By Melissa Nelson, Marketing and Communications, Retail Analytics Council, Northwestern University
Back-to-school and college are major retail events for grandparents in addition to parents, making them an important audience for understanding seasonal shopping behavior. Grandparents represent 22.7% of adults surveyed in the research conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics in cooperation with the National Retail Federation. Their back-to-school and college shopping varies by household composition. This report separates respondents into three groups: “non-grandparents,” “grandparents with children” (those who also have children under the age of 18 living in their household) and “grandparents alone” (those without children under 18 in the same household). Grandparents with children represent 4.7% of adults surveyed, while 18% are grandparents alone.
The report shows several differences in spending and shopping behavior across three groups, including:
- Grandparents with children under the age of 18 in the home are the highest-spending group. While they represent a smaller segment of adults surveyed, their spending reflects the makeup of the modern family, where being a grandparent can overlap with having underage children in the household.
- Grandparents who do not have underage children living in the same household report higher planned spending on back-to-college than back-to-school. Planned spending totals $245.17 for back-to-college, compared with $162.05 for back-to-school.
- Marketing has less influence on grandparents without children under 18 living in the same household. Their average marketing influence is 1.4 compared with 5.1 for grandparents with children in the same household and 4.4 for non-grandparents. In-store promotions and coupons are among the leading influences for grandparents alone.
- AI is beginning to factor into back-to-school and college shopping. Product research and price tracking are the highest reported uses, with varying usage across the three groups.
Back-to-School and College Shopping Research Report
By Dr. Martin Block, Professor Emeritus, Northwestern University, Retail Analytics Council
Back-to-school and college are major retail events for grandparents in addition to parents. Adults were asked in the Prosper Technologies July 2026 monthly survey (n=7,677) and the August 2026 monthly survey(n=7,652). In response to the question, “Do you plan to shop for back-to-school/college this year?” Back-to-school and college retail spending is a multi-month event beginning for some consumers as early as late June and running through September.
Overall, 44.4% reported planning to shop for back-to-school or college in August, up slightly from 42.4% in July. In July, 31.0% of all adults reported shopping for back-to-school, while 28.7% reported shopping for back-to-college, including for both a dependent child and for themselves. This leaves 14.1% who are shopping for both.
Grandparents are presumed to play a role in back-to-school or college shopping. Some grandparents also have children under age 18 living in their household, which may affect their shopping and spending. For this report, grandparents are separated into those with children under 18 in the household and those without. Table 1 shows the distribution of these groups. Overall, 22.7% say they are grandparents.
Table 1. Grandparent Distribution
| Percent | |
| Non-grandparent adults | 77.3 |
| Grandparents with children under the age 18 | 4.7 |
| Grandparents without children under the age 18 | 18.0 |
| Total grandparents | 22.7 |
Grandparents
The demographic characteristics are shown in Table 2, separating grandparents with and without other children in the household. Grandparents without children under 18 are substantially older than the other groups, with over 23 years between grandparents alone and non-grandparents. Grandparents with other children under 18 in the household are also just over 15 years younger than grandparents without children under 18. Income levels are surprisingly similar, with grandparents with other children having the lowest income.
Table 2: Grandparent Demographic Characteristics
| Age | Income ($000) | Percent Female | |
| Other adults | 43.4 | 63.6 | 49.2 |
| Grandparents with children | 51.4 | 58.7 | 58.9 |
| Grandparents alone | 67.0 | 62.3 | 62.2 |
| Total | 48.0 | 63.1 | 52.0 |
Grandparent Spending
Back-to-school and college average spending far exceeds all other holidays except Christmas. Table 3 shows the amount of anticipated back-to-school planned items in July 2026 by item categories. Spending levels are always considerably lower for parents than grandparents without additional children. Grandparents with children under 18 in the household plan to buy more across the back-to-school categories than both non-grandparents and grandparents without children under 18. Alone grandparents plan to buy clothing and accessories for back-to-college, school supplies, food and personal care items at a higher rate.
