Clarks & Legami: Who’s winning the back-to-school marketing race?
The "back to school" period is the second-largest shopping event of the year after Christmas, worth a reported £11 billion, with the UK’s spending growing 4% year on year since 2021.
Recent data shows that UK parents are expected to spend an average of £329 per child on back-to-school items. This substantial expenditure for most UK households highlights the importance of the season—here’s how brands are fighting for attention.
The ongoing cost-of-living crisis has profoundly impacted consumer behaviour, making families more careful and thoughtful with their purchases. As a result, parents are actively seeking guidance from brands, not just noise. This has led to a shift in priorities.
Value is paramount: families are prioritising discounts and sales, with many buying fewer items and switching to more budget-friendly brands.
Clarks are currently defending this position, promoting their lowest priced range in over a decade in their nationwide campaign with the headline “quality you expect, prices you didn’t.”
Filmed at a local school close to Clarks’ iconic headquarters in Somerset, the campaign brings together the heritage of the brand with the unexpected message of lower prices. Sales data will be the indicator of whether the campaign succeeds, but from a messaging and targeting standpoint, the campaign has delivered on securing Clarks as a brand leader in school shoes.
Children are a major force in the back-to-school market, and their "must-have" lists are heavily influenced by social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Brands that are really tapping into this market are becoming this season’s must-have item. The battle this season is in the stationery aisle!
Stabilo: The long-standing market leader
As a well-established European brand, Stabilo has a long history and is strongly associated with key products in the UK, especially amongst its BOSS highlighters and Point 88 fineliners.
This back-to-school season, Stabilo has been focusing on their ‘Start Beginning’ campaign, which aims to become a catalyst in helping people to kick-start their dreams through the simple act of writing it down.
A great sentiment that reaches a wide and varied audience, but with erasable pens being the product of choice amongst kids, is Stabilo doing enough to engage with younger audiences to future-proof their brand appeal?
Legami: The ‘’collectable’-focused challenger brand
With social media heavily influencing stationery trends, challenger brand Legami has created a distinct ‘collectable’ niche in the market which has resulted in “phenomenal growth” in the UK. The Italian brand, with over 100 stores, was launched in 2003 in Milan and has design and fun at the centre of its brand ethos.
Legami's success is fuelled by highly desirable stationery that has become a collectable trend among children and young adults. The brand has benefited from viral social media trends, particularly around its erasable pens, which are a top item in UK schools.
Legami appeals to a distinct, design-led segment of the market, not a mass-market stationery play like Stabilo's, with continued sales success dependent on maintaining this "cult" status and viral appeal.
With stationery being at the lower cost spectrum on the back-to-school shopping list, children will most likely decide what stationery frequents their pencil case this season, and for many UK households, Legami has taken prime position.