Jimmy KimCEO & Founder, Commerce Roundtable · Marketer of 17+ Years, 4x Founder. Former DTC/Retailer & SaaS Founder. Newsletter. Host of ASOM & Send it! Podcast. DTC Event: Commerce Roundtable

Back to School: The $147B Season Brands Ignore

22 Aug 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:06

In this YouTube discussion, Jimmy Kim highlights the National Retail Federation’s projection that back‑to‑school (BTS) spending will reach $147 billion in 2026, a $12 billion increase from the previous year. He breaks down the market into roughly $43 billion for K‑12 and over $100 billion for college, noting that BTS has become the second‑largest holiday shopping season after the winter holidays, yet it remains under‑discussed by brands. Kim argues that BTS should be viewed not as a single date but as a six‑week customer mindset period during which families rebuild their lives, varying by region. This mindset window presents a strategic opportunity for retention marketers, e‑commerce teams, and direct‑to‑consumer founders to engage customers throughout the extended season.

Chapters

The National Retail Federation is projecting the back-to-school spending is about to hit $147 billion in 2026. That's up $12 billion from last year. So it's $147 billion. That's with a B. And if you break it down into K through 12, it's about $43 billion. And back-to-school crossed $100 billion for the first time ever, which is crazy for back-to-college stuff. There's over $100 billion just in college money out there. Here's the part that matters to us, the retention marketers, the e-commerce, the direct-to-consumer founders. Back-to-school Back to school is the second biggest holiday shopping season of the year, but people don't talk about it enough. Second one to the only the winter holidays basically, and bigger than everyone should be treating it right now.
Everyone just assumes it's like this niche, really small thing that's not relevant to them.
When I started thinking about this pod today, I was like, what's better is if we define this moment. Even if people think and confuse themselves in the moment with the holiday, a moment is like mindset. And so back to school isn't a certain day. It's not August 25th. It all depends on wherever you live in the country. It's a mindset that lives in your customer for about 6 weeks because they're almost actively rebuilding their life.