Table 3: Grandparent Spending Plans Among Total Population
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| Clothing and accessories | 33.8 | 71.4 | 3.4 | 30.5 |
| Shoes | 32.5 | 70.0 | 3.3 | 29.4 |
| School supplies, such as notebooks and backpacks | 33.6 | 70.9 | 3.3 | 30.2 |
| Electronics or computer-related equipment | 25.5 | 54.2 | 2.8 | 23.0 |
| Food items, such as snacks, beverages, etc. | 31.3 | 67.4 | 3.1 | 28.3 |
| Personal care items | 31.9 | 67.4 | 3.3 | 28.8 |
| Back-to-school average | 31.5 | 66.9 | 3.2 | 28.4 |
| Clothing and accessories | 27.5 | 41.4 | 9.7 | 25.1 |
| Shoes | 25.9 | 40.5 | 8.9 | 23.7 |
| Collegiate branded gear or supplies | 21.7 | 38.6 | 6.3 | 19.9 |
| Electronics or computer-related equipment | 22.9 | 38.8 | 7.1 | 21.0 |
| Dorm or apartment furnishings | 21.2 | 38.6 | 6.5 | 19.6 |
| Food items, such as snacks, beverages, etc. | 27.2 | 40.2 | 8.3 | 24.5 |
| Personal care items | 27.8 | 40.5 | 8.9 | 25.1 |
| Gift cards or pre-paid cards | 16.8 | 36.7 | 5.8 | 15.9 |
| Back-to-school average | 24.5 | 39.7 | 7.9 | 22.3 |
The average spending levels shown in Table 4 are considerably higher for grandparents with children under 18 in the household than for non-grandparents. Clothing and accessories for back-to-school are an exception. Outside of clothing and accessories, the average back-to-school spending for grandparents alone is quite small. However, the average spending among grandparents without children under 18 is higher for back-to-college than back-to-school.
Table 4: Back-to-School/College Spending by Grandparents Among Buyers
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| Back-to-School | ||||
| Clothing and accessories | 97.05 | 215.99 | 126.25 | 87.94 |
| Shoes | 68.50 | 163.55 | 7.42 | 62.86 |
| School supplies, such as notebooks and backpacks | 61.81 | 121.34 | 5.66 | 55.06 |
| Electronics or computer-related equipment | 115.40 | 217.79 | 9.29 | 102.08 |
| Food items, such as snacks, beverages, etc. | 77.57 | 152.15 | 6.75 | 69.04 |
| Personal care items | 64.47 | 141.05 | 6.68 | 58.38 |
| Total back-to-school | 484.80 | 1011.86 | 162.05 | 435.37 |
| Back-to-school Average | 80.80 | 168.64 | 27.01 | 72.56 |
| Back-to-College | ||||
| Clothing and accessories | 91.95 | 128.78 | 36.39 | 84.04 |
| Shoes | 77.66 | 123.66 | 25.71 | 70.91 |
| Collegiate branded gear or supplies | 57.73 | 120.06 | 17.07 | 53.93 |
| School supplies, such as notebooks and backpacks | 75.88 | 131.92 | 23.68 | 69.65 |
| Electronics or computer-related equipment | 116.14 | 162.62 | 37.84 | 104.69 |
| Dorm or apartment furnishings | 92.37 | 158.20 | 29.63 | 84.80 |
| Food items, such as snacks, beverages, etc. | 95.72 | 143.37 | 27.70 | 86.18 |
| Personal care items | 81.61 | 147.85 | 24.58 | 75.09 |
| Gift cards or pre-paid cards | 58.05 | 143.20 | 22.57 | 56.45 |
| Total back-to-college | 747.13 | 1259.65 | 245.17 | 685.74 |
| Back-to-college average | 83.01 | 139.96 | 27.24 | 76.19 |
The leading marketing influences for back-to-school/college items are coupons and in-store promotion, as shown in Table 5. This is true for both non-grandparents and grandparents alone. Grandparents with children under 18 are most influenced by in-store promotion, retailers’ websites and internet advertising. AI tools focus on non-grandparents and are considerably lower for grandparents alone. On average, grandparents with children are the most influenced by marketing variables, followed by non-grandparents. Grandparents alone are the least influenced.
