of the United Kingdom’s capitol city.
In a Target aisle, a mother scrolls through TikTok while her thirteen-year-old son sprays a tester of Bleu de Chanel onto his wrist. "It's for school," he insists, citing a creator who explained how the right fragrance is "basically a personality upgrade." The mother checks the $150 price tag, then searches for dupes on LTK, while mentally calculating whether cologne now counts as a school supply alongside graphing calculators and gym uniforms.
Welcome to the new semester of influence, where back-to-school shopping has evolved from a functional necessity into a carefully choreographed social performance. What once involved a simple list from the school district has transformed into a complex negotiation between parental pragmatism and the relentless pull of peer validation, all mediated through the glowing screens that shape our children's social reality.
The ritual itself is ancient: preparing for a new academic year has always carried symbolic weight, marking transitions and fresh starts. But in 2025, this preparation has become something else entirely. We've moved from shopping lists to social scripts, where every purchase carries the weight of potential belonging or exclusion, and where "getting ready" means performative dressing and storytelling for an audience that never stops watching.
From Supply Lists to Social Currency
Back-to-school shopping has been a cultural institution since the 19th Century, when families would stock up on essentials for the year ahead. The shopping lists of the past were beautifully mundane: notebooks, pens, perhaps a new pair of shoes to accommodate growth spurts. Even the advertisements were charmingly straightforward, promising "school specials" on practical goods.
But as the decades have passed, and technology has become more embedded into the fabric of our lives, the net of influence has grown larger, more real-time, and more constant.

Even during the mass commodification of back-to-school in the ‘90s, educational must-haves were based on school district requirements for specific grades. Meanwhile, our personal shopping lists were fine-tuned and tailored based on what our social circles and the “it crowd” deemed cool. Did you have a basic Mead notebook or the Lisa Frank stationery set? Did your parents buy BIC pens in bulk, or did you have a specific feather gel pen for each day of the week? Your response largely influenced your social standing, or lack thereof.
Social validation influences 95% of purchasing decisions, a statistic that takes on new meaning when applied to the developing minds of students. But here's where it gets interesting: children's innate need to fit in isn't just being reflected by social media; it's being actively constructed by it. The "popular crowd" that once held court in school hallways now broadcasts 24/7 through perfectly curated hauls and GRWM videos.
What's particularly fascinating is how both generations have internalized this performance as reality. Millennial parents, despite their pragmatic shopping lists, still turn to creators for validation of their "smart" purchases. Gen Z students treat their back-to-school hauls as content opportunities, understanding implicitly that consumption is communication in the digital age.
The Intergenerational Shopping Wars
LTK’s 2025 Back-to-School Shopper Study gets to the heart of how Gen Z consumers (students) and millennials (parents) use social content to drive their seasonal spending. The company found that 53% of this combined group follow social media creators specifically for back-to-school content, including in-store hauls and “get ready with me” (GRWM) videos.
Back-to-school shopping has traditionally been a chore, simply a box that requires checking. Social media, however, has made it an “inspirational, creator-driven experience,” according to Ally Anderson, Director of Strategy & Insights, Brand Partnerships at LTK. One that enhances the feeling of social connection and belonging that Gen Z consumers are still feeling and experiencing in their physical lives, especially as they flock to malls to shop with their peers.
“Creators aren’t just promoting products, they’re showing how those items fit into real-life routines, classrooms, and dorm rooms,” Anderson said. “In fact, 70% of consumers say they prefer video content when engaging with back-to-school shopping.”
Everything in Context
But the LTK data proves that this isn’t just about inspiration; it’s also about action. Up to 86% of Gen Z consumers and 76% of millennials shop through creators, a trend that Anderson notes is growing year over year.
Consumers within each demographic do not think, behave, or shop the same. It would be short-sighted to think or act as if that were the case. The LTK research reaffirms that the context driving each age group, including their social motivators, life stages, relationship statuses, and future goals, adds more nuance to how and why these consumers turn to social media creators.
Unsurprisingly, Gen Z is more self-focused and trend-driven: 61% are shopping for themselves, and their most top-of-mind categories include electronics (+33%), beauty (+35%), and cleaning supplies (+39%). The last category may be unexpected, but since most of Gen Z plans to get their shopping done in August, their interest aligns with college move-in dates, when they get their taste of a more independent lifestyle (that includes cleaning your space).
"Parents who came of age during the Great Recession meet children who've never known a world without influencers. The result? A household divided between those trying to stretch dollars and those trying to build social capital."
Millennials are far more practical in their content consumption and ultimate purchase behaviors. Only 43% of this group is shopping for themselves during the back-to-school season, and they’re largely prioritizing functional and seasonal needs, according to Anderson. Their top-growing categories include sports equipment (+47%), cold-weather gear (+26%), and food and beverage (+26%). They also tend to shop earlier, with their spending peaking in late July, “most likely with the intent of staying ahead of the back-to-school chaos,” she added.
This isn't just a difference in shopping habits; it's a collision of worldviews. Parents who came of age during the Great Recession meet children who've never known a world without influencers.
The result? A household divided between those trying to stretch dollars and those trying to build social capital, with both sides turning to the same creator economy for wildly different reasons.
Economic Fear Meets Social FOMO
The numbers tell a story of profound anxiety: 61% of parents associate back-to-school shopping with words like "financially challenging" and "stressful." Yet paradoxically, 75% of US households plan to spend the same or more this year, despite looming tariff concerns and economic uncertainty, according to PwC.
Millennial parents are back-to-school shopping earlier than ever, largely due to the anxiety amplified by economic pressures and their kids’ constant feeling of FOMO: 61% of parents associate the entire process with words like “financially challenging” and “stressful,” this demographic is using any and every channel and platform they can to stretch their dollars.
