With final exams graded and students headed to camp, retailers are preparing for a big test of their own: back-to-school planning. The year’s second biggest sales season is about to kick off, and retailers are no doubt deep into their plans to make sure their customers will give them an A+ come September. However, the industry landscape has changed significantly since last year, and retailers will need to dig into the trends guiding the market if they are to take full advantage of the opportunities this busy season brings.

While holiday spending has started earlier over the past few years, back-to-school shopping’s peak periods have stood firm. Sensormatic Solutions predicts this pattern will continue in 2025, with store visits once again peaking about two weeks prior to the start of the school year in each region:

• South: July 28th – August 10th
• West: July 28th – August 10th
• Midwest: August 4th – 17th
• Northeast: August 18th – 31st

These predictions, which are based on in-store shopper activity data broken down by region and other relevant variables, closely mirror actual results from 2024. We expect this alignment given that Labor Day 2025 falls in calendar week 31, as it did last year.

Getting more granular, Sensormatic Solutions predicts that the top back-to-school shopping days will, in all regions, fall on key Saturdays relative to the academic calendar:

• South: Saturday, Aug. 2
• West: Saturday, Aug. 9
• Midwest: Saturday, Aug. 16th
• Northeast: Saturday, Aug. 30

Across regions, the peak shopping hours on any given day are expected to remain between 2 and 3 p.m., as in years past.

Amid economic disruptions, supply chain challenges, and inventory issues, brick-and-mortar retailers’ may find these circumstances working in their favor this year – provided they maintain accurate and reliable inventory intelligence. With direct shipping delays growing more common, more shoppers may choose the certainty of bringing home purchases with them over the anxiety that backpacks and binders will not arrive on time.

As retailers finalize their back-to-school plans, customer experience (CX) will undoubtedly top priority lists. With consumers more price-conscious than in previous years, making back-to-school shopping convenient and enjoyable will go a long way toward helping parents prepare their children for the upcoming year. Getting it right will be an exercise in holistic planning, deep understanding and strategizing toward agility.

Retail technology ecosystems can help retailers get the visibility and data they need to balance pricing, labor and inventory strategies ahead of the summer rush. These systems leverage connected devices and advanced analytics software to provide a comprehensive overview of operations, so retailers can offer tailored and rewarding shopping experiences that delight children and parents alike. And, when retailers extend these insights beyond their sales floors, they will be even more prepared to ace the coming test.

Source-to-store visibility can supplement historical in-store data from previous back-to-school seasons, enabling retailers to further enhance merchandising strategies, optimize labor allocation, adjust operating hours and fine-tune services to better meet consumer demands. By extending real-time insights to include supply chain operations in addition to shopper behavior, sentiment, traffic, inventory and other key metrics, retailers will enhance their understanding of their businesses. This helps retailers get ahead of delays and trends, so they can adapt to changes—without impacting customer journeys.

Ready to advance your understanding of your retail operations? Sensormatic Solutions is here to help. Reach out to us today to get started!