Table 5: Importance of Marketing Influence by Grandparents
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| Coupons | 8.6 | 6.9 | 3.6 | 7.6 |
| In-store promotion | 8.0 | 8.6 | 3.7 | 7.3 |
| 7.2 | 7.2 | 0.9 | 6.1 | |
| TikTok | 6.9 | 5.6 | 0.9 | 5.8 |
| Mobile devices (cell phone, wireless laptop, etc.) | 6.5 | 6.4 | 1.4 | 5.6 |
| Retailers’ websites | 5.8 | 7.5 | 3.6 | 5.5 |
| Internet advertising | 6.0 | 7.8 | 1.7 | 5.3 |
| 6.0 | 6.9 | 1.5 | 5.2 | |
| Coupon websites (e.g., RetailMeNot.com, etc.) | 5.5 | 6.9 | 1.6 | 4.9 |
| Email advertising | 5.4 | 5.3 | 2.4 | 4.9 |
| Word of mouth | 5.1 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 4.7 |
| Retailer apps | 4.3 | 4.2 | 2.3 | 3.9 |
| Advertising inserts | 4.3 | 5.0 | 1.2 | 3.8 |
| Group buying websites (e.g., Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.) | 3.4 | 6.7 | 0.9 | 3.1 |
| Text messaging on mobile device | 3.5 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 3.1 |
| X (formerly Twitter) | 3.7 | 4.7 | 0.4 | 3.1 |
| AI tools (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity AI, etc.) | 3.6 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 3.0 |
| Direct mail | 3.3 | 3.9 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| Product placement | 3.3 | 6.1 | 0.6 | 2.9 |
| TV/broadcast | 2.9 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 2.7 |
| Read article on product | 2.8 | 4.7 | 0.8 | 2.5 |
| Magazines | 2.7 | 4.7 | 0.7 | 2.4 |
| Cable | 2.5 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 2.2 |
| Newspaper | 2.2 | 5.3 | 0.9 | 2.1 |
| Snapchat | 2.4 | 3.3 | 0.5 | 2.1 |
| Video on mobile device | 2.3 | 3.3 | 0.4 | 2.1 |
| Radio | 2.1 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 1.9 |
| Blogs | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 1.8 |
| Average | 4.4 | 5.1 | 1.4 | 3.9 |
Grandparents with children were the most positive about this year’s promotions and sales, with 43.5% saying they were somewhat or much better than in previous years. That compares to 32.6% of non-grandparents and 17.9% of grandparents without children under 18, as shown in Table 6. Part of the difference may be that these grandparents also have children under 18 living in their household and shop more for back-to-school/college items.
Table 6: Comparison of This Year’s Promotions and Sales
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| Much better than in previous years | 12.5 | 18.9 | 5.7 | 12.4 |
| Somewhat better than in previous years | 20.1 | 24.6 | 12.5 | 19.8 |
| The same as previous years | 41.8 | 36.5 | 50.9 | 42.1 |
| Somewhat worse than in previous years | 20.6 | 16.4 | 23.0 | 20.5 |
| Much worse than in previous years | 4.1 | 3.3 | 7.2 | 4.3 |
As shown in Table 7, the pattern for shopping places is virtually the same for back-to-school and back-to-college. The correlation between the two is .973. The leading places are online, department stores, clothing stores, discount stores and electronics stores. College bookstores make an appearance. As expected, grandparents alone have a stronger presence for back-to-college than back-to-school.
Table 7: Where Shopped by Grandparents
| Back-to-School | Back-to-college | |||||||
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| Online | 17.3 | 28.9 | 1.7 | 15.0 | 11.8 | 8.6 | 4.9 | 10.4 |
| Department store | 16.7 | 35.0 | 1.5 | 14.9 | 11.5 | 10.0 | 3.6 | 10.0 |
| Clothing store | 15.2 | 26.7 | 1.7 | 13.3 | 9.3 | 11.4 | 2.8 | 8.3 |
| Discount store | 14.1 | 28.9 | 1.6 | 12.6 | 9.4 | 8.1 | 4.3 | 8.4 |
| Electronics store | 7.7 | 14.2 | 0.5 | 6.7 | 7.8 | 11.9 | 1.8 | 6.9 |
| Office supplies store | 7.9 | 10.3 | 0.8 | 6.7 | 5.1 | 4.4 | 1.2 | 4.4 |
| Local business | 7.0 | 15.6 | 0.6 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 9.2 | 1.7 | 5.2 |
| Catalog | 2.3 | 5.6 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Thrift stores | 2.1 | 5.3 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 2.3 |
| Drug store | 1.3 | 3.1 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| Home store | 5.2 | 11.9 | 0.9 | 4.7 | ||||
| College bookstore | 7.5 | 8.3 | 2.5 | 6.7 | ||||
Thrift stores are considered by half of the back-to-school/college shoppers, as shown in Table 8. Thrift stores are most considered among grandparents with children.
