Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know
Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.
Plenty of parents can’t wait to ditch Zoom school. Neither can Newell Brands.
The company behind essentials including Elmer’s and Sharpie (2020 net sales: $9.4 billion) helps fuel the annual back-to-school school rush. It’s now ready to return to the classroom.
“Honestly, parents and kids are excited to get back,” Laurel Hurd, who heads Newell’s learning and development group, told Retail Brew. And they’re eager to spend.
By the numbers: Back-to-school spending is expected to reach $32.5 billion for K-12 students, or $612 per student, per Deloitte—its highest level in years.
- While a good portion tilts towards tech, $$ for school supplies will still total $5.5 billion in 2021.
- Parents want to re-create “fun back-to-school shopping experiences,” Katherine Cullen, senior director of industry and consumer insights at the National Retail Federation, told us earlier this summer.
Old school
The pandemic was all about screen time, but parents are “more comfortable shopping in store this year,” per the NRF.
Strategizing the store: Newell’s key to success? Working with retail partners to make sure its brands are properly showcased—from prominent shelf placement to stand-alone displays.
- “We're spending more time making sure we've got assortments that are easy to shop,” Hurd said.
- It’s about making the in-store experience seamless and attractive, even if customers are just popping in to pick up an online order.
“We know that a lot of kids didn't buy supplies last year, so people have more of a need to replenish. When parents are buying for their child, they tend to buy more branded products and spend a little bit more,” Hurd told us.
Write on: Sharpie, for one, is tapping into a growing gel pen trend with its S-Gel line, a new product initiative that expands “beyond the brand’s core platform” to include “fashion design” colors and metal barrels.
- Sharpie S-Gel is on track to rack up more than $40 million in sales per year, Hurd noted.
Expo, the dry-erase marker, is another top performer. Elmer’s is proving to be sticky as well (pun intended), but not for the reason you think. Once just an adhesion brand, back in the glue stick days, Elmer’s is now at the center of the slime trend. “It’s really become more of a kids’ activity brand,” Hurd explained.
Looking ahead: It turns out that hybrid models aren’t just for the workplace. Hurd said Newell has “spent a lot of time on how our brands can play a role” in blended learning models (but would not comment on those plans just yet).—JG