Sure, product quality is always top-of-mind, and creators shape a viral word-of-mouth-powered experience that educates and validates millennial parents’ purchase decisions. LTK found that while price has historically been a top consideration, “availability has taken the lead for shoppers on LTK—a notable jump from last year, when it ranked below brand, price, and convenience,” Anderson said. “That signals a broader consumer mindset: people are increasingly aware of how global pressures like tariffs could disrupt their access to the products they want.
For brands and retailers, this insight reinforces the need to double down on more than just price competitiveness. Consumers are looking for assurance—can they get what they want, when they want it? That’s where creators come in.”
This dual anxiety, economic and social, has created a perfect storm of early shopping. Twenty percent of parents started their back-to-school shopping in June this year, nearly double the 2024 rate. They're not just trying to beat price increases; they're trying to get ahead of the influence curve, to secure the "right" items before they sell out or, worse, become yesterday's trend.

However, consumers are keeping close tabs on price changes, and are acting out of fear more than rationality, especially as long-term tariff impacts remain unclear. In fact, 20% of parents started their back-to-school shopping in June this year, nearly double than June 2024 shopping rates. This year, one in five shoppers are also using AI tools to find online deals, according to PwC research, an omnimodal reality that is shaping the very essence of eCommerce discovery and search experiences.
“Tariff turmoil” remains a key driver of US household purchase decisions. As Matt Pavich, Senior Director of Strategy & Innovation for Revionics, so astutely noted, “logic dictates that rising costs will negatively impact tariffed products like calculators or apparel. On the other hand, back-to-school is a unique event with limited substitution and generally lower elasticities. If a parent needs to buy a calculator for their child to be successful, they will find a way to do so even if the price of that calculator is higher due to tariffs.”
As a result, PwC offers a clear call-to-action for merchants: “Even as US tariffs are one of the key factors driving up prices on imported goods like electronics and apparel…parents are showing determination to maintain or even increase their education-related shopping,” PwC shared. “This spending resilience suggests that retailers who manage inventory effectively and communicate value clearly will likely outperform during this important retail season.”
External forces like Amazon are also moving the goal posts and starting the shopping season earlier and earlier. The company’s annual Prime Day shopping event takes place this week (July 8-11, 2025), and has inspired a whirlwind of social media posts and media listicles featuring “must-have items” for the shopping event. Plus, the growing popularity of Prime Day has sparked an onslaught of copy-cat holidays from Amazon competitors that hope to get a piece of the back-to-school shopping pie.
“Although the economy and tariffs are the likely culprits behind the elongation of the back-to-school buying period, it's safe to say that retail has always loved extending shopping holidays,” Pavich said. “While that practice has shown mixed results from a ‘growing the pie’ perspective, individual retailers can often reap the benefits and grow share if they can extend an event with the right plan and promotions in place.”
Gen Alpha Enters the Chat
It’s still a bit too early for research firms to fully map and analyze Gen Alpha’s digital behaviors and preferences, with the oldest subset of this cohort being 15 going on 16. Yet LTK believes the reliance on creators to inspire trends and guide purchase decisions isn’t going anywhere.
“Creator influence spans generations, shaping not only what’s cool but also what feels trustworthy and worth buying,” Anderson said. “And with the rise of AI-generated content, we anticipate an even stronger demand for real creators with authentic voices and trusted recommendations.”
This cohort also uses gaming platforms as vehicles for creativity and self-expression. Up to 84% of consumers say how they style their digital avatars ultimately influences their own personal style, and Gen Alpha in particular is more likely to turn to brands and products that enable them to authentically express themselves through fashion.
In the US, 81% of parents say their shopping decisions are co-decided or led by their kids and teens. These kids are actively deciding what goes in the shopping carts, from apparel and footwear, to even school supplies and tech accessories. There are various studies that estimate their financial impact, so now is the time to consider the role they can (and should) play in your marketing, advertising, and merchandising strategies.
Key Analysis for Merchants
The back-to-school shopping season of 2025 isn't just a retail event; it's a cultural referendum on how we construct identity, negotiate family dynamics, and perform belonging in an age of perpetual visibility.
Several profound shifts deserve our attention:
- The Temporal Collapse of Retail Seasons. Amazon's Prime Day (July 8-11, 2025) has effectively dissolved the boundaries of the back-to-school season, creating a perpetual state of shopping readiness that mirrors our always-on social media consumption.
Retailers aren't just "extending shopping holidays" as Pavich notes; they're responding to a culture that has eliminated the distinction between shopping and living. - The Authenticity-Performance Paradox. As Anderson predicts, "with the rise of AI-generated content, we anticipate an even stronger demand for real creators with authentic voices."
But this demand for "real" creators only intensifies the performance pressure. The same creators must now perform different versions of authenticity for multiple audiences: the pragmatic parent seeking validation for smart purchases and the trend-conscious teen seeking social currency. A single haul video serves dual purposes, offering budget-friendly "dupes" to anxious millennials while simultaneously establishing the cultural cachet of the original for their Gen Z offspring. Authenticity becomes not just another product to be optimized, but a multi-faceted performance calibrated to resonate across generational divides. - The Democratization of Influence. When everyday consumers become micro-influencers through their haul videos and product reviews, the traditional power structures of retail marketing collapse. Every purchase becomes a potential performance, every shopping trip a content opportunity.
Consequently, influence (and its commercial opportunity) becomes increasingly diffuse in a world overflowing with both commerce and culture. - The Omnichannel Reality Persists: With digital being an ever-present force in consumers’ journey from awareness to conversion, omnichannel is the new playbook for engagement and operations. With the season now elongated into an ever-present state, brands need to always be communicating inventory availability, delivery timelines, and more to set parents up for success.
The most radical reimagining of back-to-school shopping isn't in what we buy, but in why we buy it.
We're no longer just preparing children for academic success; we're equipping them for a lifelong performance of self, where every notebook, every backpack, every carefully chosen water bottle is both prop and protagonist in the ongoing drama of digital belonging.
