Canadian Music Trade - August/September 2017 | Page 22

Be Ready for the Back-to-School Rush
By Megan Beam
I
t seems like only yesterday that the school bells rang
through the halls across the country to signify another
school year drawing to a close. But as tanned skin fades,
bug bites heal, and the warm weather begins to drift away
just a few months after, many parents and students are
now fully immersed in the back-to-school scramble ahead
of September.
As such, parents, teachers, and students from coast-
to-coast are taking retailers – clothing, stationary, and in
many cases, musical instruments – by storm. Some have been
planning their shopping lists months in advance to ensure they
have exactly what they want and need well ahead of the rush; in
other cases, last-minute shoppers are bursting through the doors
to snag the final few items they need to check off of their lists. It
can be a hectic time not only for the returning students and teach-
ers, but the retailers as well.
22 • CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE
According to the annual survey compiled by the National
Retail Federation, the combined spending for elementary, second-
ary, and post-secondary students is estimated to reach $83.6 billion
U.S. That’s a 10 per cent increase compared to last year’s findings.
Needless to say, it’s an important – and often stressful – period in
the fiscal years of many retailers.
Then again, it’s arguably just as stressful, or maybe even more
so, for parents preparing to push their kids onto the school bus for
the first time in months. Based on a recent poll done by Ebates.ca,
the expenses of school shopping and the hectic schedule associat-
ed with this time of year are two of the biggest stressors for Canadi-
ans when the back-to-school season hits. Nearly 97 per cent of Ca-
nadian parents say they are overwhelmed as it’s a transitioning time
for their whole families, but they make sure to do things in order to
include their kids in the process that is back-to-school shopping,
which includes bringing them along for in-store purchases, allowing