Price, value and competition: The factors determining this year’s back-to-school winners and losers

The back-to-school period has historically been a critical time for the retail sector as customers seek the best value products across uniforms, stationery and accessories.

But as the cost-of-living crisis continues to take its toll in 2024, despite consumers having slightly more money in their pockets than last year, it’s a continued battle for supermarkets and fashion retailers alike to win the back-to-school spend. 

Tesco topped the charts in retailer rankings among the grocers last year across range, quality and product display, according to GlobalData, and Asda was best rated on price.

With an eye to this year so far, Marks & Spencer was the first retailer to announce it was leaving the price of its uniforms unchanged as well as running a 20%-off early-bird incentive on uniforms purchased from early July. 

John Lewis soon followed suit and confirmed it was keeping prices flat for the fourth consecutive year. Matalan has also frozen prices as well as launching a 100-day exchange policy on bigger sizes to cover any “summer growth spurts”.

Is price set to be the driving factor yet again when it comes to consumers choosing where to shop? How important is brand loyalty during the back-to-school period? And is this period as important as it once was for retail?

Price wars

While the landscape has been historically competitive on price and value for money, the past few years have proved more price-focused than ever as families continue to feel the pinch. 

Despite the economic landscape on paper being slightly improved compared to last year, the price locks across the board demonstrate retailers’ efforts to help families as times remain tough for many.

GlobalData lead retail analyst Zoe Mills says appealing to price-savvy shoppers is the way to win during this year’s back-to-school season, following in the footsteps of last year’s trend.

“Like 2023, it will be a battle on price,” she says. “Price locks have proved appealing before and retaining this narrative will be a way to ensure you are a destination for shoppers.  

“But price cannot come at the expense of quality, particularly in uniform. Parents understand the stresses that uniform is placed under and replacing uniforms frequently at a low price can cost more than spending a little more on pieces that last. Retailers must get the balance right here.”

She adds that non-essentials such as stationery, bags and other accessories will be areas in which consumers hold back this year and that offering low prices will be the only way to compete in this area due to the discounters and likes of Amazon offering the most attractive deals, proving once again that price is king.

Value vs loyalty

The UK supermarket giants are always in competition when it comes to brand loyalty and winning market share but this becomes increasingly competitive during the back-to-school peak.

Back-to-school is all about becoming the one-stop shop for consumers as they look to kit out the family for the new school year and inevitably shop across categories for convenience.

But rather than this coming down to brands relying on their most loyal shoppers during this time of year, PwC senior retail adviser Kien Tan says this year it’s all about retailers using value to attract as many shoppers as possible through the doors.

“It’s really important that retailers get their proposition right because back-to-school is very important, particularly for big out-of-town supermarkets it’s where they come into their own,” he says.

“I wouldn’t say that it is always about brand loyalty but it is about getting people in the door with attention-grabbing offers. That’s the key to back to school – outfitting the whole family and doing everything else at the same time.

“Yes they’re offering value but it’s less to do with consumers being cash-strapped and but to draw people in to buy everything else.”

So while on the surface it may seem vital to have strong brand loyalty in such a competitive space, back-to-school offers retailers the chance to win over new customers across categories and potentially maintain that spend moving forward.

Secondhand opportunity

While value and price seem to be the hot topics when it comes to back-to-school shopping, two other categories have been growing in popularity – secondhand uniforms being one of them.

GlobalData said almost two-fifths of back-to-school shoppers last year bought at least one secondhand item, something that’s only likely to increase year on year, while 48% of consumers purchased secondhand items for five-to-seven-year-olds.

Secondhand uniform options have always been on the market but the cost-of-living crisis coupled with the upward trajectory of the secondhand fashion sphere more generally means it has become a first-choice option in 2024 more than ever before.

QR Code Generator chief executive Marc Porcar says the rise of platforms including Vinted and Depop is influencing the way people think and shop, including parents looking to put together quality uniforms in a “budget-friendly way”.

As well as this, sportswear has also become a more important part of the back-to-school shop than it once was.

Speaking to Retail Week, Matalan chief trading officer Ben Smith said the retailer is one of many eyeing sportswear as a significant opportunity, including during back-to-school.

He said: “We’ve seen great reactions to our movement into sportswear across Matalan and no less when it comes to schoolwear.

“PE kits is a big area of opportunity and growth for us and we’re seeing some great reactions there.”