In a Target aisle, a mother scrolls through TikTok while her thirteen-year-old son sprays a tester of Bleu de Chanel onto his wrist. "It's for school," he insists, citing a creator who explained how the right fragrance is "basically a personality upgrade." The mother checks the $150 price tag, then searches for dupes on LTK, while mentally calculating whether cologne now counts as a school supply alongside graphing calculators and gym uniforms.
Welcome to the new semester of influence, where back-to-school shopping has evolved from a functional necessity into a carefully choreographed social performance. What once involved a simple list from the school district has transformed into a complex negotiation between parental pragmatism and the relentless pull of peer validation, all mediated through the glowing screens that shape our children's social reality.
The ritual itself is ancient: preparing for a new academic year has always carried symbolic weight, marking transitions and fresh starts. But in 2025, this preparation has become something else entirely. We've moved from shopping lists to social scripts, where every purchase carries the weight of potential belonging or exclusion, and where "getting ready" means performative dressing and storytelling for an audience that never stops watching.
From Supply Lists to Social Currency
Back-to-school shopping has been a cultural institution since the 19th Century, when families would stock up on essentials for the year ahead. The shopping lists of the past were beautifully mundane: notebooks, pens, perhaps a new pair of shoes to accommodate growth spurts. Even the advertisements were charmingly straightforward, promising "school specials" on practical goods.
But as the decades have passed, and technology has become more embedded into the fabric of our lives, the net of influence has grown larger, more real-time, and more constant.

Even during the mass commodification of back-to-school in the ‘90s, educational must-haves were based on school district requirements for specific grades. Meanwhile, our personal shopping lists were fine-tuned and tailored based on what our social circles and the “it crowd” deemed cool. Did you have a basic Mead notebook or the Lisa Frank stationery set? Did your parents buy BIC pens in bulk, or did you have a specific feather gel pen for each day of the week? Your response largely influenced your social standing, or lack thereof.
Social validation influences 95% of purchasing decisions, a statistic that takes on new meaning when applied to the developing minds of students. But here's where it gets interesting: children's innate need to fit in isn't just being reflected by social media; it's being actively constructed by it. The "popular crowd" that once held court in school hallways now broadcasts 24/7 through perfectly curated hauls and GRWM videos.
What's particularly fascinating is how both generations have internalized this performance as reality. Millennial parents, despite their pragmatic shopping lists, still turn to creators for validation of their "smart" purchases. Gen Z students treat their back-to-school hauls as content opportunities, understanding implicitly that consumption is communication in the digital age.
The Intergenerational Shopping Wars
LTK’s 2025 Back-to-School Shopper Study gets to the heart of how Gen Z consumers (students) and millennials (parents) use social content to drive their seasonal spending. The company found that 53% of this combined group follow social media creators specifically for back-to-school content, including in-store hauls and “get ready with me” (GRWM) videos.
Back-to-school shopping has traditionally been a chore, simply a box that requires checking. Social media, however, has made it an “inspirational, creator-driven experience,” according to Ally Anderson, Director of Strategy & Insights, Brand Partnerships at LTK. One that enhances the feeling of social connection and belonging that Gen Z consumers are still feeling and experiencing in their physical lives, especially as they flock to malls to shop with their peers.
“Creators aren’t just promoting products, they’re showing how those items fit into real-life routines, classrooms, and dorm rooms,” Anderson said. “In fact, 70% of consumers say they prefer video content when engaging with back-to-school shopping.”
Everything in Context
But the LTK data proves that this isn’t just about inspiration; it’s also about action. Up to 86% of Gen Z consumers and 76% of millennials shop through creators, a trend that Anderson notes is growing year over year.
Consumers within each demographic do not think, behave, or shop the same. It would be short-sighted to think or act as if that were the case. The LTK research reaffirms that the context driving each age group, including their social motivators, life stages, relationship statuses, and future goals, adds more nuance to how and why these consumers turn to social media creators.
Unsurprisingly, Gen Z is more self-focused and trend-driven: 61% are shopping for themselves, and their most top-of-mind categories include electronics (+33%), beauty (+35%), and cleaning supplies (+39%). The last category may be unexpected, but since most of Gen Z plans to get their shopping done in August, their interest aligns with college move-in dates, when they get their taste of a more independent lifestyle (that includes cleaning your space).
"Parents who came of age during the Great Recession meet children who've never known a world without influencers. The result? A household divided between those trying to stretch dollars and those trying to build social capital."
Millennials are far more practical in their content consumption and ultimate purchase behaviors. Only 43% of this group is shopping for themselves during the back-to-school season, and they’re largely prioritizing functional and seasonal needs, according to Anderson. Their top-growing categories include sports equipment (+47%), cold-weather gear (+26%), and food and beverage (+26%). They also tend to shop earlier, with their spending peaking in late July, “most likely with the intent of staying ahead of the back-to-school chaos,” she added.
This isn't just a difference in shopping habits; it's a collision of worldviews. Parents who came of age during the Great Recession meet children who've never known a world without influencers.
The result? A household divided between those trying to stretch dollars and those trying to build social capital, with both sides turning to the same creator economy for wildly different reasons.
Economic Fear Meets Social FOMO
The numbers tell a story of profound anxiety: 61% of parents associate back-to-school shopping with words like "financially challenging" and "stressful." Yet paradoxically, 75% of US households plan to spend the same or more this year, despite looming tariff concerns and economic uncertainty, according to PwC.
Millennial parents are back-to-school shopping earlier than ever, largely due to the anxiety amplified by economic pressures and their kids’ constant feeling of FOMO: 61% of parents associate the entire process with words like “financially challenging” and “stressful,” this demographic is using any and every channel and platform they can to stretch their dollars.
