What a Back-to-School Consumer Report by PwC Reveals About Purchasing Behavior—and How to Respond

As families gear up for a new school year, the 2025 back-to-school season offers more than just a retail surge—it reflects changing consumer priorities, economic pressures, and increasing reliance on digital tools. For shippers, this shift is a signal to recalibrate strategies, ensure network flexibility, and deliver with greater precision.  

An Earlier Start Signals Changing Timelines

This year, shoppers are getting a head start. According to the National Retail Federation, 26% of K–12 and college shoppers had already begun their purchases by early June, compared to just 17% in 2019.  

What’s driving this shift? Economic uncertainty and concerns over rising prices, including potential tariff increases, are motivating consumers to buy early in hopes of avoiding inflation and supply constraints. This demand shift accelerates the traditional retail calendar, requiring shippers to plan for volume earlier in the summer and extend peak season operations well beyond historical norms.

Spending Remains Strong, Even Amid Uncertainty

Despite inflationary pressures and shifting economic conditions, overall consumer spending remains steady—and even growing. In fact, according to PwC, 3 in 4 back-to-school shoppers expect to spend the same or more this fall, offering little indication that inflation is curbing demand.  

More than 1 in 3 parents anticipate spending more than they did in 2024. While the total volume of purchases appears reliable, the way consumers are making those purchases is changing. That behavioral shift—more than the dollar amount—will drive complexity for supply chains this season.  

Value is Top of Mind for Every Shopper

Parents are more value-conscious than ever. 76% of families expect prices to rise this season, and nearly half are using digital tools—including AI-powered browser extensions and deal-finding apps—to uncover the best prices. Consumers are no longer brand-loyal or retailer-specific. Instead, they’re navigating across stores and platforms to maximize savings. Many are purchasing only essential items now and planning to delay secondary purchases until after the school year begins.

This behavior introduces greater variability in the size, timing, and location of orders, compressing delivery windows and amplifying fulfillment complexity. As a result, shippers must be equipped to handle unpredictable demand spikes while maintaining cost efficiency and service-level performance.

Technology Leads Spending, While Fulfillment Grows More Complex

Technology remains a leading category for back-to-school spending in 2025, with a growing number of parents prioritizing investments in laptops, tablets, and accessories to support their children’s education. More than a quarter of families plan to spend over $500 on tech purchases, reflecting a shift in back-to-school priorities that now extend far beyond traditional supplies like notebooks and pencils. This demand is driving more frequent, higher-value shipments—particularly in the electronics category—often requiring specialized packaging, secure handling, and fast delivery.

At the same time, shopping behaviors continue to span both digital and physical channels. While many consumers are taking advantage of online deals and digital tools to plan purchases, there is still strong in-store activity—especially among younger parents like Gen Z, who are surprisingly more likely to shop exclusively in brick-and-mortar stores. This multichannel approach underscores the need for flexible, responsive logistics that can support a range of fulfillment models, from direct-to-home delivery to ship-to-store and in-store pickup.

AI Use Among Shoppers Is Shaping Digital Discovery

As back-to-school shoppers become more comfortable using AI tools to find deals, summarize product reviews, and compare prices, their expectations around speed and convenience are evolving. This behavior is not just reshaping how consumers browse—it’s creating a new standard for how products are surfaced and evaluated online.

For retailers and brands, this trend underscores the growing importance of digital channel optimization. As AI-powered shopping assistants and browser extensions become more prevalent, so too does the need to improve search visibility, product data accuracy, and online discoverability. Ensuring that product information is structured and accessible for AI tools isn’t just a marketing priority—it’s fast becoming essential for conversion.

While the consumer use of AI doesn’t directly impact logistics operations yet, it does indirectly influence demand patterns and fulfillment pressure by accelerating decision-making and concentrating purchases around competitive pricing and availability. For shippers, that means being ready to meet these accelerated timelines with flexible, data-driven fulfillment strategies that can support front-end innovation without sacrificing back-end reliability.

What These Trends Mean for the Supply Chain

The 2025 back-to-school season offers a clear picture of how consumer behaviors are evolving—and what that means for supply chains. Demand remains strong, but it's now spread over a longer horizon and shaped by real-time digital influences. Shoppers are moving earlier, spending more strategically, and embracing new tools to optimize every purchase.

For supply chain leaders, this requires a renewed focus on adaptability and visibility. Logistics strategies must support fluctuations in buying cadence, fulfillment complexity, and omnichannel operations. Inventory should be positioned where it’s most likely to move, carriers should be selected based on performance and flexibility, and fulfillment processes must be agile enough to respond to dynamic consumer behavior.