Away for the week, but wanted to make sure we keep this post up as the school year gets underway ... Here are some of the background notes re: getting the most bang for your back-to-school buck. We're all over this in our house, starting with a vocabulary lesson on NEED vs WANT! This exercise alone is a windfall. We'll keep this post up & continue to update it with some of the best, most current offers.
BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING - 2008
The back-to-school season kicked off this month and will last through mid-September ... And While it's considered the second-busiest retail period behind Christmas, back-to-school spending is estimated to rise at the slowest pace in seven years.
WITH summer gas prices hovering around $4 dollar A GALLON ... some savvy shoppers ARE reaching for their keyboards instead of their car keys ... taking to the Internet in search of back-to-school deals and special offers ... AND many e-tailers are deliverING unprecedented VALUE ...
AOL CONSUMER ADVISOR
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RECENT SURVEYS SHOW THE AVERAGE FAMILY WITH SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WILL SPEND NEARLY $600.00 ON BACK-TO-SCHOOL PUCHASES ... AND A BIGGER CHUNK OF THAT MONEY MAY BE SPENT ONLINE THIS YEAR?
- When you look at grades K-12, recent surveys indicate there will be an up-tick in online back-to-school shopping ...
- Already, in recent weeks, a surprising "bright spot" in retail has been big players, including Gap and JC Penney experiencing double-digit sales growth on their shopping sites. And it makes perfect sense when you consider online shopping has always been about three things: 1) selection, 2) price, 3) convenience.
- Selection online is bigger than ever, the prices are competitive and if you can take advantage of FREE or discounted shipping offers, by the time you factor in gas, your total cost could be lower ... and convenience just paid for itself. Bottom line: Consumers don't want to take the risk of spending time and gas driving from store to store hunting for things.
LET'S TALK THROUGH SOME OF THE ONLINE OFFERS YOU'RE SEEING FROM SOME SPECIFIC ONLINE STORES ...
Online sales for GAP a full 21% over this time last year. They have a new web strategy where you can shop at all three of their big brands – GAP, Old Navy, & Banana Republic (+ their new shoe store piperlime.com ) on one site – it's four stores and one checkout. You can buy as much as you want and get FLAT RATE SHIPPING of only $7. If on the other hand you were to drive to 3 or 4 different stores looking for something – it's easy to start doing the math on how much gas you might burn through.
$7 FLAT RATE SHIPPING SOUNDS LIKE A PRETTY GOOD DEAL ... WHAT ABOUT FREE SHIPPING OFFERS ... ARE THERE MANY OF THOSE OUT THERE RIGHT NOW?
Absolutely. We usually only see this many offers around the holidays, but e-tailers know their most effective online promotion is FREE SHIPPING. In some cases you have to meet a minimum purchase amount (say $50) for the free shipping to kick in; or free shipping may only apply to certain items/categories.
Some current offers – keep in mind some of these offer change daily, so check back often:
- JCPenney.com – free shipping on all orders $99 and up.
- Target.com – free shipping on kids clothes when you spend $50 or more. Free shipping on select dorm room furniture.
- Zappos.com – huge online shoe store – free shipping & free return shipping 365 days a year.
- Kohls.com – free shipping when you spend $75 or more.
- Walmart.com – free shipping "site to store." Still a good option since it keeps you from running in circles in Walmart and by shopping online you know right away whether they have the sizes, styles, items you're after.
- Website freeshipping.org currently has free shipping promotions listed for over 800 online stores. Some offers require a coupon code, others again may require you to hit a certain purchase amount.
YOU SAY EVEN WITH FREE OR FLATRATE SHIPPING, IT'S IMPORTANT TO DO THE OVERALL MATH ... EXPLAIN THAT?
You have to take the total cost of your online purchase – that's merchandise + any shipping costs and weigh that against what it would cost you to drive to the store – or multiple stores.
You can use sites like MapQuest.com to plot out trips before you hop in the car, so you know exactly how far you're going and if you're taking the fastest route.
If you drive an SUV, live 15 miles from the mall and you're getting 15 miles to the gallon – at $4.00+ a gallon – multiple trips to the mall are not your friend. That's when it may pay off -- and the total cost may be cheaper -- to have items sent to your doorstep.
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EVEN THOSE WHO MAY NOT BE BUYING ONLINE ... THEY CAN BENEFIT BY USING THE INTERNET TO LAY OUT A GAME PLAN FOR THEIR SHOPPING TRIP?
Sure. For every purchase made online, many more are influenced by researching products first. And, you can take it a step further by knowing instantly if the items you're after are "in stock." That way you don't get in the car only to find out when you get there, they're sold out. CircuitCity.com, for example, has an inventory tracker, that will instantly tell you if an item is available in stores near you BEFORE you get in the car.
ANY TIPS FOR PARENTS WHO ARE GETTING THOSE NO SO SUBTLE NUDGES FROM THEIR KIDS AS TO WHAT THEY WHAT THEY WANT (OR NEED) FOR BACK TO SCHOOL ... YOU KNOW THEY JUST HAVE TO HAVE WHAT THE OTHER COOL KIDS HAVE, RIGHT?
- There's definitely a lot of negotiating going on between pre-teens, teens and parents.
- Have a game plan: Make a list, set a budget, and go online together with your son/daughter to do your shopping. We'll be following this drill in our house this w-end.
- There's going to be some give and take – maybe you agree to get them the one pair of designer jeans or shoes from Nordstrom.com and in return they're willing to spend the rest of the budget on a site offering deeper discounts like Target or Walmart.com.
- By shopping online you can also take away some of the temptation of those impulse buys. By constantly reviewing your shopping cart, you can view the running total you're spending – that alone can help you stay on budget – there are no surprises at the register.
SWITCHING GEARS TO COLLEGE-AGE KIDS ... ONE OF THE BIGGEST BACK-TO-SCHOOL EXPENSES FOR THEM ARE OFTEN TEXTBOOKS ... BUT YOU SAY THERE'S LOTS OF MONEY TO BE SAVED BY BYPASSING THE COLLEGE BOOKSTORE?
The average college student spends $900 annually on textbooks. The price at the campus bookstore used to be the price you paid and that was that, but that's not the case these days – there's competition. And with a single hardcover book sometimes costing in excess of $100.00 new, if you can save 30, 40, 50%, why wouldn't you?
For those who plan to go this route, BestBookBuys.com is a good starting point. It's a textbook comparison shopping site that searches the Internet for your textbooks across dozens of textbook sites and thousands of independent sellers on eBay, Amazon.com's Marketplace and other sources.
Most textbook resellers also offer to buy back your used books. So you save on the front end and cash in a little bit on the back-end.
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