Sure, product quality is always top-of-mind, and creators shape a viral word-of-mouth-powered experience that educates and validates millennial parents’ purchase decisions. LTK found that while price has historically been a top consideration, “availability has taken the lead for shoppers on LTK—a notable jump from last year, when it ranked below brand, price, and convenience,” Anderson said. “That signals a broader consumer mindset: people are increasingly aware of how global pressures like tariffs could disrupt their access to the products they want.
For brands and retailers, this insight reinforces the need to double down on more than just price competitiveness. Consumers are looking for assurance—can they get what they want, when they want it? That’s where creators come in.”
This dual anxiety, economic and social, has created a perfect storm of early shopping. Twenty percent of parents started their back-to-school shopping in June this year, nearly double the 2024 rate. They're not just trying to beat price increases; they're trying to get ahead of the influence curve, to secure the "right" items before they sell out or, worse, become yesterday's trend.

However, consumers are keeping close tabs on price changes, and are acting out of fear more than rationality, especially as long-term tariff impacts remain unclear. In fact, 20% of parents started their back-to-school shopping in June this year, nearly double than June 2024 shopping rates. This year, one in five shoppers are also using AI tools to find online deals, according to PwC research, an omnimodal reality that is shaping the very essence of eCommerce discovery and search experiences.
“Tariff turmoil” remains a key driver of US household purchase decisions. As Matt Pavich, Senior Director of Strategy & Innovation for Revionics, so astutely noted, “logic dictates that rising costs will negatively impact tariffed products like calculators or apparel. On the other hand, back-to-school is a unique event with limited substitution and generally lower elasticities. If a parent needs to buy a calculator for their child to be successful, they will find a way to do so even if the price of that calculator is higher due to tariffs.”
As a result, PwC offers a clear call-to-action for merchants: “Even as US tariffs are one of the key factors driving up prices on imported goods like electronics and apparel…parents are showing determination to maintain or even increase their education-related shopping,” PwC shared. “This spending resilience suggests that retailers who manage inventory effectively and communicate value clearly will likely outperform during this important retail season.”
External forces like Amazon are also moving the goal posts and starting the shopping season earlier and earlier. The company’s annual Prime Day shopping event takes place this week (July 8-11, 2025), and has inspired a whirlwind of social media posts and media listicles featuring “must-have items” for the shopping event. Plus, the growing popularity of Prime Day has sparked an onslaught of copy-cat holidays from Amazon competitors that hope to get a piece of the back-to-school shopping pie.
“Although the economy and tariffs are the likely culprits behind the elongation of the back-to-school buying period, it's safe to say that retail has always loved extending shopping holidays,” Pavich said. “While that practice has shown mixed results from a ‘growing the pie’ perspective, individual retailers can often reap the benefits and grow share if they can extend an event with the right plan and promotions in place.”
Gen Alpha Enters the Chat
It’s still a bit too early for research firms to fully map and analyze Gen Alpha’s digital behaviors and preferences, with the oldest subset of this cohort being 15 going on 16. Yet LTK believes the reliance on creators to inspire trends and guide purchase decisions isn’t going anywhere.
“Creator influence spans generations, shaping not only what’s cool but also what feels trustworthy and worth buying,” Anderson said. “And with the rise of AI-generated content, we anticipate an even stronger demand for real creators with authentic voices and trusted recommendations.”
This cohort also uses gaming platforms as vehicles for creativity and self-expression. Up to 84% of consumers say how they style their digital avatars ultimately influences their own personal style, and Gen Alpha in particular is more likely to turn to brands and products that enable them to authentically express themselves through fashion.
In the US, 81% of parents say their shopping decisions are co-decided or led by their kids and teens. These kids are actively deciding what goes in the shopping carts, from apparel and footwear, to even school supplies and tech accessories. There are various studies that estimate their financial impact, so now is the time to consider the role they can (and should) play in your marketing, advertising, and merchandising strategies.
Key Analysis for Merchants
The back-to-school shopping season of 2025 isn't just a retail event; it's a cultural referendum on how we construct identity, negotiate family dynamics, and perform belonging in an age of perpetual visibility.
Several profound shifts deserve our attention:
- The Temporal Collapse of Retail Seasons. Amazon's Prime Day (July 8-11, 2025) has effectively dissolved the boundaries of the back-to-school season, creating a perpetual state of shopping readiness that mirrors our always-on social media consumption.
Retailers aren't just "extending shopping holidays" as Pavich notes; they're responding to a culture that has eliminated the distinction between shopping and living. - The Authenticity-Performance Paradox. As Anderson predicts, "with the rise of AI-generated content, we anticipate an even stronger demand for real creators with authentic voices."
But this demand for "real" creators only intensifies the performance pressure. The same creators must now perform different versions of authenticity for multiple audiences: the pragmatic parent seeking validation for smart purchases and the trend-conscious teen seeking social currency. A single haul video serves dual purposes, offering budget-friendly "dupes" to anxious millennials while simultaneously establishing the cultural cachet of the original for their Gen Z offspring. Authenticity becomes not just another product to be optimized, but a multi-faceted performance calibrated to resonate across generational divides. - The Democratization of Influence. When everyday consumers become micro-influencers through their haul videos and product reviews, the traditional power structures of retail marketing collapse. Every purchase becomes a potential performance, every shopping trip a content opportunity.
Consequently, influence (and its commercial opportunity) becomes increasingly diffuse in a world overflowing with both commerce and culture. - The Omnichannel Reality Persists: With digital being an ever-present force in consumers’ journey from awareness to conversion, omnichannel is the new playbook for engagement and operations. With the season now elongated into an ever-present state, brands need to always be communicating inventory availability, delivery timelines, and more to set parents up for success.
The most radical reimagining of back-to-school shopping isn't in what we buy, but in why we buy it.
We're no longer just preparing children for academic success; we're equipping them for a lifelong performance of self, where every notebook, every backpack, every carefully chosen water bottle is both prop and protagonist in the ongoing drama of digital belonging.
