SUMMER BREAK MEANSBACK-TO-SCHOOL FOR MARKETERSA Look At Shopping Trends Across Key AudiencesJUNE 2016

June 2016

Summer Break Means Back-to-School for MarketersA Look At Shopping Trends Across Key Audiences

For students, summertime means a break from classes and pop quizzes. But for marketers, the “school” work is just beginning. The start of summer is high time to get those back-to-school media plans in line.

Moving the needle on back-to-school sales this year hinges on engaging all stakeholders—from parents and students, to Young Adults and Multicultural audiences.

Back-to-school retail sales are estimated to grow to $828 million dollars this year, with ecommerce expected to grow 15%1, making digital and mobile critical for your back-to-school media plans. It’s time to evolve beyond just mom-and-dad marketing and think about partnering with a publisher that can reach all school-time decision makers at the right time, in the right place and with the right message.

Music plays an important part in defining people’s summertime experiences and is a constant companion for new school year preparation. A recent Pandora Soundboard listener panel revealed that nearly 80% of Pandora listeners take the service with them during their back-to-school shopping journey—from browsing online and driving to the mall, to shopping in-store. Music is a powerful medium to tap into an audience at scale and stay top of mind during the back-to-school season.

The study, which surveyed only Pandora listeners who participate in back-to-school shopping, also took a look at which audiences shop early, late and everything in between. What we discovered is that back-to-school shopping is a long-lead summertime activity.

80% of Listeners Take Pandora With Them While Back-to-School Shopping.

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The Early CrowdParents are First in Line for Back-to-School ShoppingParents are one of the busiest groups involved in the back-to-school process. They juggle careers, raise families and care for themselves, all at once. To get ahead of back-to-school preparation, 40% of parents start researching 4-8 weeks before the first day of school and make their purchases anytime throughout the summer.

With 78% considering price the biggest purchase driver of brands, the vast majority of parents value a good deal and spend the summertime searching for the best sales and promotions.

Parents between the ages of 18-34 are 23% more likely to shop 1-2 months before school starts than other parents. On average, these parents have young children with simple school needs and less “pester power,” allowing them to make back-to-school decisions without polling the entire family first. This means shopping in the moment and on mobile is more realistic for Millennial parents. Last year, nearly half of all back-to-school traffic online was on mobile2, so with more Millennials entering into parenthood we can only expect the importance of mobile to increase this year and in the years to come.

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1 in 2 Parents Listen to Pandora3

Millennial Dads are the earliest shoppers when it comes to back-to-school shopping. 56% will buy 4-8 weeks ahead of time!

Parents who shop 4-8 weeks before school starts

African-Americans both research and purchase back-to-school items 2-3 weeks before the first day of school. This audience doesn’t like to wait until the last minute, but does prefer to wrap up their back-to-school shopping before summer ends. African-Americans are also likely to spend more in 2016 than they did in 2015, indicating growing wallet power—a data point marketers should take note of when building their back-to-school marketing plans.

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Right On TimeAfrican-Americans Shop on Schedule

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African-American Back-to-School Shopping Trends

36% of African-Americans Listen to Pandora3

Early summer shopping4-8 weeks before

school starts

Mid-summer shopping2-3 weeks before

school starts

Late summer shopping1 week before school

starts or later

20% 52% 28%

If we look at the younger end of Millennials, the story is much different. Young Adults (those between the ages of 18-24) prefer to wait until the last minute to complete their school purchases, with 52% buying one week before the start of school or later. Young Adults are more likely to be the student, so their back-to-school shopping habits depend on their own needs, wants and schedule. This could be easily misinterpreted as a case of “senioritis,” but Young Adults are not just procrastinating. In fact, 1 in 3 start researching back-to-school items amidst their summertime activities, as early as 4-8 weeks before school starts. This prolonged research and purchase cycle reveals what’s important to this audience: their peers and what’s trending on campus. Our study found that 36% of Young Adults look to their friends and family to influence back-to-school shopping decisions. For marketers, staying top of mind for Young Adults involves having a steady cadence of advertising throughout the summer season and into the school year.

Last Minute ShoppersYoung Adults Wait to See What’s Trending on Campus

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Young Adults Research Early but Buy Late

54% of Young Adults Listen to Pandora3

36% Research4-8 weeks before

52% Make purchases the week before or after school starts

More than 1 in 5 students enrolled in the U.S. identify as Hispanic-American4, presenting an incredible opportunity for marketers as the new school year approaches. Hispanic-Americans are the back-to-school “power shoppers” who embrace every phase of the path to purchase. While many will research and purchase back-to-school items steadily throughout the summer, nearly 50% of Hispanic-American consumers wait until one week before school starts or later to buy. This audience likes to evaluate all their options, typically participating in three shopping visits (in-store or online) before committing to a purchase5.

The Power ShoppersHispanic-Americans Embrace Every Phase of the Shopping Cycle

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Hispanic-American Back-to-School Shopping Trends

Nearly 1 in 2 Hispanic-Americans Listen to Pandora3

30% 48%22%

Early summer shopping4-8 weeks before

school starts

Mid-summer shopping2-3 weeks before

school starts

Late summer shopping1 week before school

starts or later

To ensure you’re reaching all the key back-to-school decision makers this year, marketers must remain relevant and top of mind throughout the summer season. Understanding that music and mobile are essential to the back-to-school shopping experience and a constant companion for parents and students is a good place to start.

Pandora is #1 in mobile time spent3 and offers marketers a massive audience of nearly 80 million active monthly listeners6—the majority of whom listen during the back-to-school shopping process. That means all back-to-school stakeholders and decision makers are on Pandora. We have over 1,000 targeting segments available today to reach these audiences, offering a combination of first and third party sources for robust targeting capabilities—including everything from Parents of Children 6-11 and 17 & Under, to College Students, Soccer Moms, Young Techies and even Fashionistas.

Pandora’s attention-based media solutions—including sponsoring a live experiential event, creating custom music content or utilizing engagement-driven audio, display and video solutions—are all powerful ways to propel your back-to-school strategy forward this summer.

So, who do you need to reach this back-to-school season?

Ace the Back-to-School SeasonWith an Audience at Scale

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Sources:

1 eMarketer, “Back-to-School Retail Sales to Grow 2.6% This Year,” June 2016

2 IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, September 2015

3 comScore, Media Metrix and Mobile Metrix, May 2016

4 U.S. Census Report via Univision Communications, “Hispanic Back-to-School Shopping Behavior,” August 2015

5 ThinkNow, Understanding Hispanics’ Back-To-School Shopping Behavior, August 2015 6 Pandora Internal Metrics, Q1 2016 Unless otherwise sourced: Pandora Soundboard Back-to-School Study, September 2015 (For Back-to-School timing stats, respondents who shop year-round have been filtered out.)

WHEN PANDORA PLAYS, YOUR MESSAGE WORKS.

www.advertising.pandora.com @pandorapulse