New York, July 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Optimove Insights, the analytical and research arm of Optimove, today released its Back-to-School Report 2026, a survey of 648 U.S. consumers that finds families entering the season earlier and with bigger budgets, even as cost pressure remains the defining concern. Optimove is the creator of Positionless Marketing giving every marketer the power to execute any marketing task instantly and independently.
The report highlights a season shaped by strong but pressured demand:
- Shoppers are starting early. Back-to-school shopping now begins well before the school year, with 42% of families starting before June, followed by 30% in July and 23% in August. The season has become a progressive, months-long journey rather than a single late-summer window, pulled forward by discounts and promotions (69%), scarcity (45%), and early access to new products (43%).
- Budgets are rising. More than half of families (54%) plan to spend more on back-to-school this year than last, while 32% expect to spend the same and 14% less.
- Yet budget pressure still leads. Even as spending rises, budget constraints remain the top concern of the season, cited by 55% of respondents, ahead of every other worry. The pattern suggests that higher spending reflects rising costs and necessity rather than newfound confidence, and that nearly one in six families expect they will not be able to get everything they need.
Taken together, the findings describe families who are motivated to shop, and shopping earlier to do it, but who feel the strain of stretching a bigger budget that still may not be enough.
“Families are spending more this year, but they don’t feel richer, they feel the pressure,” said Pini Yakuel, CEO of Optimove. “They’re starting early and hunting for value because they’re trying to make a larger budget go further. For brands, that means a single late-season discount blast misses the moment. The families who matter are already shopping, already comparing, and already deciding where their money goes.”
The broader message to brands, the report concludes, is that back-to-school success now depends on moving from seasonal marketing to responsive marketing. Brands that use real-time data, in context with historical data, to understand what families need, when they need it, and what is blocking the purchase will be better positioned to reduce friction and capture demand. Positionless Marketers can act on those signals quickly, turning insight into personalized campaigns that help families complete the season with less stress and greater confidence.
The Optimove Insights Back-to-School Report 2026 is based on a Spring 2026 survey of 648 U.S. consumers ages 18 and older with household incomes of $75,000 or more. Access the full report here https://www.optimove.com/resources/reports/back-to-school-report-2026
About Optimove
Optimove, the creator of Positionless Marketing, frees marketing teams from the limitations of fixed roles, giving every marketer the power to execute any marketing task instantly and independently. Positionless Marketing has been proven to improve campaign efficiency by 88%, allowing marketing teams to create more personalized engagement with existing customers.
For two years running, Optimove has been positioned as a Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs, recognized for its AI-driven decisioning, prescriptive insights, and proven ability to orchestrate thousands of personalized campaigns in real time across channels.
Its Positionless Marketing Platform includes Optimove Engage and Orchestrate for cross-channel campaign decisioning and orchestration; Optimove Personalize, a digital personalization engine; and Optimove Gamify, a loyalty and gamification platform.
All are powered by Optimove AI, the marketing AI suite that brings AI everywhere marketers work. Inside the platform through Native AI agents for decisioning, analysis, and creation, outside it to external AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT through the Optimove MCP, and into custom-built applications on top of the platform through Optimove Custom Apps. Optimove has embedded AI in its platform since 2012, paving the way for Positionless Marketing.
Today, its comprehensive AI-powered suite is at the leading edge of empowering marketers to streamline workflows from Insight to Creation and through Optimization. Optimove provides industry-specific and use-case solutions for leading consumer brands globally.
About Optimove Insights
Optimove Insights is the analytical and research arm of Optimove, dedicated to providing valuable industry insights and data-driven research to empower B2C businesses.
- Consumer challenges in Back-to-School shopping
- Back-to-School shopping start before June