In a Target aisle, a mother scrolls through TikTok while her thirteen-year-old son sprays a tester of Bleu de Chanel onto his wrist. "It's for school," he insists, citing a creator who explained how the right fragrance is "basically a personality upgrade." The mother checks the $150 price tag, then searches for dupes on LTK, while mentally calculating whether cologne now counts as a school supply alongside graphing calculators and gym uniforms.
Welcome to the new semester of influence, where back-to-school shopping has evolved from a functional necessity into a carefully choreographed social performance. What once involved a simple list from the school district has transformed into a complex negotiation between parental pragmatism and the relentless pull of peer validation, all mediated through the glowing screens that shape our children's social reality.
The ritual itself is ancient: preparing for a new academic year has always carried symbolic weight, marking transitions and fresh starts. But in 2025, this preparation has become something else entirely. We've moved from shopping lists to social scripts, where every purchase carries the weight of potential belonging or exclusion, and where "getting ready" means performative dressing and storytelling for an audience that never stops watching.
From Supply Lists to Social Currency
Back-to-school shopping has been a cultural institution since the 19th Century, when families would stock up on essentials for the year ahead. The shopping lists of the past were beautifully mundane: notebooks, pens, perhaps a new pair of shoes to accommodate growth spurts. Even the advertisements were charmingly straightforward, promising "school specials" on practical goods.
But as the decades have passed, and technology has become more embedded into the fabric of our lives, the net of influence has grown larger, more real-time, and more constant.

Even during the mass commodification of back-to-school in the ‘90s, educational must-haves were based on school district requirements for specific grades. Meanwhile, our personal shopping lists were fine-tuned and tailored based on what our social circles and the “it crowd” deemed cool. Did you have a basic Mead notebook or the Lisa Frank stationery set? Did your parents buy BIC pens in bulk, or did you have a specific feather gel pen for each day of the week? Your response largely influenced your social standing, or lack thereof.
Social validation influences 95% of purchasing decisions, a statistic that takes on new meaning when applied to the developing minds of students. But here's where it gets interesting: children's innate need to fit in isn't just being reflected by social media; it's being actively constructed by it. The "popular crowd" that once held court in school hallways now broadcasts 24/7 through perfectly curated hauls and GRWM videos.
What's particularly fascinating is how both generations have internalized this performance as reality. Millennial parents, despite their pragmatic shopping lists, still turn to creators for validation of their "smart" purchases. Gen Z students treat their back-to-school hauls as content opportunities, understanding implicitly that consumption is communication in the digital age.
The Intergenerational Shopping Wars
LTK’s 2025 Back-to-School Shopper Study gets to the heart of how Gen Z consumers (students) and millennials (parents) use social content to drive their seasonal spending. The company found that 53% of this combined group follow social media creators specifically for back-to-school content, including in-store hauls and “get ready with me” (GRWM) videos.
Back-to-school shopping has traditionally been a chore, simply a box that requires checking. Social media, however, has made it an “inspirational, creator-driven experience,” according to Ally Anderson, Director of Strategy & Insights, Brand Partnerships at LTK. One that enhances the feeling of social connection and belonging that Gen Z consumers are still feeling and experiencing in their physical lives, especially as they flock to malls to shop with their peers.
“Creators aren’t just promoting products, they’re showing how those items fit into real-life routines, classrooms, and dorm rooms,” Anderson said. “In fact, 70% of consumers say they prefer video content when engaging with back-to-school shopping.”
Everything in Context
But the LTK data proves that this isn’t just about inspiration; it’s also about action. Up to 86% of Gen Z consumers and 76% of millennials shop through creators, a trend that Anderson notes is growing year over year.
Consumers within each demographic do not think, behave, or shop the same. It would be short-sighted to think or act as if that were the case. The LTK research reaffirms that the context driving each age group, including their social motivators, life stages, relationship statuses, and future goals, adds more nuance to how and why these consumers turn to social media creators.
Unsurprisingly, Gen Z is more self-focused and trend-driven: 61% are shopping for themselves, and their most top-of-mind categories include electronics (+33%), beauty (+35%), and cleaning supplies (+39%). The last category may be unexpected, but since most of Gen Z plans to get their shopping done in August, their interest aligns with college move-in dates, when they get their taste of a more independent lifestyle (that includes cleaning your space).
"Parents who came of age during the Great Recession meet children who've never known a world without influencers. The result? A household divided between those trying to stretch dollars and those trying to build social capital."
Millennials are far more practical in their content consumption and ultimate purchase behaviors. Only 43% of this group is shopping for themselves during the back-to-school season, and they’re largely prioritizing functional and seasonal needs, according to Anderson. Their top-growing categories include sports equipment (+47%), cold-weather gear (+26%), and food and beverage (+26%). They also tend to shop earlier, with their spending peaking in late July, “most likely with the intent of staying ahead of the back-to-school chaos,” she added.
This isn't just a difference in shopping habits; it's a collision of worldviews. Parents who came of age during the Great Recession meet children who've never known a world without influencers.
The result? A household divided between those trying to stretch dollars and those trying to build social capital, with both sides turning to the same creator economy for wildly different reasons.
Economic Fear Meets Social FOMO
The numbers tell a story of profound anxiety: 61% of parents associate back-to-school shopping with words like "financially challenging" and "stressful." Yet paradoxically, 75% of US households plan to spend the same or more this year, despite looming tariff concerns and economic uncertainty, according to PwC.
Millennial parents are back-to-school shopping earlier than ever, largely due to the anxiety amplified by economic pressures and their kids’ constant feeling of FOMO: 61% of parents associate the entire process with words like “financially challenging” and “stressful,” this demographic is using any and every channel and platform they can to stretch their dollars.
