merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

, back to school is the period in which students and their parents purchase

school supplies Stationery refers to writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer pr ...

and apparel for the upcoming

school year An academic year, or school year, is a period that schools, colleges and universities use to measure the duration of studies for a given educational level. Academic years are often divided into academic terms. Students attend classes and do rel ...

. At many

department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made ...

, back-to-school sales are advertised as a time when school supplies, children's, and young adults' clothing go on sale.

Office supplies Office supplies are consumables and equipment regularly used in offices by businesses and other organizations, required to sustain office operations. For example, office supplies may be used by individuals engaged in written communications, rec ...

have also become an important part of back-to-school sales, with the rise in prominence of

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s and related equipment in education. Traditional supplies such as paper, pens, pencils and binders will often be marked at steep discounts, often as

loss leader A loss leader (also leader) is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. With this sales promotion/marketing strategy, a "leader" is any popular artic ...

s to entice shoppers to buy other items in the store. Many states offer tax-free periods (usually about a week long) at which time any school supplies and children's clothing purchased does not have

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

added.

Timing

The back-to-school period of time usually starts and ends in August before the school year starts in the United States, Europe, and Canada. In Australia and New Zealand, this usually occurs in February, while in Malaysia, this period lasts from November to December. In India, the back-to-school sales traditionally start in June when schools are about to open. In Japan, which is unusual in that it starts its school year in spring, back-to-school sales are traditionally held in March. In Canada and the United States, back-to-school shopping is associated with

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

, which falls on the first Monday of September. While Labor Day is a widely observed holiday, it has no official celebration. Labor Day has since become symbolic of the unofficial "end of summer". Most schools and colleges begin their school year around this time, so the holiday has become a back-to-school shopping tradition – much as

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

and

Victoria Day Victoria Day () is a federal Canadian public holiday observed on the last Monday preceding May 25 to honour Queen Victoria, who is known as the "Mother of Confederation". The holiday has existed in Canada since at least 1845, originally on Vic ...

, and

Canada Day Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A Public holidays in Canada, federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the B ...

and

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

are associated with summer and patriotic products, respectively, and American Thanksgiving has been associated with the impending start of the

Christmas shopping The economics of Christmas are significant because Christmas is typically a high-volume selling season for goods suppliers around the world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the ...

season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Back To School Retailing by time of year