Marketing campaigns for the sale of back-to-school equipment pop up on almost every corner in July-August. Bags, pencil cases, notebooks, and stationery are just part of the variety offered by the stores - and not only the specialized chains.
According to a test conducted by the business information company Coface Bdi, as of 2023 the market for back-to-school products is worth approximately NIS 390 million. 43% in specialized office equipment stores, 26% in stock stores, 18% in toy stores and 13% in other places, such as bookstores, marketing and retail chains and websites from abroad. The average basket of back-to-school products, which includes a satchel, stationery, notebooks, a drinking bottle and a lunch box, was estimated in 2023 at approximately NIS 480.
"We import school supplies from Europe and the East. Regarding the production lines from Turkey - where they specialize more in the worlds of paper and plastic - as soon as the import limit went up, already in the April-May area, we transferred the production to other countries, such as Poland and Spain, with whom we work," says Amit Shabtai, trade and import manager of the Kravitz network, adding In regards to imports from the East, from the countries of China and Thailand, from which the chain imports, "in general, ships cannot move on the normal route today because of the Houthis and the situation, therefore the container that should arrive in 21 days takes two months, and sometimes even three to arrive.
"But because we are a specialized chain and keep this equipment all year round, we always have the containers at sea and we do not end up in a situation of lack of inventory. Since Kravitz, which has 74 branches throughout the country, buys all year round, so we don't end up in a situation where we don't have goods or have An inventory problem, but not everyone works 365 days on school supplies. We know places where the goods arrived late," says Shabtai.
Did the changes you made in light of the situation affect the prices?
"Regarding the regulation from Turkey to other countries, since we work with these production lines all the time, so there was no substantial change, we did not experience a price increase. Whereas freight costs from the East did increase, but the dollar exchange rate decreased more or less at the same rate. That's why there wasn't really a price increase and we didn't introduce a price increase either, but we even expanded the amount of discounted items this year. In our stores, we have Kravitz's Stock, where there are discount prices but with Kravitz quality. For example, 12 sharpened pencils for 70 cents; five erasers for 2.5 shekels; 12 markers for NIS 3.30".
A month and a half delay
"We also import from Greece, Italy, Germany, but the majority from the East," says Ofer Barak, CEO of the Stock chain which has 42 branches. "When we realized the problem of supplying goods, we had to increase inventory and advance orders, and everything arrived. Shipping costs have changed, what came from the East has gone up more, but we are absorbing the large majority of the price increases, there is no change in consumer prices for the 2023 season. For years we have been making sure that the shopping basket is cheap."
"The main thing these days is shipping matters from China," adds Moran Eroni, VP of Marketing for the Max Stock chain, which has 65 branches in Israel. Therefore, she explains, "We had to prepare accordingly, to get the goods out of China much earlier. At the beginning of the war there were all kinds of delays, and when we understood the new status - we started working according to the new schedules. We are not currently passing on the increase in transport prices to the customers. The prices remained as they had been planned before the war started. Now, by the way, we are already working on the year 2025."
"We prepare a lot in advance with the products, so we prepared, as it were, for a normal year," says Einat Baruch, VP of Marketing of the company Palphot, which develops and markets back-to-school equipment for large chains, including Kravitz, Office Depot, Idan 2000, the Red Pirate, and Kfar HaSheshe'e And also to many private shops.
In terms of the customers ordering the products from Palphot, Baruch adds, "We don't feel a difference. It is true that there are children who are evicted, but they were taken in by other schools. That's why there can be a change in a geographical area, but for us the total is the same. What's more, there was a delay of about a month and a half in the products we imported from China, but now everything is here. The freight prices have risen as mentioned because of everything that is happening, but it is a delicate situation now, a war situation, we have not rolled the price increases further. This is something that Palpatine takes on. If there were increases, then it was spot-on, not sweeping."
"We expect to buy less"
The Toys R Us toy chain, which has 34 branches across the country and an online trade site, decided not to import back-to-school products this year. "Every year the chain imports for the seasonal period - for back to school - and also buys products from leading local suppliers in the market, such as Modan, Kal-Gav and more," explains Shirley Parr Yagerman, CEO of Toys R Us.
"We import a lot of toys and games all year, but this year, in regards to back-to-school equipment, because of the war we expected to buy less, and we also expected that the focus would be mainly around the promotion to the first grade. Therefore, due to the increase in the price of transport and containers as a result of the war situation and the Houthis, we did not want to pass the cost of the import expenses on to the consumer."
So what did you decide to do?
"We chose not to import back-to-school products and focus this year on products from local suppliers and products from general imports that we import all year, which also include school preparation equipment, such as all kinds of kits, science games and more."