Sure, product quality is always top-of-mind, and creators shape a viral word-of-mouth-powered experience that educates and validates millennial parents’ purchase decisions. LTK found that while price has historically been a top consideration, “availability has taken the lead for shoppers on LTK—a notable jump from last year, when it ranked below brand, price, and convenience,” Anderson said. “That signals a broader consumer mindset: people are increasingly aware of how global pressures like tariffs could disrupt their access to the products they want.
For brands and retailers, this insight reinforces the need to double down on more than just price competitiveness. Consumers are looking for assurance—can they get what they want, when they want it? That’s where creators come in.”
This dual anxiety, economic and social, has created a perfect storm of early shopping. Twenty percent of parents started their back-to-school shopping in June this year, nearly double the 2024 rate. They're not just trying to beat price increases; they're trying to get ahead of the influence curve, to secure the "right" items before they sell out or, worse, become yesterday's trend.

However, consumers are keeping close tabs on price changes, and are acting out of fear more than rationality, especially as long-term tariff impacts remain unclear. In fact, 20% of parents started their back-to-school shopping in June this year, nearly double than June 2024 shopping rates. This year, one in five shoppers are also using AI tools to find online deals, according to PwC research, an omnimodal reality that is shaping the very essence of eCommerce discovery and search experiences.
“Tariff turmoil” remains a key driver of US household purchase decisions. As Matt Pavich, Senior Director of Strategy & Innovation for Revionics, so astutely noted, “logic dictates that rising costs will negatively impact tariffed products like calculators or apparel. On the other hand, back-to-school is a unique event with limited substitution and generally lower elasticities. If a parent needs to buy a calculator for their child to be successful, they will find a way to do so even if the price of that calculator is higher due to tariffs.”
As a result, PwC offers a clear call-to-action for merchants: “Even as US tariffs are one of the key factors driving up prices on imported goods like electronics and apparel…parents are showing determination to maintain or even increase their education-related shopping,” PwC shared. “This spending resilience suggests that retailers who manage inventory effectively and communicate value clearly will likely outperform during this important retail season.”
External forces like Amazon are also moving the goal posts and starting the shopping season earlier and earlier. The company’s annual Prime Day shopping event takes place this week (July 8-11, 2025), and has inspired a whirlwind of social media posts and media listicles featuring “must-have items” for the shopping event. Plus, the growing popularity of Prime Day has sparked an onslaught of copy-cat holidays from Amazon competitors that hope to get a piece of the back-to-school shopping pie.
“Although the economy and tariffs are the likely culprits behind the elongation of the back-to-school buying period, it's safe to say that retail has always loved extending shopping holidays,” Pavich said. “While that practice has shown mixed results from a ‘growing the pie’ perspective, individual retailers can often reap the benefits and grow share if they can extend an event with the right plan and promotions in place.”
Gen Alpha Enters the Chat
It’s still a bit too early for research firms to fully map and analyze Gen Alpha’s digital behaviors and preferences, with the oldest subset of this cohort being 15 going on 16. Yet LTK believes the reliance on creators to inspire trends and guide purchase decisions isn’t going anywhere.
“Creator influence spans generations, shaping not only what’s cool but also what feels trustworthy and worth buying,” Anderson said. “And with the rise of AI-generated content, we anticipate an even stronger demand for real creators with authentic voices and trusted recommendations.”
This cohort also uses gaming platforms as vehicles for creativity and self-expression. Up to 84% of consumers say how they style their digital avatars ultimately influences their own personal style, and Gen Alpha in particular is more likely to turn to brands and products that enable them to authentically express themselves through fashion.
In the US, 81% of parents say their shopping decisions are co-decided or led by their kids and teens. These kids are actively deciding what goes in the shopping carts, from apparel and footwear, to even school supplies and tech accessories. There are various studies that estimate their financial impact, so now is the time to consider the role they can (and should) play in your marketing, advertising, and merchandising strategies.
Key Analysis for Merchants
The back-to-school shopping season of 2025 isn't just a retail event; it's a cultural referendum on how we construct identity, negotiate family dynamics, and perform belonging in an age of perpetual visibility.
Several profound shifts deserve our attention:
- The Temporal Collapse of Retail Seasons. Amazon's Prime Day (July 8-11, 2025) has effectively dissolved the boundaries of the back-to-school season, creating a perpetual state of shopping readiness that mirrors our always-on social media consumption.
Retailers aren't just "extending shopping holidays" as Pavich notes; they're responding to a culture that has eliminated the distinction between shopping and living. - The Authenticity-Performance Paradox. As Anderson predicts, "with the rise of AI-generated content, we anticipate an even stronger demand for real creators with authentic voices."
But this demand for "real" creators only intensifies the performance pressure. The same creators must now perform different versions of authenticity for multiple audiences: the pragmatic parent seeking validation for smart purchases and the trend-conscious teen seeking social currency. A single haul video serves dual purposes, offering budget-friendly "dupes" to anxious millennials while simultaneously establishing the cultural cachet of the original for their Gen Z offspring. Authenticity becomes not just another product to be optimized, but a multi-faceted performance calibrated to resonate across generational divides. - The Democratization of Influence. When everyday consumers become micro-influencers through their haul videos and product reviews, the traditional power structures of retail marketing collapse. Every purchase becomes a potential performance, every shopping trip a content opportunity.
Consequently, influence (and its commercial opportunity) becomes increasingly diffuse in a world overflowing with both commerce and culture. - The Omnichannel Reality Persists: With digital being an ever-present force in consumers’ journey from awareness to conversion, omnichannel is the new playbook for engagement and operations. With the season now elongated into an ever-present state, brands need to always be communicating inventory availability, delivery timelines, and more to set parents up for success.
The most radical reimagining of back-to-school shopping isn't in what we buy, but in why we buy it.
We're no longer just preparing children for academic success; we're equipping them for a lifelong performance of self, where every notebook, every backpack, every carefully chosen water bottle is both prop and protagonist in the ongoing drama of digital belonging.
