Mobile shopping insights: Brand marketers' cheat sheet for back-to-school 2025

As the second largest retail event in the U.S. after the holiday season, back-to-school shopping represents a crucial opportunity for brand advertising. And this year, the path to reaching parents clearly leads to one place: their mobile devices.

Between March and April 2025, Unity surveyed 1,234 parents in the U.S. with children under 18 through Qualtrics to uncover how they're using mobile apps and games during this critical shopping season*. Our research uncovers specific insights into their shopping behaviors, ad engagement patterns, and preferred retail channels that can help marketers create more effective mobile strategies. Let's take a closer look at the key data and takeaways from our survey.

Mobile meets back-to-school

Parents are embracing mobile as a primary path to purchase, with the majority using apps to research and buy back-to-school items.

• 68% of parents use mobile apps for back-to-school shopping
• 48% download new apps specifically for the back-to-school shopping season
  • Dads are more app-curious with 55% downloading new apps vs. 44% of moms
• 46% complete purchases directly through mobile apps
• Not only are parents using apps for shopping, generally, they are logging serious screen time:
  • 22% spend 1–2 hours/day
  • 33% spend 3–4 hours/day on their phones
  • 35% spend 5+ hours on their phones
• 58% of parents say they’re likely or very likely to engage with rewarded ads offering back-to-school savings
  • Dads (59.6%) are slightly more responsive than moms (58.4%)
  • Only 11.9% of parents are unlikely or very unlikely to engage
• Most parents are deal-driven, with coupons and limited-time offers leading their purchase decisions:
  • Coupons/deals: 32% overall (35% of moms, 28% of dads)
  • Limited-time offers: 14% of parents overall, with dads more responsive (17.4%)
  • Cost and variety matter while proximity, bundles/packages and customer service ranked lowest

Recommendation: Prioritize in-app advertising with deal-focused creatives, combined with rewarded ad formats that highlight limited-time urgency.

School’s in (early) session

When looking at timelines – our survey data indicates that parents are early planners, with the majority of shopping activity kicking off in June (or earlier!), with dads being more likely to get an early jump on back-to-school shopping.

• Nearly 1 in 5 parents (21%) are early planners, starting their shopping before June.
• Dads are more likely to start early — 29% shop before June vs. 16% of moms.
• Nearly half of parents (46%) kick off shopping in June or July, with July alone driving the biggest surge (29.6%)—the peak of back-to-school season.
• 24.8% wait until August, likely driven by last-minute needs or school start dates.

Recommendation: Consider launching your awareness campaigns in mid-late Q2 to engage early planners while they’re still in research mode.

Spend-ready parents

Parents that we surveyed indicated they are ready to spend when it comes to back-to-school shopping, with moms being the primary purchasers. Advertising also plays a large role, with the majority of parents citing it as influential in the purchase-making process.

• 42% of parents plan to spend over $150 on back-to-school clothing alone.
  • Another 20% plan to spend between $100–$150, showing that back-to-school is a high-intent, high-investment moment for many families.
• 63% say advertising somewhat or significantly influences their back-to-school purchase decisions.
• Moms drive the majority of back to school purchases, with 86% identifying as the primary household shopper.

Recommendation: Target mobile ad placements that reach moms - who likely drive the majority of purchase decisions - especially through mobile gaming where women outpace men (73% vs. 65%). With 63% of parents somewhat or significantly influenced by advertising and most planning substantial budgets, mobile campaigns during this high-intent period can help you reach your target audience.

What’s in their cart

Parents that we surveyed indicated they have distinct preferences when it comes to both what they're buying and where they're shopping for back-to-school items, with notable differences in shopping behavior between moms and dads.

• Classroom supplies (33%), clothing (24%), arts and crafts supplies (9%) and electronics (8%) top the shopping list
• Parents surveyed shop, or would consider shopping, at familiar favorites for back-to-school supplies:
  • Walmart (39%)
  • Amazon (17%)
  • Target (12%)
  • Staples (8%)
• Retailers vary by parent: While both moms and dads shop at mass retailers, dads are more likely to favor tech and office supply stores than moms.
  • Dads were 2x more likely to shop at Staples (12%) vs. moms (6%)
  • Dads were 2.4x more likely to shop at Office Depot (12%) vs. moms (5%)
  • Dads were 3.3x more likely to shop at Best Buy (10%) vs. moms (3%)
  • Moms were 1.6x more likely to shop at Walmart (46%) vs. dads (28%)

Recommendation: Align your messaging with top retail destinations and tailor creative and app lists by parent type.

Turn these back-to-school insights into conversions: Launch awareness campaigns by mid-Q2 to capture early planners, meet parents where they spend significant time—in mobile apps and games—and craft messaging that emphasizes urgency and deals. By implementing these data-driven strategies, your brand can earn an A+ this back-to-school season while increasing your advertising ROI potential.

Learn more about Unity’s Programmatic solutions.

*Disclaimer: Findings are based on survey responses from groups of differing sizes (755 mothers, 441 fathers, 38 not specified). While each group was large enough to identify directional patterns, differences in sample size may affect comparability.

Qualtrics. "Survey Data Collected Using Qualtrics Software." Qualtrics, March-April 2025, https://www.qualtrics.com.