Three CX Tips For Retailers During Back-to-School Season

By Ron Welty, Founder, CustomerOptix

There’s a point in every summer when back-to-school stops feeling far away, and parents far and wide get that shiver down their spine… It might be that first school email, a supply list landing in the inbox, or realizing that half the clothes you bought last fall no longer fit your kid. 

That here we go feeling lands for more than just parents. For our kids, this is often a time of excitement, nerves, maybe a new routine or even a new school. 

I’ve experienced that stress with two boys of my own, and after more than 25 years working in customer experience, I’ve seen the business side of it too. Back-to-school isn’t just a sales event for retailers, it’s a stress test for even their most loyal customers.

The National Retail Federation expects K-12 back-to-school spending to reach a record $43.3 billion in 2026, while back-to-college spending is projected to surpass $100 billion for the first time, reaching $103.5 billion. By early July, 62% of back-to-school shoppers had already started buying.

That creates a longer window of opportunity for retailers, but also a longer period in which execution has to hold up.

For regional retailers and national brands alike, peak periods like the back-to-school rush expose service gaps quickly. One store may be fully stocked and organized while another is missing promotional signage. One team may know exactly where seasonal products are while another leaves shoppers wandering the aisles. In quieter points of the year, you may have more slack on this, but in a high-pressure season like back-to-school shopping, inconsistencies get amplified and become noticeable issues for even your most loyal customers.

As I mentioned, back-to-school shoppers rarely arrive relaxed. Parents may be balancing work, sports, school schedules, budgets, and several different shopping lists. Students may be thrilled about going back, but also nervous about the coming year. 

In other words, retailers are often serving two customers at once.

The parent wants predictability: Help me finish this list.

The student often wants something more emotional: Help me feel ready for what’s next.

This is an enormous opportunity for retailers to meet their customers where they are emotionally and exceed expectations. Improved selection, clear signage, consistent follow-up, easy exchanges, a forgiving return policy – these are the kinds of CX moments that are sticky and memorable for parents and students, even with a lot on their minds.

Takeaway #1: Retailers, Make It Easy to Finish the List!

One of the fastest ways to make an already stressful trip worse is forcing someone to visit another store.

Recent Coresight Research found that out-of-stocks were the leading reason shoppers reported leaving a store without purchasing, cited by 56% of respondents. Long checkout lines and difficulty getting associate support were other leading sources of friction. During back-to-school season, those problems become amplified.

Retailers should be asking simple questions across every location:

• Are high-demand items actually available?
• Does online inventory match what customers find in-store?
• Can shoppers navigate seasonal sections easily?
• Are promotions and shelf prices accurate?
• Can associates quickly locate products or suggest alternatives?
• Are checkout lines manageable during peak periods?

I believe these are fundamental parts of nailing the back-to-school experience. And during a high-pressure shopping trip, fundamentals win.

Takeaway #2: Don’t Lose the Customer in the Final 20 Minutes

Retailers can get almost everything right and still ruin the trip at checkout. A 2026 consumer study focused on physical retail found that 45% of shoppers had chosen not to purchase an item because pricing or discounts were unclear, while 32% reported abandoning a purchase or leaving a store because of long checkout lines.

Think about that in a back-to-school context. A parent has spent an hour finding notebooks, shoes, clothes and supplies with two kids in tow. An incorrect promotion or another 15 minutes in line might feel like a small moment to a national retailer, but it’s often the last straw for a stressed customer.

Takeaway #3: Do a Back-to-School Retail CX Checkup

Before the rush hits, take a hard look at the experience you’re about to put under pressure. A simple CX checkup can uncover broken promotions, confusing signage, inventory gaps, slow pickup processes, or other friction before those issues land on an already constrained customer service team. The goal here isn’t to fix everything all at once. A much more useful exercise is highlighting the handful of problems most likely to create avoidable questions, complaints, and escalations when traffic peaks. Every issue you catch early is one less problem your frontline teams have to solve in real time.

Walk through the experience like a customer would. Search for an item online, visit a store, ask an associate for help, test a promotion, or place a pickup order. Busy seasons have a way of exposing weak spots quickly, so finding them yourself before your customers do can make the rush easier on both sides of the counter.

A Final Back-to-School CX Reminder

After 25+ years in this business (and just as long as a parent!), I’ve learned that busy periods often expose existing issues as much as they create new ones. That makes back-to-school an ideal time for multi-location retailers to pay attention.

Measure product availability. Check promotional accuracy. Look at associate helpfulness, store organization, BOPIS execution, checkout times, and returns. Most importantly, evaluate how easy it is for a real customer to accomplish what they came in to do.

Because this season, value isn’t just about what shoppers spend, it’s about how much work you make them do to get what they need, and how much work you’re willing to do to meet them where they are – financially and emotionally.

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