Retail’s digital-first approach to back-to-school marketing

Back to school is one of the most important times of the year for many retailers. And with some students ready to actually *go* back to school this year, companies saw the opportunity to capitalize.

Teenage dream: Apparel brand Francesca’s, for example, used all the digital tools at its disposal to get in front of shoppers—from social to email to search, CEO Andrew Clarke told Retail Brew.

• This year, Francesca’s added TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest as new channels to diversify messaging across social platforms.
• Marketing spend returned to pre-pandemic levels after falling last autumn, he added.

“We’re always monitoring where our customers are engaging and developing our marketing strategy and media plan to ensure we’re showing up in the channels she prefers,” Clarke said.

Timed right: Back to school is Francesca’s second-largest revenue driver, behind the holidays, according to Clarke (although he did not provide specific numbers), and a chance for the company to “sample new product and promotional ideas.”

“For example, last year we tested loungewear, and it sold out in three weeks. And we went on to build this into a brand-new category for Francesca’s,” Clarke said.

• Earlier this year, the company introduced a tween line called Franki, which was a large focus of this year’s back-to-school season.

“Our customer did not have a back-to-school last year, and she didn’t really buy clothes throughout fall, especially for activities outside her own home so now she wants to and needs to change up her closet,” Clarke said.

• Francesca’s sales this back-to-school season were roughly 20% higher than a typical week.

Stay connected

Connected commerce—the idea that customers don’t think of buying in channels, whether it’s social, DTC, or offline—is changing how and where brands decide to spend their ad dollars, Josh Dreller, director of content marketing at Skai, told Retail Brew.

“The companies that are the most successful are the ones that are pretty much de-siloing all these channels,” Dreller said, referring to the Amazons, Targets, and Walmarts of the world. “There’s a lot of budget waste that could be going to driving people to purchase wherever they are, whenever they are.”

Digital first: General Mills heard that loud and clear this year. The CPG giant boosted its Box Tops for Education campaign—with the help of e-commerce marketing analytics firm MikMak—and added a click-to-buy option for shoppers, Stephanie Steidl, morning foods commerce manager, told Retail Brew.

• The top converting channels among MikMak’s clients are Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, Rachel Tipograph, founder and CEO, told Retail Brew. And conversion rates this back-to-school season were 6.4%, compared with 4.8% a year ago.—KM

Correction: An earlier version of this story misattributed Josh Dreller's quote to Skai, the company where he works. It has been updated. (September 7, 2021)