Consumer Behavior

Price a big focus for back-to-school shoppers

Photo: Adobe Stock

September 9, 2025

Price is the top priority for more than half, 57%, of back-to-school shoppers, a slight increase from 52% in 2024.

That's a top finding from Numerator's Back to School 2025: School Meals and Great Deals report and an August 2025 Numerator survey of 3,000 U.S. households with children entering grades K-12 this fall.

Additional findings, according to a press release, include:

• Nearly all back-to-school shoppers plan to employ some sort of money-saving measures this year, with 68% shopping sales events, 58% comparing retailer prices, 57% using coupons or promo codes and 45% reusing school supplies from past years.
• 49% said they believe Walmart is offering the best back-to-school deals this year, followed by Target (22%) and Amazon (12%).
• 57% say they will do the majority of their BTS shopping in-store, while only 14% will do the majority of their shopping online. The remainder (29%) say they will split shopping equally between in-store and online.
• 64% of BTS shoppers said they shopped summer retailer sales events for BTS purchases. 37% shopped Amazon Prime Day, 34% shopped Walmart Deals, 25% shopped Target Circle Week and 5% shopped Best Buy Black Friday in July.