Back-to-school shopping evolves with inflation, online apps, and recycling

First At Five: Back to the Basics First at Five takes stock of this year’s back-to-school shopping list – and how much it’s going to cost families.

Back-to-school shopping traditions continue to evolve alongside inflation, online options, and the growing popularity of reusing items.

Charlotte Sholten is about to enter Grade 8, and plans to salvage many school supplies from Grade 7.

“Binders, pencil cases, my calculator, my stapler,” says Sholten, listing some of the items she won’t be purchasing for September.

In addition to recycling, more families are planning to purchase second-hand for back-to-school shopping this year, (42 per cent, up from 40 per cent in 2023) according to a recent Deloitte survey.

There’s a potential of $31.3 billion in back-to-school shopping sales for Canadian retailers.

“It’s usually the number two in terms of largest spending time outside of the holidays, outside of Christmas time,” says Bruce Winder, a Toronto-based retail analyst. “It also represents a fairly high margin opportunity because you’re selling a lot of clothing and footwear which is generally a nice margin opportunity for retailers.”

The Deloitte survey finds Canadian families plan to budget an average of $586 per student for back-to-school shopping this year, compared to $597 in 2023, and $661 in 2022.

“You’re finding a tightening in how much parents are willing to spend on back-to-school,” says Winder. “Inflation is coming down, but it’s still high.”

The same survey also finds that key back-to-school shopping categories increased noticeably in price between 2020 and 2024, with children’s clothing up about 15 per cent, footwear up about 10 per cent, and stationary up about 25 per cent.

“Consumers are behaving differently,” says Winder. “One of the things they’re doing now is they’re looking for deals. They’ve given up on loyalty, so there’s less brand loyalty or store loyalty.”

Online shopping apps and websites are also changing habits, says Windsor.

“They have really picked up a lot of market share from general merchandisers in North America because they set the consumer up direct-to-factory.”

In addition to shopping, the survey finds eight in 10 Canadian parents plan to enroll their children in extra-curricular school activities this school year at an average cost of $582 per child.