By Xinyu Tao | @deca.xinyutao | Bellevue DECA, WA
Every August and September, over 54.4 million students attend school in the United States alone. While it can be an opportunity to make friends, learn new things, or simply have another reason to not want to wake up, it’s all one big thing in the eyes of businesses: a huge opportunity to make money.
Back to School is a BIG business
Did you know in 2026, K-12 back-to-school spendings reached over $43.3 billion?? With that money, you can arm close to half the U.S. population with replica lightsabers (though prices would go up due to the extreme demand). It gets more ridiculous with college, with estimates by the National Retail Federation to reach a whopping $103.5 billion. x
This is what businesses refer to as seasonal demand, where a wave of demand happens in a specific time of the year, often repeatedly year after year.
Businesses prepare before students even return
We’ve all had that one friend who rush-shops for things right before school starts, and for the majority, people tend to start shopping in early July. Business, though, are ready long before that, usually months in advance. Often times demands are forecasted and orders are made to suppliers in order to ensure the inventory will keep up with the surge in demand once late June-early July hits
The Playbook:
Marketing: Back to school advertisements are everywhere; Social media videos and backpack billboards across highways where people see on their way back from summer vacation.
Urgency: Businesses know people are busy, and that majority of parents only have enough energy to care about the immediate needs. Sales like “lasting only till August 31st” or “limited supply” trigger FOMO (fear of missing out) among the targeted audience.
Fresh start: Businesses know consumers value novelty, and the idea of starting as a brand new person each school year is the ultimate motive to buy new goods. Thus businesses take advantage of this opportunity with fresh colors that signal the youth and excitement of back to school.
Everybody is involved, so we should know!
After all, we’re all consumers to an extent, yet that doesn’t mean we have to stay uneducated. Learning the mechanics behind how businesses tackle seasonal demand is exactly how we prevent overspending and prevent falling to marketing tactics.
So. Every time you see a billboard or poster with someone’s new school laptop, remember the bigger picture. For students, it's back to school, but for businesses, it's back to business.