Table 8: Consider Used or Thrift Stores
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| Yes | 35.5 | 41.9 | 28.1 | 36.0 |
| No | 50.4 | 45.1 | 45.6 | 49.7 |
| Unsure | 12.8 | 9.4 | 26.3 | 12.7 |
AI Tools
AI platforms are beginning to support back-to-school/college shopping this year. Table 9 shows that product research and price tracking are the leading uses. Although product research and price tracking are high, grandparents with children are the most likely to say they don’t use AI for any back-to-school/college shopping.
Table 9: How are you using AI platforms and tools to support back-to-school shopping this year?
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| Product research: Asking for recommendations and ideas | 15.5 | 17.2 | 2.8 | 13.3 |
| Price tracking: Scan multiple retailer sites to find the best prices/discounts | 14.4 | 19.7 | 3.5 | 12.7 |
| Product research: visual and image search | 11.3 | 14.2 | 2.2 | 9.8 |
| Planning: Generating shopping lists | 9.3 | 9.2 | 2.4 | 8.1 |
| Decision-making: Comparing different items before making a purchase | 9.0 | 8.9 | 2.4 | 7.8 |
| Other use | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| I am not using AI for any back-to-school shopping | 15.0 | 23.3 | 10.4 | 14.5 |
As shown in Table 10, making shopping faster and more convenient and receiving good product recommendations are the leading reasons for using AI tools. Grandparents with children report the highest average agreement with positive reasons for using AI. Trust is also an issue, as shown in Table 11, with 5.0% reporting they don’t trust AI to maintain their privacy and 4.1% reporting they don’t trust AI answers to be accurate. Grandparents with children in the household also report the highest average agreement with negative reasons for using AI. Overall, average agreement with positive reasons for using AI in shopping is more than three times the average agreement with negative reasons.
Table 10: When it comes to using AI for shopping, positive statement agreement
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| AI has made back-to-school shopping faster or more convenient | 15.9 | 22.5 | 2.9 | 13.9 |
| I have received good product recommendations from AI | 15.2 | 19.4 | 3.8 | 13.4 |
| AI tools have found me deals and saved me money | 10.5 | 11.9 | 3.1 | 9.3 |
| I’ve shopped at new retailers or websites because of AI recommendations | 4.3 | 4.2 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| None of the above | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.8 |
| Average Positive Reasons | 11.5 | 14.5 | 2.8 | 10.1 |
Table 11: When it comes to using AI for shopping, negative statement agreement
| Non | With Kids | Alone | All | |
| I don’t trust AI will maintain my privacy | 5.0 | 8.3 | 4.3 | 5.0 |
| I don’t trust AI answers are accurate | 4.3 | 4.7 | 2.8 | 4.1 |
| I don’t like the answers from AI | 2.8 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 2.4 |
| I don’t know what to ask AI for (or how to ask it) | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.2 |
| I don’t know how to use AI | 0.9 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| None of the above | 5.8 | 9.4 | 3.7 | 5.6 |
| Average Negative Reasons | 2.9 | 3.8 | 2.0 | 2.7 |
Summary
Back-to-school and college spending is a substantial part of seasonal retail spending and grandparents are an important part of that market. The findings show that grandparents are not a single consumer group. Household composition plays a role in how much they spend, how they shop and what marketing reaches them. As shopping behaviors and the makeup of families evolve, understanding these differences, including how grandparents are using AI, can help retailers better reach this market during the back-to-school and college shopping season.