In a Target aisle, a mother scrolls through TikTok while her thirteen-year-old son sprays a tester of Bleu de Chanel onto his wrist. "It's for school," he insists, citing a creator who explained how the right fragrance is "basically a personality upgrade." The mother checks the $150 price tag, then searches for dupes on LTK, while mentally calculating whether cologne now counts as a school supply alongside graphing calculators and gym uniforms.
Welcome to the new semester of influence, where back-to-school shopping has evolved from a functional necessity into a carefully choreographed social performance. What once involved a simple list from the school district has transformed into a complex negotiation between parental pragmatism and the relentless pull of peer validation, all mediated through the glowing screens that shape our children's social reality.
The ritual itself is ancient: preparing for a new academic year has always carried symbolic weight, marking transitions and fresh starts. But in 2025, this preparation has become something else entirely. We've moved from shopping lists to social scripts, where every purchase carries the weight of potential belonging or exclusion, and where "getting ready" means performative dressing and storytelling for an audience that never stops watching.
From Supply Lists to Social Currency
Back-to-school shopping has been a cultural institution since the 19th Century, when families would stock up on essentials for the year ahead. The shopping lists of the past were beautifully mundane: notebooks, pens, perhaps a new pair of shoes to accommodate growth spurts. Even the advertisements were charmingly straightforward, promising "school specials" on practical goods.
But as the decades have passed, and technology has become more embedded into the fabric of our lives, the net of influence has grown larger, more real-time, and more constant.

Even during the mass commodification of back-to-school in the ‘90s, educational must-haves were based on school district requirements for specific grades. Meanwhile, our personal shopping lists were fine-tuned and tailored based on what our social circles and the “it crowd” deemed cool. Did you have a basic Mead notebook or the Lisa Frank stationery set? Did your parents buy BIC pens in bulk, or did you have a specific feather gel pen for each day of the week? Your response largely influenced your social standing, or lack thereof.
Social validation influences 95% of purchasing decisions, a statistic that takes on new meaning when applied to the developing minds of students. But here's where it gets interesting: children's innate need to fit in isn't just being reflected by social media; it's being actively constructed by it. The "popular crowd" that once held court in school hallways now broadcasts 24/7 through perfectly curated hauls and GRWM videos.
What's particularly fascinating is how both generations have internalized this performance as reality. Millennial parents, despite their pragmatic shopping lists, still turn to creators for validation of their "smart" purchases. Gen Z students treat their back-to-school hauls as content opportunities, understanding implicitly that consumption is communication in the digital age.
The Intergenerational Shopping Wars
LTK’s 2025 Back-to-School Shopper Study gets to the heart of how Gen Z consumers (students) and millennials (parents) use social content to drive their seasonal spending. The company found that 53% of this combined group follow social media creators specifically for back-to-school content, including in-store hauls and “get ready with me” (GRWM) videos.
Back-to-school shopping has traditionally been a chore, simply a box that requires checking. Social media, however, has made it an “inspirational, creator-driven experience,” according to Ally Anderson, Director of Strategy & Insights, Brand Partnerships at LTK. One that enhances the feeling of social connection and belonging that Gen Z consumers are still feeling and experiencing in their physical lives, especially as they flock to malls to shop with their peers.
“Creators aren’t just promoting products, they’re showing how those items fit into real-life routines, classrooms, and dorm rooms,” Anderson said. “In fact, 70% of consumers say they prefer video content when engaging with back-to-school shopping.”
Everything in Context
But the LTK data proves that this isn’t just about inspiration; it’s also about action. Up to 86% of Gen Z consumers and 76% of millennials shop through creators, a trend that Anderson notes is growing year over year.
Consumers within each demographic do not think, behave, or shop the same. It would be short-sighted to think or act as if that were the case. The LTK research reaffirms that the context driving each age group, including their social motivators, life stages, relationship statuses, and future goals, adds more nuance to how and why these consumers turn to social media creators.
Unsurprisingly, Gen Z is more self-focused and trend-driven: 61% are shopping for themselves, and their most top-of-mind categories include electronics (+33%), beauty (+35%), and cleaning supplies (+39%). The last category may be unexpected, but since most of Gen Z plans to get their shopping done in August, their interest aligns with college move-in dates, when they get their taste of a more independent lifestyle (that includes cleaning your space).
"Parents who came of age during the Great Recession meet children who've never known a world without influencers. The result? A household divided between those trying to stretch dollars and those trying to build social capital."
Millennials are far more practical in their content consumption and ultimate purchase behaviors. Only 43% of this group is shopping for themselves during the back-to-school season, and they’re largely prioritizing functional and seasonal needs, according to Anderson. Their top-growing categories include sports equipment (+47%), cold-weather gear (+26%), and food and beverage (+26%). They also tend to shop earlier, with their spending peaking in late July, “most likely with the intent of staying ahead of the back-to-school chaos,” she added.
This isn't just a difference in shopping habits; it's a collision of worldviews. Parents who came of age during the Great Recession meet children who've never known a world without influencers.
The result? A household divided between those trying to stretch dollars and those trying to build social capital, with both sides turning to the same creator economy for wildly different reasons.
Economic Fear Meets Social FOMO
The numbers tell a story of profound anxiety: 61% of parents associate back-to-school shopping with words like "financially challenging" and "stressful." Yet paradoxically, 75% of US households plan to spend the same or more this year, despite looming tariff concerns and economic uncertainty, according to PwC.
Millennial parents are back-to-school shopping earlier than ever, largely due to the anxiety amplified by economic pressures and their kids’ constant feeling of FOMO: 61% of parents associate the entire process with words like “financially challenging” and “stressful,” this demographic is using any and every channel and platform they can to stretch their dollars.
