22 Back To School Marketing Ideas For eCommerce Stores

Back To School has become the second-largest retail occasion in the US. However, 41% of shoppers plan to split their Back To School shopping between online and retail channels. 

Why: rising costs – better deals. This is why, we’ve come up with these 22 really amazing Back To School marketing ideas for your eCommerce store:

22 Ideas For Back To School Marketing Campaigns (eCommerce)

1. Start early

2. Reward early planners with free shipping

3. Offer a wishlist – or a bundle

4. Advertise on deal websites (or school supply checklist websites)

5. Partner with schools and colleges

6. Change your homepage banner

7. Sprinkle your socials with Back To School ideas

8. Partner up with family and kid-creators

9. Drive FOMO with your packaging

10. Use Pinterest for driving inspiration

11. Keep up with the trends of Gen Alpha

12. Showcase your social causes

13. Publish guest posts on influential sites

14. Optimize your Google Merchant Center listings

15. Plan a solid Back To School email campaign

16. Create custom landing pages

17. Show Back To School suggestions in your *website search results*

18. Create a separate category

19. Offer special discounts in your lead-capture pop-ups

20. Upsell and cross-sell with custom product pages

21. Offer installment payments through BNPL payment options

22. Use SMS to collect feedback, announce sales, and provide exclusive access

1. Start early

Rising costs mean early demand. This is why almost 30% of Back To School shoppers dive into planning mode as early as June. 

August is the month when this retail occasion really takes off. It's actually when schools reopen. (the months may prepone or postpone according to the country you’re in).

So, what does this mean for you, the eCommerce retailer? You pick out the sweet spot a month before the Back To School season starts – and start planting ideas.

Start targeting search engine results pages – use keywords focused on ‘back to school deals’ and ‘back to school outfit ideas.’

This lets you target the top of the funnel shoppers in their early months of planning – here’s an example of this in action: 

Remember: 56% of Back To Class consumers start their shopping by early July. Take a look at how Kid to Kid uses Facebook ads, from the last weeks of June to announce the launch of their Back To School collection on July 20th, giving them just enough time to build up hype:

P.S. Consider running ads on platforms like Spotify and Reddit – to reach younger audiences – instead of offering a plain discount, direct them to a giveaway or a challenge. 

FURTHER READING: eCommerce Marketing Calendar 2024 (& Tips on How to Promote)

2. Reward early planners with free shipping

Free shipping is a conversion driver. However, for Back To School shoppers, free shipping is a huge motivator. 

Why: they're already on the hunt for savings – and, no one in their right mind would want to shell out $10 bucks for shipping—if they're just buying a $10 product. 

So, offering a threshold of even flat-rate shipping lets you increase your order value – retain customers – and offer better UX:

Just remember to add a prompt on your cart page along the lines of “add $X more to get your order shipped for free.”

FURTHER READING: Free Shipping: Still a Conversion Driver in 2024?

3. Offer a wishlist – or a bundle

Back To School shoppers are known to buy in bulk. However, there’s no point in giving a bulk discount on 50 SKUs of a pencil. 

Instead, what you can offer is a curated kit – something that takes care of their yearly chunk of products. 

For example, apart from clothing and electronics, school supply items (like crayons, and notebooks) take up about $140 to $150 of the Back To School shopping budget. 

Remember: according to 73% of shoppers, school supply costs have been rising steadily. This is why a curated kit of a year's worth of school supply items for $99.99 makes perfect sense:

FURTHER READING: 15 Product Bundling Examples That Convert (& 9 Proven Ideas)

4. Advertise on deal websites (or school supply checklist websites)

Chances are your ideal shoppers are already looking for deals – so, why not jump the line? 

This strategy is a lot similar to guest posting. Just find common websites that list coupons, deals, Back To School supply checklists, or similar – like Teacher’s Lists (users can look up schools on the website by Zip):

The next step is to submit your site’s custom coupons for your Back To School sales – here’s an example from The Krazy Coupon Lady:

P.S. You can take this strategy a step further, and offer an affiliate model coupon to these deal-finder sites (this will ensure better visibility and better placement, of course). 

FURTHER READING: 31 Creative (Yet Economical) Ways To Drive Traffic To Your eCommerce Store

5. Partner with schools and colleges

This Back To School hack will create demand for your products throughout the season. The only caveat? You have to plan far ahead. 

You can consider creating school merchandise like school uniforms, coffee mugs, etc. – or inspire teachers on certain projects. 

Projects that will require items from your store exclusively – or directly influence purchases like this:

It’s worth remembering, that partnerships like these are how school uniforms command an entire market:

P.S. You can take it up a notch and help your partner colleges run giveaways of custom school merchandise through their own social media accounts – here’s how the University of Tyler does it:

‍FURTHER READING: 18 Brilliant Ways To Convert First-Time Visitors Into Buyers (eCommerce)

6. Change your homepage banner

Once, you’ve got all the above ideas going – change your homepage banner immediately.

