US Back to School 2020: Digital Trends and Digital Learning—Online Sales Set To Be Up Strongly in a Weak Total Market

What's Inside

Our US Back to School 2020 series explores the back-to-school (BTS) and back-to-college (BTC)—which we will collectively refer to as to “back-to-class”— season, considering consumer shopping behaviors amid the coronavirus crisis and the implications for retail.

In this report, we present three insights into digital trends this season, covering the following topics:

1. The market share of e-commerce—and our expectations for growth
2. The expectations of parents around how and where they will shop for BTS
3. How retailers are promoting digital shopping—including an emphasis on contact-light pickup options

We also discuss the role of remote learning in school-reopening plans and how this is impacting BTS shoppers’ spending expectations for online learning.

Finally, we note commentary from selected major retailers on the BTS season, as of their latest reported quarter.

Click here to read the previous report in our US Back to School 2020 series, which explores findings about BTS shoppers’ spending ability, concerns and attitudes to BTS shopping from an August 2020 Coresight Research survey of US consumers.