Sure, product quality is always top-of-mind, and creators shape a viral word-of-mouth-powered experience that educates and validates millennial parents’ purchase decisions. LTK found that while price has historically been a top consideration, “availability has taken the lead for shoppers on LTK—a notable jump from last year, when it ranked below brand, price, and convenience,” Anderson said. “That signals a broader consumer mindset: people are increasingly aware of how global pressures like tariffs could disrupt their access to the products they want.
For brands and retailers, this insight reinforces the need to double down on more than just price competitiveness. Consumers are looking for assurance—can they get what they want, when they want it? That’s where creators come in.”
This dual anxiety, economic and social, has created a perfect storm of early shopping. Twenty percent of parents started their back-to-school shopping in June this year, nearly double the 2024 rate. They're not just trying to beat price increases; they're trying to get ahead of the influence curve, to secure the "right" items before they sell out or, worse, become yesterday's trend.

However, consumers are keeping close tabs on price changes, and are acting out of fear more than rationality, especially as long-term tariff impacts remain unclear. In fact, 20% of parents started their back-to-school shopping in June this year, nearly double than June 2024 shopping rates. This year, one in five shoppers are also using AI tools to find online deals, according to PwC research, an omnimodal reality that is shaping the very essence of eCommerce discovery and search experiences.
“Tariff turmoil” remains a key driver of US household purchase decisions. As Matt Pavich, Senior Director of Strategy & Innovation for Revionics, so astutely noted, “logic dictates that rising costs will negatively impact tariffed products like calculators or apparel. On the other hand, back-to-school is a unique event with limited substitution and generally lower elasticities. If a parent needs to buy a calculator for their child to be successful, they will find a way to do so even if the price of that calculator is higher due to tariffs.”
As a result, PwC offers a clear call-to-action for merchants: “Even as US tariffs are one of the key factors driving up prices on imported goods like electronics and apparel…parents are showing determination to maintain or even increase their education-related shopping,” PwC shared. “This spending resilience suggests that retailers who manage inventory effectively and communicate value clearly will likely outperform during this important retail season.”
External forces like Amazon are also moving the goal posts and starting the shopping season earlier and earlier. The company’s annual Prime Day shopping event takes place this week (July 8-11, 2025), and has inspired a whirlwind of social media posts and media listicles featuring “must-have items” for the shopping event. Plus, the growing popularity of Prime Day has sparked an onslaught of copy-cat holidays from Amazon competitors that hope to get a piece of the back-to-school shopping pie.
“Although the economy and tariffs are the likely culprits behind the elongation of the back-to-school buying period, it's safe to say that retail has always loved extending shopping holidays,” Pavich said. “While that practice has shown mixed results from a ‘growing the pie’ perspective, individual retailers can often reap the benefits and grow share if they can extend an event with the right plan and promotions in place.”
Gen Alpha Enters the Chat
It’s still a bit too early for research firms to fully map and analyze Gen Alpha’s digital behaviors and preferences, with the oldest subset of this cohort being 15 going on 16. Yet LTK believes the reliance on creators to inspire trends and guide purchase decisions isn’t going anywhere.
“Creator influence spans generations, shaping not only what’s cool but also what feels trustworthy and worth buying,” Anderson said. “And with the rise of AI-generated content, we anticipate an even stronger demand for real creators with authentic voices and trusted recommendations.”
This cohort also uses gaming platforms as vehicles for creativity and self-expression. Up to 84% of consumers say how they style their digital avatars ultimately influences their own personal style, and Gen Alpha in particular is more likely to turn to brands and products that enable them to authentically express themselves through fashion.
In the US, 81% of parents say their shopping decisions are co-decided or led by their kids and teens. These kids are actively deciding what goes in the shopping carts, from apparel and footwear, to even school supplies and tech accessories. There are various studies that estimate their financial impact, so now is the time to consider the role they can (and should) play in your marketing, advertising, and merchandising strategies.
Key Analysis for Merchants
The back-to-school shopping season of 2025 isn't just a retail event; it's a cultural referendum on how we construct identity, negotiate family dynamics, and perform belonging in an age of perpetual visibility.
Several profound shifts deserve our attention:
- The Temporal Collapse of Retail Seasons. Amazon's Prime Day (July 8-11, 2025) has effectively dissolved the boundaries of the back-to-school season, creating a perpetual state of shopping readiness that mirrors our always-on social media consumption.
Retailers aren't just "extending shopping holidays" as Pavich notes; they're responding to a culture that has eliminated the distinction between shopping and living. - The Authenticity-Performance Paradox. As Anderson predicts, "with the rise of AI-generated content, we anticipate an even stronger demand for real creators with authentic voices."
But this demand for "real" creators only intensifies the performance pressure. The same creators must now perform different versions of authenticity for multiple audiences: the pragmatic parent seeking validation for smart purchases and the trend-conscious teen seeking social currency. A single haul video serves dual purposes, offering budget-friendly "dupes" to anxious millennials while simultaneously establishing the cultural cachet of the original for their Gen Z offspring. Authenticity becomes not just another product to be optimized, but a multi-faceted performance calibrated to resonate across generational divides. - The Democratization of Influence. When everyday consumers become micro-influencers through their haul videos and product reviews, the traditional power structures of retail marketing collapse. Every purchase becomes a potential performance, every shopping trip a content opportunity.
Consequently, influence (and its commercial opportunity) becomes increasingly diffuse in a world overflowing with both commerce and culture. - The Omnichannel Reality Persists: With digital being an ever-present force in consumers’ journey from awareness to conversion, omnichannel is the new playbook for engagement and operations. With the season now elongated into an ever-present state, brands need to always be communicating inventory availability, delivery timelines, and more to set parents up for success.
The most radical reimagining of back-to-school shopping isn't in what we buy, but in why we buy it.
We're no longer just preparing children for academic success; we're equipping them for a lifelong performance of self, where every notebook, every backpack, every carefully chosen water bottle is both prop and protagonist in the ongoing drama of digital belonging.
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