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The Best Back-to-School Supplies for Dropshipping in 2024
- system
- 2022-08-23 10:29:44
- 1 min read
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Updated: 2024-08-07 10:12:51
Summer might just be heading forward, but for dropshippers, it’s never too early to plan for back-to-class dropshipping. One in five people are already starting their back-to-school or back-to-college shopping early in June. With the start of the back-to-school shopping season, what can dropshippers sell online to make the most of this time of year?
As one of the most important consumer shopping events of the year, the back-to-class shopping season is always the best time for winning more profits for dropshippers. Emarket forecasts US back-to-school retail sales will grow 3.2% to reach $81.16 billion this year. The plentiful back-to-school supplies contain rich niches to select from--school supplies, electronics, clothing & accessories, and so on. As dropshipping sellers, all you need to do is sell school supplies and take advantage of this opportunity to boost your sales!
Read more below for insights into back-to-class shopping trends this year. We have also listed the best back-to-school supplies for dropshipping you can sell!
Back-to-School Shopping Trends 2024
Back-to-school Shopping Starts Earlier
Back-to-class shopping started earlier this year. According to a March 2024 survey by LTK, many consumers have already started shopping in late May for the upcoming return to school, and nearly half (49%) of US adults will begin back-to-school shopping by early July.
68% of shoppers typically plan their back-to-school and college shopping around retailer events like Prime Day. Sourcing and marketing your offerings ahead can ensure an increase in sales to some extent. Thus for dropshippers, preparing inventory ahead can save much effort.
Most Essential Spending for Back-to-School and College
People's spending plans always include school supplies, clothing, accessories, and shoes. Among them, school supplies are always the most essential for a new school semester. About 96% of customers plan to purchase school supplies for back-to-school in 2023 and 92% plan for back-to-college.
Growing Share of Online Shopping
Unlike pre-pandemic habits, back-to-school, and college shoppers plan to shop centrally rather than spread out to multiple destinations. Most parents and college shoppers would prefer shopping online.
The top five back-to-school shopping destinations are online (57%), department stores (50%), discount stores (47%), clothing stores (42%) and electronics stores (23%).
The top destination for back-to-college shopping is online (50%), followed by department stores (35%), discount stores (31%), college bookstores, office supply stores, and clothing stores (tied at 26%).
Shopping Inspiration from Social Media
Social media plays a large role in influencing the young generation's back-to-class shopping. These customers are always seeking shopping inspiration from creators they follow up with. 71% of Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to try a brand after seeing a creator's post. Opening up visibility with social media has become mainstream for many online retailers. Partner with content creators who authentically reach the target group of your dropshipping business.
25 Best Back-to-School Supplies to Sell Online 2024
Some back-to-school categories are not suitable for dropshipping, such as computers, phones, large furniture, and some other brand products that may put you at risk of copyright infringement.
So we are recommending back-to-school products that are small, lightweight, low-cost, and safe for dropshipping.
If you want to dropship the products mentioned in this article, or you have other product ideas, you can send us sourcing requests or contact us directly. We are able to source the products you want directly from manufacturers in China at good prices. Then you can easily import the products to your store via our SourcinBox app and your store orders will sync to our app automatically. We will take care of the rest for you.
Now let's dive into the list of back-to-school supplies!
1. Ballpoint Pens
Ball pens are must-have school supplies that have stable high demand all over the world. As this, people can easily buy normal ball pens at grocery stores. So can you sell ballpoint pens online?
Of course, you can, and we have some good ideas. Such as 6-in-1 multi-tools pens, magnetic metal pens, multi-color ballpoint pens, and stress relief sponge pens. Compared to ordinary ball pens, these creative ball pens are more attractive and only popular and sold online.
2. Highlighter Pens
Highlighters are great for note-taking and are favored by high school and college students who will definitely consider buying a brand-new set of highlighter pens before the start of school. In addition to the classic highlighter pens with fluorescent colors, you can also sell glitter highlighters and double-ended markers, which will be more attractive to girls.
3. Big Capacity Pencil Case
Pencil cases are also must-have back-to-school supplies and now is the best time to sell them online. If your audience is the parents who value product quality and practicality, then it’s perfect for you to sell these big-capacity pencil cases. The following pencil cases are best sellers on SourcinBox. And you are able to add them directly to your store and fulfill your orders at lower costs.
4. Food-shaped Pencil Case
Parents may not be interested in back-to-school products with strange shapes. However, the following food-shaped pencil cases are great back-to-college product ideas for college students to showcase their personalization. If you're going to sell them, don't forget to remind your customers that these are not real food.
5. Animal & Food & Puzzle Erasers
Erasers are necessities for schooling. The following animal and food-shaped erasers are a great back-to-school product idea, they're cute and more of a stress-relief toy for students. You can sell these at higher prices than common erasers.
But please note that these kinds of erasers in small pieces are not safe for toddlers. So do not sell these to parents of toddlers.
6. Pocket Folder
Folders with pockets are designed to streamline paperwork and manage documents efficiently. These folders feature built-in pockets that securely hold invoices, receipts, and other important papers. In reasonable size, these folders are also easy to carry around in bags. They offer a professional and tidy solution for both students and teachers.
7. School Stationery Set
40% of back-to-school shoppers are likely to purchase bundled supply kits. Busy parents may not have much time to pick all kinds of back-to-school supplies for their children. A stationery set would be the most convenient choice. According to Google Trends, you can find that the popularity of stationery sets peaked two times during the school season and during Black Friday in November in the past year. So you’ll have a long time to list and sell school stationery sets in your online store.
8. Large Capacity School Bags & Backpacks
Selling what kind of school bags depends on what kind of audience you have. For college students who live in school dormitories, there are a lot of supplies to carry when going back to college. So a large-capacity school backpack would be a perfect choice.
