Popular back-to-school shopping product categories in Canada 2019

According to a back-to-school survey carried out in July 2019, footwear was the category which most Canadian mothers with children entering Kindergarten to Grade 12 in 2019 were likely to purchase – some 95 percent of respondents were planning to buy shoes. Food for packed lunches and clothes were also among the most popular back-to-school shopping categories.

The back-to-school market in Canada

In the academic year 2016/17, there were over 4.8 million students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Canada, creating a huge market for back-to-school supplies. Over two million of these students were enrolled in schools in Ontario.

Footwear in Canada

Total footwear sales in Canada were forecast to reach around 8.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2020, a projected increase of over three billion dollars over a ten-year period. As of December 2018, there were over 3,100 shoe stores located across Canada to cater for parents’ back-to-school needs.