Although some research indicates that Target and Walmart are far from the top retail destinations for young consumers on most purchasing occasions, the major discounters in the U.S. still rate highly among 18 to 24 year olds for back-to-school shopping, according to a study by Branding Brand.
In response to a recent survey, 64% of shoppers in that age bracket said they would buy back-to-school items from Target and the same proportion responded that they would buy from Walmart for the occasion. In contrast, 50% said they would buy from Amazon for back-to-school purposes.
The 2017 Branding Brand study represents a change of fortunes. In a similar 2016 study, the company noted, 74% of 18 to 24 year old shoppers said they would buy from Amazon with 42% planning to buy from Walmart and 51% from Target.
Other shopping trends identified by Branding Brand in the study: This year, 80% of back-to-school shoppers will purchase items online and 62% will buy via smartphone. Back-to-school shopping is spread out through summer with 54% of survey respondents saying they won’t start the process until August but 14% saying they were done in June. When purchasing, 18% of back-to-school shoppers will transact using mobile apps such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay.
Branding Brand conducted its online survey of 1,000 back-to-school shoppers from June 21 to 23.
