In the 90s when our school was about to reopen, most of us millennials remember covering our notebooks and textbooks with brown paper covers and impeccably placing our name stickers on our new year’s academic haul. Then there were those unpleasant visits to the same store every other year to pick up school uniforms and shoes where a typical middle-income family mother would insist we get a “slightly larger” uniform so that we would grow into it for the next two years. Things were simpler in the nineties but cut to 2019, and it feels like back to school promotions in India have become a season to watch out for.
The Market
Back to school season in India starts from May and continues up to August. School-going children now have a strong opinion as consumers and parents (predominantly mothers) now merely play the role of making the final decision and paying for it. According to CNBC, though traditionally back-to-school purchases were considered a mom’s responsibility, dads are increasingly taking a role in household purchases, and it’s opening a door for consumer product goods companies and other child-based brands to market to a new demographic: millennial fathers. In addition to school going children, the TG for the season also includes college going kids and adults in the age group of 16 to 22 years.
According to Indicus Analytics in 2009 around 7,00,000 students in the top five Indian metros came from families with enough purchasing power to interest retailers and businesses. Average spends of Rs.3000 means an estimated back to school market of over Rs.200 crores… and this was a decade back.
Cut to 2019, when a top-notch printer is now a mandate in every house for primary school projects and a 7th Gen laptop for every soon to-enter-college goer. Today in 2019 a more mature market and increased purchasing power not only in metros, but also in tier 2 and 3 cities, has led to higher average spending during this season. The weeks between carefree holidays and schools reopening are emerging as a sweet spot for back to school promotions in India for retail, e-commerce and consumer electronics sectors that are tapping this market.
In this blog, we’ll be discussing some interesting campaigns targeted at the same audience and with the same objective to increase sales to inspire some cool ideas for your back to school promotions.
Some Quality ‘Family Time’ On-the-house
With the rise of double-income families, spending more time with their kids is always on a parent’s mind. A brand needs t0 tap into this insight for creating back to school promotions. Experiential rewards that give this TG another reason to spend more time together – is bound to get their attention. Experiences together as a family are intangible, which means the value you’re offering is immeasurable. Some of the rewards that are aligned with this idea which can get families to spend from a few hours to a few days together are:
- Free travel/vacation like trips to Disney Land/Universal studios
- A family day out at nearby resorts or theme parks
- Movie tickets
- Pizza/burger meals
For their summer collection, BigCity helped Max with an exciting promotion targeted at families with an assured reward of ‘Family Day Out’ having a perceived value of Rs.2500+ on a purchase of Rs.2999.
A Little Technology Detox for Healthy Growth
Most parents today are anxious about their children spending too much time indoors exploring their devices than outdoors exploring themselves. With this insight, it’s a good idea for a brand to explore a different kind of reward for this TG. Something that gets kids outdoors and makes parents happy as well. Some rewards that are aligned with this idea which achieve the objective of getting kids off their devices and outside the house are:
- Activity sessions – like Bowling or Go Karting
- Hobby classes – like baking, painting, robotics and more
- Sports sessions – like Skating or Football
The perfect example of this is a promotion that Allen Solly ran, where BigCity curated cool activities like, skating, horse riding, baking, dancing, photography, and robotics. For kids, this was a fun holiday session, and for parents, it was a value-oriented reward that led to kids stepping out.
For a Bright Future…
Raising a child in today’s time is a very expensive task for almost everyone. Any kind of help goes a long way. With this need in mind, brands can give away academic/sports scholarships to strengthen their goodwill and create a buzz through back to school promotions.
In addition to increasing sales, Britannia Bar cakes also wanted to create goodwill in the minds of its primary TG – kids and their parents. With this brief, we came up with an on-pack offer for Britannia where Scholarships worth Rs.1 Lakh were given away every day for 45 days to lucky customers.
With ever-increasing needs of school and college going kids, back to school promotions in India have the potential to grow to Diwali-level importance for Retail, E-commerce and Consumer Electronics sector. The sooner this season is given due importance, the better a brand can understand how to crack this season with flying colours.
For first rank in back to school promotions among a class of brands around you, get in touch with our experts at marketing@bigcity.in or 080-4055-4844.