Add a short teaser of your collection during June and July to announce the launch of your Back To School collection:

Change it to reflect a quiz or a discount (depending on your sales strategy) on Back To School products, from the end of July to the end of August.

The idea here is to lead people from your landing pages/social media/search engines to the intended areas of your website, as quickly as possible.

P.S. Keep the design as light and colorful as possible – use pastel colors, patterns, and cartoons to draw attention to your Back To School sale.

FURTHER READING: 7 Pillars of a High-Converting eCommerce Homepage (+ Examples)

7. Sprinkle your socials with Back To School ideas

The next step is to of course start creating content. 

Now, this content can be focused on kids, parents, or teachers. Either way, your goal here is to give out solid tips. 

Remember: good advice gets you remembered. It can be solid life tips on how to cope with school, or project ideas about how to set up a classroom – check this example:

P.S. You can also create a video on “I didn’t realize you could do this at school” moments – and ask users to comment on their experiences for a reward – say something like, “best comment wins an opportunity to host a night DJ party at {uber-cool location}.”

FURTHER READING: 10 eCommerce brands winning at Social Commerce (+ Lessons we can learn from them)

8. Partner up with family and kid-creators

Most of the time, high school or any other Back To School is tough on both kids and parents. 

This is why, if you think your brand isn't the place to offer advice (or just isn't that big yet), collaborate with a creator, who you think is perfect for your target audience. 

The best part? You don't have to go out of your way to come up with advice – you can simply pay to place your products in their Back To School haul. 

Here's an example from Miss Charli showing her journey on her high-school supply haul:

P.S. For family creators, the easiest way to do this is to show a day in the life. Also, once in a while, use your company's socials to leave a comment on videos on Back To School struggles. 

FURTHER READING: 27 Brilliant User-Generated Content Examples (eCommerce)

9. Drive FOMO with your packaging

Remember getting your first-ever PS4? Hands trembling – tearing through the packaging with unbridled joy?

Well, that’s exactly what you need for your Back To School campaigns. While kids may not be exactly gaga about packaging – you’ll get to see their joy as they receive their dream haul. 

This is why we recommend that you incentivize shoppers to capture their kids getting/unboxing their Back To School haul. Get those videos, and repost them on your website and socials. Doing this will help you build the FOMO and work your way towards sales. 

Here's an example from an influencer collab with Kidpik, a kids apparel brand:

FURTHER READING: 20 Powerful FOMO Marketing Ideas for eCommerce

10. Use Pinterest for driving inspiration

Pinterest was always that niche platform, the savior of arts and crafts assignments, the room decoration wizard. 

So, it only makes sense that you tag shoppable Back To School products through pins showing checklists or printables—here's an example: 

Just remember to loop in keywords and include as many visual angles as you can. 

FURTHER READING: eCommerce visual search: 9 smart optimization tips (+ 4 tools to use)

11. Keep up with the trends of Gen Alpha

Gen Alpha may seem like a generation, unfazed by traditional marketing efforts. 

Actually, they are a community-oriented generation that can see through but still choose your brand (provided you align with their expectations). 

Start standing up for a cause – be more inclusive. For example, here's a TikTok video, where a teen shows off their backpack from The North Face: 

What's great about North Face – and why is Gen Alpha down with it? It supports athletes – contributes to empowering people and aims for the greater good of the planet. 

Does this mean you label yourself as an advocate of sustainability? Absolutely not. 

FURTHER READING: How to Market to Gen Alpha?

12. Showcase your social causes 

All social causes don't have to be about sustainability or doing some form of cause marketing.

Instead, choose something that's way more authentic – more in sync with the Back To School theme. 

Did you know? Teachers in the US spend roughly $470+ for classroom supplies. 

This is why Really Good Stuff does a fundraiser – a wishlist for teachers and schools: 

FURTHER READING: 12 eCommerce Brands Acing Cause Marketing in 2024

13. Publish guest posts on influential sites

SEO isn't something you crack in one day. This is why we recommend taking this approach. 

Sure, it puts you in between some competitors. However, affiliate marketers would take this approach at best. This means you get qualified traffic without spending excessively on ads. 

The idea is to reach out to online lifestyle magazines, and pediatric publications – and offer to create/pay for a post covering your products. Here's an example from a blog post by House Beautiful:

14. Optimize your Google Merchant Center listings

If you're going big on SEO, writing blogs and guest posts, you’re only covering the top of the funnel. 

Your search engine shopping listings need an entirely different strategy. The goal is to target keywords that contain “kit”, “deal”, and “{school_product_name} school set.”

Ensure that your listings are fetching your current deals – showing reviews along with updated pricing – and, above all, ranking for the right keywords 🙂:

FURTHER READING: 3 eCommerce SEO mistakes to avoid and get more conversions 

15. Plan a solid Back To School email campaign

Back To School season is mostly about savings. However, it isn't exactly a one-day thing. Planning your Back To School emails out can make all the difference. 

You could start by sending out suggestions from your first batch of Back To School emails – retarget and remind last year's purchasers to stock up – or offer early access:

The next step is to announce the sale launch – and kickstart the planning. The approaches here can be multiple. You can take the flash sale route – or slowly build up the urgency with a drip campaign. 

