Some 85% of American parents plan to use a smartphone to help with their back-to-school shopping this year, according to a recent report from Retale.
The report was based on data from a survey of 1,000 parents in the United States conducted in July 2016.
The most common mobile shopping activities listed by respondents are comparing prices (65% use their smartphones to do so) and searching for coupons/deals (62%).
Those are followed by creating shopping lists (53%), checking store hours (52%), researching products (49%), accessing saved coupons (48%), finding nearby store locations (48%), checking product reviews (43%), and buying directly from their device (42%).
Some 80% of parents say they plan to make at least 70% of their back-to-school purchases in-store, down two percentage points (82%) from 2015.
Mass/super stores are the top places parents expect to go to for most of their back-to-school shopping (27% of respondents rank them as number one); clothing stores are second (18%), followed by department stores (15%), office supply stores and dollar stores (10% each), and online/e-commerce sites (8%).
More than one-third (36%) of parents plan to begin their back-to-school shopping one month before classes start; 29% say they'll start a couple of weeks before school begins, 22% at least two months before school starts, 7% the week before school starts, and 3% after school has begun.
About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 1,000 parents in the United States conducted in July 2016.
