An Influencer Marketer’s Guide to the 2025 Back-to-School Season
In 2025, back-to-school season is starting earlier, stretching longer, and shaping up to be one of the most global and digitally influenced shopping periods yet. In fact, global back-to-school retail sales are expected to exceed $200 billion in 2025. In the US alone, families are projected to spend a collective $41 billion, with nearly three-quarters of back-to-school shoppers planning to spend the same or more than last year.
For brands looking to target students and their parents this season, influencer marketing remains one of the most effective ways to drive reach, build trust, and boost omnichannel sales — especially as shoppers increasingly turn to creators for product recommendations and early deal alerts.
Keep reading for the latest 2025 back-to-school stats and consumer insights, plus 5 actionable influencer marketing strategies to help you stand out and drive results this season.
2025 Back-to-School Retail Trends
Back-to-school spend is rising, with tech leading the charge.
Despite economic concerns like tariffs, inflation, and shifting trade policies, most consumers aren’t cutting back. In fact, more than one-third of parents say they plan to spend more than they did in 2024. Families are prioritizing what matters most, and that includes products that support academic performance and everyday routines.
This year, technology is the top spending category, according to recent research from PwC:
- 25% of parents plan to spend over $500 on tech.
- Popular purchases include AI-powered laptops, ergonomic study accessories, and other tools that support hybrid learning and productivity.
Other key spending categories include:
- Clothing and shoes
- School supplies
- Books and educational materials
But while families are willing to invest, value is critical. With nearly two-thirds of parents saying back-to-school shopping feels financially stressful, consumers are getting more strategic: starting earlier, comparing prices more carefully, and leaning heavily on product reviews.
Back-to-school shopping is starting earlier than ever.
The back-to-school shopping timeline is moving up once again in 2025. In fact, Google search interest in “school supplies” began rising in May (earlier than in 2024), and 20% of US parents began shopping in June (nearly double from 11% last year). Major drivers of this early behavior include concerns over price hikes, inventory availability, and parents wanting to spread out spending.
This early momentum means brands need to launch campaigns in early summer to capture interest during the research and deal-seeking phase. Don’t wait until August — you’ll miss key intent moments.
Omnichannel and hybrid shopping is dominating back-to-school retail.
Consumers are blending online and in-person shopping more than ever — and their channel choices are shaped by age, income, and shopping intent, according to PwC.
- Gen Z parents are surprisingly more likely to shop exclusively in-store, favoring hands-on experiences and real-world brand engagement.
- Millennial and Gen X parents skew more digital, with over 70% primarily shopping online.
- Lower-income families tend to shop in-store more often, while higher-income households are more likely to shop exclusively online.
As you build your campaign, ensure your influencer content drives both online and offline action, and consider segmenting campaigns by channel preference (we’ll dive deeper into this later).
Shoppers are researching more (and trusting creators more).
In today’s economic environment, consumers are being more intentional with their purchases — and they’re turning to trusted creators to guide their decisions, seeking out unboxings, reviews, and shopping hauls from creators before making a purchase.
In fact, consumers ranked YouTube as the #1 platform for product reviews and discovery, especially for back-to-school items. Additionally, viewers are 98% more likely to trust YouTube creator recommendations over recommendations from other platforms. This trust gives creators a unique ability to influence purchase decisions, especially when it comes to higher-ticket items like tech or style-driven categories like apparel and accessories.
5 Influencer Marketing Tips for Back-to-School Season
To capitalize on this peak shopping season, tap into the power of influencer marketing. Whether you’re targeting college students, Gen Z parents, or K–12 families, creators can tell authentic, relatable stories about how your brand fits into their real-life back-to-school moments.
Here are 5 actionable influencer marketing strategies, inspired by this year’s top back-to-school retail trends.
1. Provide early bird discounts through affiliates.
Consumers are starting their back-to-school shopping earlier and taking advantage of mid-summer sales. Make the most of this trend by running an influencer-affiliate campaign that gives your creator partners exclusive discount codes to share with their audience. You can even offer creators tiered commission bonuses for hitting key milestones during July and August.
This is a win-win for everyone involved: shoppers get a deal, creators earn more commission, and your brand captures early-season conversions — and can easily track results.
Pro tip: Use a tool like Aspire to automate affiliate tracking, commission payouts, and performance reporting across all creator touchpoints.
2. Run creator-curated drops or bundles.
Work with a select few creators — even better if they’re long-term ambassadors — to develop exclusive back-to-school product bundles or curated collections. Think “My Dorm Essentials Kit” or “Creator X’s Back-to-School Picks.” Use Aspire’s CreatorStores™ to seamlessly offer creator-specific landing pages with their hand-picked bundles and exclusive discounts.
By running these limited-time back-to-school collections, you can drive urgency through scarcity and tap into the growing interest in personalized product recommendations and curated shopping experiences, especially among Gen Z.
3. Drive in-store traffic with local influencers.
With platforms like TikTok serving geo-targeted content, it’s easier than ever to influence in-store behavior. If your products are available in brick-and-mortar locations like Target, Walmart, or a regional chain, collaborate with local influencers to showcase real-life in-store finds.
Ask them to create content with messaging like “Run, don’t walk to [Store Name] to grab this.” And instead of linking to a product page, use a store locator as the call-to-action. You can track clicks to the store locator or use UTM links to measure offline impact.
Pro tip: Pair this approach with Smart Bidding for store visits in Google Ads to drive omnichannel results across search and social.
4. Lean into lo-fi video content.
Overproduced ads are out. Consumers today want to see real, relatable content that feels native to the platform and personal to the creator. Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences in particular want to hear from people who actually reflect their lives. Go beyond parenting influencers and invest in authentic voices, such as college-age creators or even high schoolers with niche followings.
Encourage creators to post lo-fi, vertical video content across TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Pinterest. Focus on engaging content concepts like:
- Back-to-school hauls
- Dorm tours and organization hacks
- What’s in my backpack
- School lunch or meal prep videos
- First-day-of-school outfit picks
- Budget breakdowns for school shopping
5. Run a Partnership Ads campaign.
The most effective way to maximize influencer ROI is to boost top-performing creator content with paid ads. Leverage formats like Meta Partnership Ads or TikTok Spark Ads to scale your reach while maintaining authenticity.
Influencer marketing allows you to fuel today’s AI-powered ad algorithms with endless content to test thousands of creative variations to find the perfect match for every consumer at every stage of their journey.
Ace Your 2025 Back-to-School Campaign
Back-to-school 2025 is defined by early research, omnichannel behavior, and value-driven decision-making — all areas where influencers can help your brand show up, build trust, and convert.
Here’s your formula for success this back-to-school season:
- Start early. Shoppers are ready and looking for the best deals.
- Offer real value through discounts and curated bundles. Creator-trusted recommendations go a long way.
- Meet consumers where they are, online, in-store, and everywhere in between.
- Leverage creators for content and conversions, from lo-fi hauls to full-funnel ad campaigns.
Ready to launch your campaign? Download our p-by-Step Influencer Marketing Guide to start planning your back-to-school strategy from A to Z.