Check how Clarks educates parents about the necessity of having well-fitting shoes for growing feet: 

FURTHER READING: 24 Amazing Drip Email Campaign Examples That Actually Drive Sales

16. Create custom landing pages

Custom landing pages for your Back To School collections will be useful for your ads – as well as your social media pages. The trick here is using different landing pages for each channel. 

For example, a shorter but neatly classified landing page with categories by gender, school grade, product type, and brands will be useful for people coming in from social media or search engines:

Whereas, longer landing pages with planning guides for helping teachers/parents/kids find the perfect use-case are more useful for shoppers from ads:

FURTHER READING: 33 High-Converting Product Landing Page Examples

17. Show Back To School suggestions in your *website search results*  

Site search users convert 2X more than regular shoppers – but, nearly 36% of all eCommerce site searches fail miserably when it comes to understanding themes. 

This is why it’s important to treat your search bar as an advertisement banner. You can use it to show discounts on trending Back To School products with subtle visual cues. 

Or, show suggestions on searches like ‘kit’, ‘pencils’, and ‘lunchboxes.’ Check how this example does exactly this, and, shows the lowest prices in red to catch the attention of shoppers:

FURTHER READING: Get more conversions from Search Results page –15 proven ideas 

18. Create a separate category 

How you categorize a collection is directly linked to how discoverable it can be. 

Therefore, if you want users to quickly navigate to what they’re looking for – categorize by the most popular product type and use case. 

Categories can also be based on school grades, ages, locations, and even the severity of use (basics, essentials, upgrades) – check how this example does this:

FURTHER READING: Build high-converting category pages (13 ideas + great examples)

19. Offer special discounts in your lead-capture pop-ups

Run this pop-up ahead of the school season. Target product URLs that cater to classroom supplies – like Sharpies, wall decorations, etc.:

You can repeat this idea for students/parents of students in the month of August. Use your pop-up to give them incentives to create a custom Back To School/Back To College wishlist – and get it ahead of time, with a discount or free shipping. 

Use copy like “School's starting. So is our sale. Get early access.” Doing this lets you build loyal fans (and clear out any leftover stock from the previous year). 

P.S. Consider using your SMS to announce your special discounts to your subscriber base – here’s how Michael announces a special discount for teachers:

FURTHER READING: Exit-Intent Pop-Ups: overcoming common mistakes + 20 brilliant examples

20. Upsell and cross-sell with custom product pages

Back To School shopping can often be kind of hurried and last-minute. This is why your standard product page copy may not cut the deal.

Why: you need the shopper to feel that they're getting a deal as well as excellent quality products. 

What you need to do is restructure your upsells with copy like:

• “Add these to your Back To School shopping” 
• “Others added these to their Back To School lists”

Other than that, consider showing personalized recommendations – check this “wear it with” section: 

However, that's not all – you will also need to offer shoppers social proof that the product is gonna last, throughout the semester. 

This means you will have to display reviews, comparison charts, and UGC videos from your socials. 

P.S. Consider sending a retargeting pop-up or a curated browse abandonment email to nail your upsells/cross-sells:

FURTHER READING: How to Cross-sell on Product Pages—Without Being Pushy (+ Examples)

21. Offer installment payments through BNPL payment options

If you're selling high-value products, an installment option can be what you need to move forward with the sale. 

All you have to do is offer BNPL payment options like Sezzle, Klarna, or Afterpay – and make sure you're highlighting the same on your product page:

FURTHER READING: How Do I Increase My Website’s Checkout Rate? (25 Proven Ideas)

22. Use SMS to collect feedback, announce sales, and provide exclusive access

In addition to using emails, you can remind existing customers using SMS – this lets you get sales from your new or slow-moving products early on. 

Here’s how Michaels Craft store does it for their new Back To School arrivals: 

Other than that, you can also perform a quick audit of your existing customers by asking them what they would like to see for the Back To School season from your brand:

FURTHER READING: 30 Best Examples of Nudge Marketing in eCommerce

People Also Ask

Who do I target for my Back To School marketing campaigns?

Back To School campaigns are made for kids – but, it’s mostly parents that do the shopping. 

This is why your eCommerce store needs to act as a guide – reassure parents that “what you’re buying is kid-approved” or to put it more simply, “your kids will dig this!”

All while building a rapport with younger generations on social media.

What are the most commonly sold Back To School products?

US households spend nearly 900 dollars (on avg.) on yearly Back To School shopping (Statista). Here are the most common product segments that get the most spending according to NRF:

• $293 on electronics
• $264 on clothing
• $168 on shoes

The rest goes towards school supplies, stationery, and other miscellaneous items.

Ready to send your eCommerce store Back To School?

98% of visitors to your eCommerce store will drop off – without buying anything.

Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors (even if you land your Back To School marketing ideas).

And this is the problem that Convertcart solves.

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions.

How we can help you:

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions for Back To School season and beyond. 

The best part? This one’s on us. 🙂