If you focus on the past month, July, when the purchase for the upcoming school year began, according to Shabtai, "usually this month is more characterized by the shopping of elementary school students, while in August we see more youth, but this is not clear-cut", she says and adds, "During July, compared to last year, we had a growth of about 10% in terms of the number of customers who came and made a purchase. I think people understand that there is something happening regarding the goods because of the transportation problems, but as mentioned I can reassure and say that there are goods in Kravitz".
In terms of the contents of the back-to-school basket, Shabtai points out, "You see that the basket is smaller, but it has better quality items, and less discounted items. For example, instead of buying four packages of glue stick, you buy two quality packages. Customers want to go for quality, but can't afford to buy in excess or all year round. I can assume that perhaps one of the reasons for this is the current uncertainty. Buy the quality, but as mentioned the basket is more balanced. Also, I don't know if this has a special connection to the war, but now we also see more computers and tablets being bought."
Barak also feels that this year customers are early to buy. "We keep office equipment in the stock network all year round, and in the season of course we increase it, giving these products a considerable space in the store", he says. "Every year we start the establishment of back to school in the branches in the middle of July, while this year, because of the war, we anticipated that people might want to speed up their shopping and we set it up at the beginning of July.
"There are ghosts of an all-out war in the background, and I said to myself that surely people will want to equip themselves quickly, because they don't know what will happen in another month. Turns out I wasn't wrong. There is a significant increase from July of last year, when we were at our peak as well. This July we felt an increase of about 30% in the purchase of school equipment compared to July last year."
No flour or eggs
And what about online purchases? "We have an online trade website, and if an all-out war breaks out, then I believe that if necessary - we can provide solutions anywhere in the country within 3-5 days of delivery. We have a lot of collectors and a strong lineup online," notes Shabtai.
"The back-to-school season lasts two months, so it's hard to conclude yet, but we at Max Stock also feel that the movement has started earlier than usual," adds Eroni. "But it's hard for me to believe that this has anything to do with the war, because this is not about food, it's not flour or eggs, which people fear will run out and won't be. If I try to think of the reason for this, then maybe it happens because more people are in Israel. Usually, in July people always pack and fly abroad. Now more are at home, so come on, let's go and do the shopping."
Compared to the movement of note in the month of July in regards to going back to school, Far Yagerman admits that the trend was actually the opposite for them: "Although the peak of the season occurs in August, in July we actually saw a decrease in the purchase of school equipment compared to previous years, when the shopping was mainly concentrated on children entering the first grade , which is an exciting and festive event and a milestone for them. The shopping of the grandparents and parents did take place around this. And the same goes for children who are now starting kindergarten looking for kindergarten bags, bottles, lunch boxes, napkins and more."
How do you explain that?
"The war of iron swords broke out in October, right around the time the children returned to school after the Tishrei holidays. There was no regular learning in the schools for a long time, children studied remotely, and many evacuees from the north and south left their homes. It can be said that during the entire first half of the school year the children did not study regularly - which required less equipment and now brought the parents to the realization that they have equipment left at home that is hardly used, equipment they bought for the previous year.
"That's why we bought less equipment this year, but on the other hand, we do see an increase in Toys R Us buying workbooks, development games, first grade preparation kits, and we sell them at very attractive prices. Maybe people are flying abroad less now, and as a result, parents are employing Their children are at home more through workbooks and developmental games."
"Everyone is going back to school"
If we refer to some of the innovations and sales that we will see on the shelves this year, then Kravitz is a member of the Kal-Gav company and together with them designed an orthopedic bag for grades 1-2 in six models (NIS 219); Toys R Us offers boxes of the Modan brand, which include a trolley bag for school, a watch, a pencil case, a lunch box and a bottle for NIS 449.9;
The Palphot company is launching a "bag with a trick" - a school bag that contains an additional bag in the afternoon that comes in an orthopedic version for grades 1-2 (NIS 299) and a semi-orthopedic version for grades 3 and up (NIS 279). "We developed this, because there are now many children who are far from home and need to meet their various needs, and a bag like this saves space," explains Baruch.
In the Max Stock network, the private brand SKWEEK offers hundreds of items (from NIS 1.50 for a case of six colored pencils to NIS 169 for an orthopedic bag with a matching pencil case); And in the stock chain, they offer, among other things, a wide line of products in pastel colors, which was minimally available last year and has now expanded to over 100 different items, including notebooks, pens, diaries, binders, pencil cases, binders, sharpeners, drinking bottles, and more (from -2 NIS to 59.90 NIS).
And perhaps to inspire a little optimism in these difficult days, in the catalog of the Stock chain for the beginning of the school year this year stars evacuees from the north and the south, with the message according to Barak being that "everyone is going back to school".