73% of Parents Plan to Start Back-to-School Shopping Earlier in 2026

Key facts

A May 2026 survey by MRI-Simmons found that 73% of parents with school-aged children plan to begin back-to-school shopping earlier than normal this year, the highest early-start share the research firm has recorded. Separately, eMarketer's April 2026 back-to-school forecast projected total U.S. back-to-school retail sales at $85.42 billion for 2026, a 3.3% increase from 2025, with families increasingly spreading purchases across the early summer to lock in prices before the peak season.

• 73% of parents plan to start back-to-school shopping earlier than normal in 2026, per MRI-Simmons' Q2 2026 Trending Topics Study.
• 82% of back-to-school parents say they prioritize value over brand when choosing where and what to buy.
• 38% of parents surveyed had already purchased kids' apparel in the six months before the May 2026 survey, spending an average of $648 per household.
• eMarketer projects total 2026 U.S. back-to-school retail sales at $85.42 billion, up 3.3% year over year.

What it means for parents

The data points to a real shift in shopping behavior: parents are not waiting until August. If you have kids starting school in September, the practical implication is that June and early July are now the more competitive months for finding everyday basics at stable prices. Clothing, footwear, and essentials like socks tend to be restocked earlier each year as retailers respond to early demand, but sizes and multi-pack formats can run thin by mid-July.

Budget consciousness is running high. MRI-Simmons found that 84% of parents say most things today cost too much, and 33% are actively switching from name brands to generics or store brands to stretch spending further. That trade-down pattern is particularly visible in basics categories, where quality and price-per-unit matter more than labels. Parents who plan ahead for socks, undershirts, and school uniform pieces tend to spend less per item and make fewer urgent, higher-priced purchases in August.

Background and context

The early-start trend is not new, but the 2026 season is accelerating it. NRF data from the 2025 back-to-school season showed that 67% of shoppers had already begun purchasing by early July 2025, up from 55% the prior year and the highest rate since NRF began tracking the metric in 2018. Half of those early shoppers cited concern about tariff-driven price increases as the main reason. That same pressure is carrying into the 2026 cycle, with eMarketer noting that families are "increasingly spreading costs over time, starting their shopping journeys as early as July to capitalize on mid-summer sales."

Kids' apparel and everyday basics have consistently been among the first categories to move in early back-to-school shopping. The MRI-Simmons 2026 study found that 78% of parents plan their back-to-school purchases around seasonal sales events, which means promotional periods in late June and July carry more weight than they did five years ago. Online channels, particularly Amazon, continue to rank as the top destination for back-to-school shopping, with 55% of K-12 families preferring to buy online, according to NRF's most recent annual data.

Takeaway

The 2026 back-to-school season is arriving earlier than the calendar suggests. Surveys published in spring 2026 point to a value-focused, early-moving parent: one who is watching prices, reaching for multi-packs over single items, and buying basics in June rather than August. For socks, that means combed-cotton value packs in the right sizes are worth adding to the cart now, before summer sales wind down and inventory tightens ahead of the school year.