from past years.
Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said they will do the majority of their back-to-school shopping in-store this year, while only 14% will do the majority of their shopping online. The remainder (29%) say they will split shopping equally between in-store and online.
[READ MORE: Survey: Ads key for shoppers' back-to-school purchasing decisions]
Almost two-thirds (64%) of back-to-school shoppers said they shopped summer retailer sales events for school supplies purchases. Amazon Prime Day was the most popular event with 37% of respondents reporting shopping during it, while 34% shopped Walmart Deals, 25% shopped Target Circle Week, and 5% shopped Best Buy Black Friday in July.
Half (49%) of consumers said they believe Walmart is offering the best back-to-school deals this year, followed by Target (22%) and Amazon (12%).
Other insights from Numerator’s latest back-to-school survey include the following:
- The large majority (80%) of back-to–school shoppers say their child or children are “very” or “somewhat” involved in picking out their back-to-school items.
- The top product categories that parents consider purchasing for the purpose of packing school lunches and snacks are chips, crackers and pretzels (66%), fresh fruit or vegetables (62%), granola bars or snack bars (60%), bottled water or other drinks (50%) and cheese snacks (50%).
- During the 2024/2025 school year, daily snack and meal packers spent about 4.7% more on groceries than those who sent food to school on a less frequent basis.
- Households with children participating in school breakfast programs spent 7.1% less on groceries during the 2024/2025 school year than those whose kids did not participate. The group specifically spent less on produce (-17.4%) and traditional breakfast foods (-9.2%), including toaster pastries (-17.3%) and breakfast cereal (-8.3%).
Numerator’s “Back to School 2025: School Meals and Great Deals” report included an August 2025 survey of 3,000 U.S. households with children entering grades K-12 this fall.
