Mastering the back-to-school season by focusing on agile inventory management

The back-to-school shopping season is a unique challenge and opportunity for brands and retailers. On one hand, it represents the beginning of the holiday shopping season; the first spike of the major retail period that, at this point, spans almost the entire second half of the year.

Despite the opportunity to bolster a winning Q4 that the upcoming surge of paying parents presents, a number of logistical hurdles in inventory management that can impact the customer experience tag along.

Back-to-school shopping is itself an anomaly within retail holidays in that it seems to deviate away from digital experiences. Because of the nature of the purchases — clothing for growing children in particular — as well as the annual ritual of shopping for school supplies, back-to-school shopping is primarily done in stores. A recent Publicis Commerce report showed that 87 percent of respondents expected to shop in person this year.

Yet the consumer journey is more complex than those numbers indicate; just because a customer isn't purchasing a product online doesn't mean they haven't interacted with your company online. For brands and retailers, connecting the online and in-store shopping experiences can boost sales and build brand loyalty into the future.

The value of an accurate online shopping experience

While it's true that the majority of back-to-school shopping is done offline (in stores), the actual buying journey typically begins online. A recent consumer survey found that 84% of respondents have researched products online before buying in-store, and 77% have browsed products in store before ultimately purchasing online. The path to purchase is rarely ever singular and direct; it often involves a mix of both online and in-store shopping.

Consumers are also increasingly price sensitive, particularly heading into this back-to-school shopping season. Surveys have shown that 30% of parents this year say that inflation will have an "extremely big" impact on their purchases. With such a focus on price, many parents will be hunting for deals, oftentimes doing research online to find the products their kids need before committing to a retailer.

What this means for retailers is that the online shopping environment needs to mirror what consumers can expect to find in stores. This not only means that prices and discounts need to be accurately reflected, but product information needs to be detailed, accurate, coherent and robust so customers can make an informed decision.

It's easy to write off more basic categories like pens and pencils as low-priority product groups, but it's essential that every piece of inventory is given attention online. If one lower-cost group is neglected, it could push customers away that are also making larger purchases. According to the National Retail Federation, 69% of customers — a record high — plan to purchase electronics this year. It's a missed opportunity for a retailer to lose a $500 computer purchase because a $5 pack of pens a parent is looking for isn't reflected on the store's website.

Leveraging automation to build a more agile product management system

The imperative is clear: brands and retailers need to provide detailed, up-to-date product information that accommodates the entire customer journey, online to in-store and vice versa. The challenge is managing the logistics of these changes quickly, ensuring that all product information is relevant prior to back-to-school sales season, and then ready to transition quickly to the next priority through to the holidays.

When this process is completely manual, it can be arduous, costly, and inaccurate. Manually replacing photos, videos, or other relevant information takes time and attention to detail, which requires man hours from product managers. When inventory needs to be adjusted quickly to meet customer and supplier expectations, this is simply a luxury brands and retailers don't have.

By instituting one composable, unified solution that leverages automation to manage the entire product record, product managers are able to streamline the process and centrally manage product data and digital assets. The use of automation enables major savings of time and resources through bulk editing and category modeling, which allows for simpler sorting and refinement.

This scalable use of automation makes any product inventory agile, ready to be turned over with seasonal sales and marketing cycles.

Focus on brand values and storytelling

By ensuring fast and accurate updates to product data, brands and retailers are given a baseline of accurate, up-to-date information for their customers. This synchronicity unifies the online and in-store shopping experience by ensuring that a customer can go from product research to purchase without feeling misled.

Having this baseline of accurate product information means a brand can focus on actually selling the product. The time previously spent cross-checking SKUs and product specifications can now be spent communicating brand values and creating space to make a more meaningful connection with a customer.

Back-to-school season is one of the most impactful shopping periods for retailers. As customers each have their own unique paths to purchase, retailers can ensure success by providing the most information in the most engaging way at every step of that journey.