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Grocery and drug stores were some of the few businesses to thrive during the coronavirus pandemic. Lakeland-based Publix, for example, saw its sales surge in the second quarter of 2020, when it reported gross revenue of $11.4 billion — a 21% increase over the same period last year.
But with schools nationwide struggling to figure out how to reopen amid the COVID-19 crisis, grocery and drugstore chains have taken a big hit when it comes to sales of school supplies.
Catalina, a St. Petersburg marketing firm that specializes in shopper intelligence, says in a press release that back-to-school sales have fizzled, leading to a 31% drop nationwide in the four weeks leading up to the weekend of Aug. 22-23. According to the firm’s Buyer Intelligence Database, which tracks billions of in-store purchases each day, back-to-school sales are sharply down in COVID-19 hotspots such as New York, California, Texas, Georgia and Florida. Trips to stores are also on the decline in many states, though some, like Florida, saw a slight uptick in the amount spent, per trip, on school supplies.
According to Catalina, even retailers in some states that have largely been spared the disruption caused by COVID-19, such as Alaska, Montana and Wyoming, have also experienced significant declines in back-to-school spending.
“The debates about the best way to approach the 2019-20 academic year are complex as parents, teachers and academic institutions grapple with how best teach our kids safely and effectively,” Catalina Chief Marketing Officer Marta Cyhan states in the release. “The sales decline of back-to-school supplies suggests that many have been taking a wait-and-see attitude, even as they explore virtual or smaller group options like starting learning pods or microschools in a teacher’s home with a carefully selected and monitored group of classmates.”
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