At over $80 billion, consumer spending during the back-to-school season is second only to that of the winter holidays.* Get your clients ready for the August spike by fine-tuning their campaigns based on insights from the Back to School Trends Report, including: • The most popular online and in-store shopping dates • How people use devices to inform and act on their shopping decisions • What types of products consumers are interested in this season

1. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1Google Confidential and Proprietary 1
Making the Grade:
Back to School 2013

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average spending of K-12 parents on back-to-school
apparel, school supplies and electronics$689
Source: NRF “2012 Back-to-School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey” conducted by BIGResearch, July 2012
$30.3Bestimated spending on grades K-12
among US consumers in 2012
Back to school is the second biggest consumer
spending event and hit an all-time high in 2012

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Apparel & accessories topped 2012 anticipated
spending
Consumer anticipated spending on BTS shopping, by segment, July 2012
Source: Mintel/NRF/BIG Insight, “Consumer Intentions & Actions Survey,” 2012
*Note: The above figure does not reflect the actual retail sales, but provides insights on shoppers’ anticipated spending for back to
school
Clothing &
accessories
36%
Computers &
electronics
31%
Shoes
19%
School
supplies
14%

4. Google Confidential and Proprietary 4Google Confidential and Proprietary 4
Discount stores top the list for anticipated purchase
channels
Anticipated retail channels for purchasing BTS items, July 2012
Source: Mintel/NRF/BIG Insight, “Consumer Intentions & Actions Survey,” 2012
8.2%
14.4%
22.7%
26.3%
39.6%
42.0%
52.0%
59.9%
67.1%
Catalog
Thrift store/resale shop
Drug store
Electronics store
Online
Office supplies store
Clothing store
Department store
Discount store

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Both online and in-store total retail sales were up Y/Y
during back-to-school season 2012
Source: MasterCard Spending Pulse™
Y/Y% change based on 7/1 – 9/30 data and does not account for change in number of weekend days Y/Y, etc.
+15%
Online retail sales
+4%
In-store retail sales
Y/Y growth
Q3 2011 to Q3 2012

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Five key insights for Back to School 2013
Back to school shoppers are undecided
Consumers are shopping for themselves, too
Tech products are the highest priority for BTS
shoppers
Device usage is blurring: consumers take a multi-
device path to purchase
Video is the new TV
1
2
3
4
5

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1. Back to school shoppers are undecided
Source: Mintel, Base 905 parents/guardians aged 18+ with internet access living with children enrolled in K-12 who bout back to school
items in Fall 2012 *How much do you agree with the following statements, **”Which if any did you do this Fall 2012 to save money on
back to school items for your child?”
72% prefer to research what back-
to-school supplies, electronics and
apparels child need then look for
sales before buying
More than 1 in 4 compared
prices online/mobile before
purchasing in store
1 in 4 researched and compared
prices online before purchasing
online

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2. Consumers shop for themselves
4 In 10 are shopping for themselves this back-to-school season
Base: Plan to make back-to-school purchases (n=550)
Q: For which of the following people do you plan to shop for this back-to-school season? Select all that apply.
Source: Google Back-To-School 2012 Survey, conducted by Ipsos in March 2012.
44%
32%
27%
19%
12%
12%
Myself
An elementary or grade school-aged child
A high school-aged child
Someone else in my household
A nursery or preschool-aged child
A college-aged child
Who shoppers plan to buy for this BTS season

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And shoppers who plan to buy for themselves are
valuable
Average amount shoppers plan to spend on:
Base: Floating. Plan to purchase for specific group (n=64-243)
Q: Thinking about all the shopping you plan to do for back-to-school items, approximately how much in total do you plan to spend on
each of the following people? Select one for each.
Source: Google Back-To-School 2012 Survey, conducted by Ipsos in March 2012.
Nursery or
pre-school children
Elementary or grade
school children
High school
children College students Myself
$206
$286
$471
$501
$383

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3. Tech products are the highest priority for back
to school shoppers
“Dramatic changes in the technology landscape and the prevalence of
technology in the classroom have altered the way BTS shoppers research and
make purchases, and have also impacted what shoppers consider to be
essential school supplies. As tablet computers and similar devices take a more
prominent role in delivering education, retailers of traditional school supplies
may feel a decrease in the demand for ‘old-school’ supplies such as notebooks
and pens.”
Source: Ika Erwina, Apparel, Retail, and Technology Analyst, Mintel

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Continue on
a PC/Laptop
61%
Continue on
a Tablet
4%
Continue on
a Tablet
5%
Continue on
a PC/Laptop
10%
61%
Start on a
Smartphone
11%
Start on a
Tablet
25%
Start on a
PC/Laptop
Continue on
a Smartphone
19%
4. Consumers take a multi-device path to purchase
Base: Have Started Activity on One Device & Continued on Another (1455); Shopping (969). Q. For the activities listed below, think about
the last time you started each activity on one device and then continued or finished the same activity on another device. Please select
which device you started and then continued on. If you have not done this, select “I have not done this”.

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5. Video is the new TV
55%
50%
46%
44%
41%
#1 for 18–34 reach
(All cable nets)
Source: Nielsen, March 2013

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And time spent online is now equal to TV
Source: Forrester Research, 2012, “Understanding The Changing Needs Of The US Online Consumer.”
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
TV Internet Radio
Newspapers Magazines
Hours spent in a typical week by media format

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Recommendations

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Highlight Back to School offers across devices, locations,
and time of day
Use bid modifiers to reach relevant shoppers at the point of purchase
Navigate to your site faster with Ad Sitelinks

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Thank you