As classrooms and dorm rooms fill up again, the 2026 back-to-school season has presented marketers with unique challenges to make their appeal amidst economic uncertainty. Inflation is a top concern for parents this year, per Epsilon data. While marketers have contended with inflationary concerns in the past, the increased usage of digital tools such as artificial intelligence has added an extra layer of complexity.
Increased economic pressure combined with the broader availability of tools such as chatbots has created a consumer willing and empowered to hunt for deals. Loyalty programs have also become a go-to for deal-hungry shoppers, with 46% of parents planning to use them to minimize costs, up 7% from a year ago, according to Epsilon.
Marketing Dive has compiled some numbers from August that marketers should be aware of as they reflect on their 2026 back-to-school strategy and what increased technology usage could mean in the years ahead.
$737
The amount of money parents who leverage social media, AI and other channels plan to spend per child on back-to-school shopping
Back-to-school spending has remained flat year-over-year, with the average parent expected to spend $557 per child, per Deloitte data. While spending remains flat, technology is significantly impacting purchasing behavior. In its 19th annual back-to-school survey, Deloitte found a correlation between the number of digital technologies used and spending.
Parents who use no technology, representing 20% of respondents, plan to spend $381. However, parents who use social media, search and AI (a group representing 29% of respondents) plan to spend nearly double that. The study found the addition of AI to parents' shopping toolkit translates to a $206 jump in spend compared to parents who use social media and search alone, a cohort making up 21% of respondents.
The result is the emergence of the “hyper value-seeker” consumer, and marketers have responded accordingly. Brands such as JCPenney have stepped up marketing efforts around price guarantees and American Eagle and Target have diversified the influencers they work with to connect with a variety of consumers.
While grade and high school spending is anticipated to stay flat, college spending is set to increase, per NRF data.
This increase in spending has made college students a demographic of interest, especially for brands such as Urban Outfitters, which aired its first connected TVcommercial in August. “All Together Now” embraces campus life, specifically gameday excitement.
46%
The percentage of parents using AI to compare prices and find deals before purchasing this back-to-school season
AI has transformed how consumers interact with brands, and that remains the case this back-to-school season. As consumers increasingly search for the best value and deals, AI has become a price comparison tool for many. Notably, there isn’t a difference in usage rates between parents of grade/high school students and college ones, per Epsilon's “2026 back-to-school spending trends” report.
While price comparison is the top use for AI in back-to-school shopping (53%), parents are using the tech in a variety of ways. Nearly half use it to find deals and 37% use AI to conduct initial research. Similarly, 33% use it to generate a shopping list and 32% leverage it in product and brand comparisons, per Epsilon.
For marketers looking to leverage insights such as these, AI isn’t without its pain points. First, how to measure success on platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini remains unclear. Guidelines put out by the Interactive Advertising Bureau found little standardization among the methodologies and results of more than 20 AI vendors. Additionally, questions remain around the role user-generated content plays in AI visibility, especially around YouTube and Reddit.
80%
The percentage of teens who say their parents have sway over their brand preferences
As Gen Alpha enters teenagedom, they have become a demographic of increased note for marketers. Like their millennial parents, they are growing up with the internet. However, the internet Gen Alpha has, filled with short-form video, AI and influencers, is very different from chatrooms their parents frequented. In fact, Gen Alpha is the first AI-native generation.
While parents have tremendous influence over the brand preferences of their household and children, the relationship goes both ways. Ninety-one percent of parents with teenagers say their children influence their brand likes and dislikes, making kids the biggest factor when it comes to parental brand affinities, per HarrisX and Allison Worldwide data.
Social media continues to be a driving force in how teens discover and interact with brands. TikTok is the top platform for teenage girls at a rate of 42%.
