Merchants: What to expect for back to school

As August rushes toward us, marketers are finalizing plans for the big back-to-school rush. One expert offers his advice to help merchants key in on BTS trends.

by Kristina Knight

Kristina: What trends are you seeing now in ecommerce?

Matt Winn, Senior Marketing Communications Manager, Volusion: Ecommerce is continuing to grow at an impressive rate thanks to new technologies and merchandising techniques, namely through mobile and tablet devices. As consumers are more and more connected to online commerce, so are the volumes of transactions taking place from a multitude of devices. Another major impact of the mobile explosion is the impact of comparison shopping. For example, many shoppers are using mobile apps and comparing prices while shopping in-store in an effort to find the best deal. This has ushered ecommerce retailers to place extra emphasis on their mobile presence and better integrate their mobile site into their overall brand experience, in addition to being more likely to having discount wars with larger retailers.

Kristina: What are you expecting to see during the back-to-school rush?

Matt: We're expecting to see just that: a rush. eMarketer predicts that digital sales for this year's back-to-school season will increase by 16% compared to 2013. With this additional shift on online shopping for sending the kids back to school expect a similar desire for consumers to seek bargains and discounts before making their purchases. In fact, NRF states that 3 in 10 back-to-school shoppers plan to do more comparison shopping online this year.

More from Matt and Volusion next week, including his top 3 tips to improve seasonal marketing plans.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: advertising, back to school spending, ecommerce, ecommerce trends, Volusion