Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Day-related discounts are already in place ahead of the July 16 start of the shopping event, leading competing retailers to push discounts and new offerings of their own and launch the back-to-school shopping season weeks ahead of years past.
Data from the Cardlytics 2018 Back-to-School Spend Report[1] shows that the spending for the shopping season has been pushed up by Prime Day by nearly a month.
“Bricks-and-mortar. coms are catching on to the earlier spend and they’re executing earlier back-to-school campaigns to capture those dollars,” according to the report.
The Cardlytics data also shows that Prime Day shoppers are more valuable, spending 17% more at bricks-and-mortar stores and 16% more at bricks-and-mortar. coms compared with shoppers who don’t participate in Prime Day.
Read: Amazon Prime Day will take a bit out of the food sector as Whole Foods is included[2]
“Amazon Prime Day has grown to become the unofficial kickoff to the back-to-school shopping season,” said Marissa Tarleton, chief marketing officer at savings website RetailMeNot. “Prior to Prime Day’s arrival in 2015, the biggest back-to-school shopping days were concentrated in August and into September.”
Retailers have clearly taken notice, especially with relation to the back-to-college crowd.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. JCP, +2.09%[3] has partnered with Fanatics Inc. to launch shops that sell licensed college and professional sports gear, the department store retailer announced in June[4]. There will be 325 locations for the back-to-school season.
Kohl’s Corp. KSS, -0.93%[5] also announced last month that it has begun seasonal hiring[6] “earlier than ever” for back-to-school, the fall, and the holiday shopping season. Hiring will include both stores and e-commerce fulfillment and distribution centers.
Walmart Inc. WMT, -0.06%[7] has added new online shopping features, including a 3-D Virtual Shopping Tour[8], especially for dorm rooms and small living spaces.
And Ikea is hosting a back-to-college event July 7 and July 8.
Also: BJ’s Wholesale returns to the public market: 6 things to know about the Costco rival[9]
More parents know what their children will need for the coming school year, making these July promotions a budgetary boon for shoppers.
“With other retailers also offering deals the week of Prime Day, it’s grown into an industry-wide retail event,” said RetailMeNot’s Tarleton. “And it’s a...