The end of August – the beginning of September brings considerable income to traders who have for sale the necessary products to the students, the Back to School 2025 budget being 2,500 lei, close to the global average of $ 570/child.
The average budget reaches 2,500 lei in Romania. Photo pexels
The consumption habits of Romanians change visibly: the planned shopping gains land in front of impulse purchases, against a greater attention to the budget and access to flexible payment solutions. The phenomenon has a global dimension-according to Euromonitor, only 18% of consumers frequently made impulsive shopping in 2024, while over half they documented their decisions before buying.
This trend is strongly reflected in the Back to School 2025 campaign, one of the most intense commercial periods of the year. If, in the past, the parents left the shopping on the last hundred meters, now the budgets are established and spent more organized.
The average value of the Back to School basket increased to 2,500 lei, by 5–10% more than last year, but not through impulsive purchases, but by a careful selection of the products.
The laptops, desktops and printers remain the categories with the highest demand, but the company relies this year and on diversification, expanding the offer to supplies, backpacks and stationery.
The savings obtained by planning are significant. A client who schedules his purchases can save about 10% of the budget, ie 250 lei from an average basket of 2,500 lei, only by seting up his list and avoids unnecessary shopping. Moreover, the fact that the total allocated budget has increased shows a greater confidence of the customers in the value of these investments: instead of postponing the decisions, I choose to buy exactly the products that are needed, at the right time.
Another factor that strongly influences consumption behavior is the increase of payments in installments and services of buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), is shown in an analysis by EVOMAG. According to her, the orders paid through the BNPL increased by 45% compared to last year and now represent 4.2% of the total, and the purchases in 6-48 installments registered an increase of 15%, reaching about 10% of the orders. This evolution also explains the increase of the average budget: customers allow themselves to make higher investments because they share their costs for longer periods, with better control over monthly expenses. In parallel, fast payment methods, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, have already started to earn land, Google Pay representing 3.3% of orders in the last month.
Average budget worldwide, $ 570/child before school year starts
Parents take into account variants of optimizing the budget allocated to the start of the school year, so 75% (compared to 67% in 2024) say they will change the brand with a cheaper one if the desired one, 65% will buy from more accessible stores instead of the favorite ones, and 51% will choose the private brands, Deloitte back-to-school 2025. The behavior is based on parents’ concerns about the personal financial situation-83%estimate that it will remain unchanged or deteriorate from last year-, to the prospects of slowing the economy (54%) and the potential price increases (52%).
Under these conditions, the estimated budget for such shopping remains close to last year (the equivalent of $ 570/child, with $ 14 less than in 2024), and the total market is kept around $ 31 billion. This year, parents will pay more for clothes and accessories (+6%), but will reduce expenses with supplies (-3%) and technology products-computers, electronic terminals or digital subscriptions (-8%).
However, those with low incomes expect to spend more than 10%compared to last year on school products, due to price increases, while those with average and high incomes estimate that they will spend less (-7%, respectively -9%).
Extracurricular activities decreased, on average, to $ 532/child worldwide
On the other hand, 90% of parents (compared to 86% in 2024) are planning to enroll their children for extracurricular activities, for which they estimate, however, that they will spend less, on average, than last year ($ 532 for each child compared to $ 582 in 2024). They argue that such activities are important because they develop children’s skills that cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence (83%), are beneficial for their mental health (87%) and occupy their time when they are at work (55%).
For shopping, 83% of parents (compared to 77% in 2024) choose generalist stores – Mass Merchants – and online (68%). Physical stores are preferred for the purchase of furniture (70%) and clothes and accessories (58%), and online for electronic devices (71%), computers (69%) and school supplies (54%). At the same time, 71% of parents are willing to wait longer for delivery, to benefit from free.
At the same time, the share of those who intend to use social networks for school shopping (41% in 33% in 2024) increases, the most active in this point of view being the representatives of the Z generation (75%). One third of the study participants say they will use artificial intelligence, including generative, shopping, mainly to compare prices and identify offers more easily. On the other hand, 32% of parents have more confidence in the recommendations of influencers than in the information provided by traders.
“The results of the study indicate that the price becomes the main criterion in purchasing the products to start the school, since parents are increasingly concerned about the efficient management of budgets in the current economic context marked by uncertainty in most economies of the world. The budgetary constraints facing the states determine the European consumers to approach the Romanian plans, and to the Romanian expenses, The return of inflation on an accelerated growth trend, against the background of energy prices and the increase of the general VAT rate from 19% to 21%. In search of the most advantageous offers ”said Raluca Bâldea, partner tax services, Deloitte Romania, and the leader of the retail industry and consumer goods.
The protection of the environment continues to concern more than three quarters of parents (37%), but they also put the price when they take into account the purchase of a sustainable product. At the same time, 33% would buy second -hand products when available and only 18% are actively looking for sustainable products and are willing to pay more for them.