9. Toddler Backpacks
If you are going to sell back-to-school supplies for toddlers, then don’t miss toddler backpacks which are trending at this time. Backpacks in the shape of cute animals are a favorite choice for parents. With a unique backpack, parents can easily recognize their children when picking up them from school.
10. Kids Water Bottle for School
For dropshippers selling kids' supplies online, kids water bottles are perfect for increasing sales! Parents prefer to choose water bottles with spill-proof folding straw lids that ensure kids get a smooth and paced flow when drinking. Water bottles with colorful and lovely patterns or prints are usually in high demand among children.
11. Planner Notebooks & Journals
Scrapbooking is quite popular among young students for journaling, planning, and recording their lives. Scrapbooking supplies include planner books, scrapbooks, albums, stickers, decoration papers, washi tapes, highlighter markers, glue, stamps, and more. If you don't know how to match scrapbooking supplies, you can sell journal kits or planner kits directly.
12. Scrapbook Stickers & Decals
Students love decals for water bottles, laptops, suitcases, etc. to look cool. Besides, scrapbooking planners favor various styles of stickers. It's a good idea to cross-sell decals and stickers with other school supplies such as bottles and scrapbooks.
13. Polaroid Album & Photocard Album
Preparing photocard albums for the Kpop groupies is a great chance to win profits. You can also design on your own to attract customers who prefer originality and uniqueness. Selling sizes that are as common as possible(A5, B6 and so) will be more helpful for sales. Also, keeping valuable school memories is important for students--cute Polaroid albums can be quite popular.
14. Wax Seal Stamp Kit
In the past, sealing wax was used to seal letters, but it has gradually evolved into a niche art, which can be used as decorations for invitations, greeting cards, gift wrapping, etc. And wax seal stamps with various exquisite patterns have also become a part of this niche art.
There are students, especially girls, who like wax-sealing art and collecting wax-sealing supplies. If you know exactly that you have such customers, you can sell wax seal stamp kits as back-to-college supplies.
15. LCD Writing Tablet & LED Writing Board
An LCD writing tablet is a great educational toy for 3-6-year-old boys and girls. It has an eye-protection color screen for drawing and writing and it's trending during the back-to-school season according to Google Trends.
Besides, the Led writing board is also a good writing and painting tool for elder kids. And some writing boards are designed for college students. You can sell these according to your audience.
16. Lunch Box for Kids
Back-to-school shoppers are mainly parents so you can think about what parents would prepare for their kids. One of the things most mothers will do is prepare lunch for their kids when they go to school. And they are buying new lunch boxes for their kids. If you are running a kitchen niche store, you can definitely sell lunch boxes as one of the back-to-school supplies.
17. Name Stamp
With customized name stamps, kids can print their names on clothes, books, backpacks, water bottles, or other personal items to prevent loss or mistakes. And the trend of name stamps is growing since kids are going back to school. If you sell this product, you'll need to work with a dropshipping supplier that provides POD (Print on demand) services.
If you don't want to sell POD stamps, you can sell confidential security stamps, which is the best tool to protect private information on express packages. Or you can sell teacher stamps for grading classrooms since teachers are also potential back-to-school shoppers.
18. Table Lamp
Many parents will purchase eye-caring and durable table lamps for their kids to study at night. The eye-caring reading lamp provides non-flickering light to protect eyesight and reduce fatigue for users. Contact SourcinBox for quality table lamp suppliers now!
19. Pen Holder
A tidy and organized desktop makes students more conducive to engaging in work. A pen holder is perfect for organizing stationery, makeup brushes, and other commonly used tools in daily life. we highly recommend rotating pen holders, whose rotatable design makes it easier to take tools. Note that those in cream colors, transparent, or simple designs are more likely to become customers' choices.
20. Travel Duffle Bag
For college students, a new semester stands for new travel to another city. Preparing quality travel duffle bags for packing is necessary. This lightweight bag with a large capacity is perfect for carrying carry-on luggage, especially when taken onto an airplane. The multi-pocket design and water-resistant material also ensure a reliable lifespan. It is easy to fold and store without excessive shipping costs.
21. Calculator for Student
Calculators are also on most students' shopping lists. Today's calculators are mostly designed with keyboard-type keys and their mechanical sound makes it like a typewriter. Such designs can add more fun for the young to learn about numbers and calculating.
22. Laptop Stand for Desk
A laptop stand is a great tool not only for office workers but also for college students. The demand for laptop stands would not change much but you should find the most popular or trending ones to sell. The following types of laptop stands are popular now on Amazon. You can contact us to source them for you and deliver the products directly to your customers with fast shipping times.
23. Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
When students purchase electronics, they also purchase related accessories. Many students would buy a wireless keyboard and mouse for their iPad to make it used more like a computer. Also, these accessories can likewise be connected to computers or laptops, even smartphones, to get the work done more efficiently.
24. Privacy Screen Protector & Phone Case
The privacy screen protector has been popular as it makes the phone screen only visible to persons directly in front of the screen to keep private information invisible to other people. It is a good product idea for back-to-college shoppers.
College students who got a new iPhone must want to get a new phone case. If you are selling phone cases, we recommend anti-peep magnetic cases that are also great privacy screen protectors and silicone decompression phone cases.
25. Earphone Case & Airpods Case Cover
Also, don't forget earphone accessories. Almost every college student has an earphone or Airpods and they are potential shoppers of earphone cases. Some of them need earphone cases and some need personalized Airpods case covers. They are also trending products for dropshipping back-to-school.
Final Words
Back-to-school supplies are actually a niche market that can be profitable for a long time. Most back-to-school products have a steady demand throughout the year. And after the back-to-school season, you'll also have opportunities to increase sales on Black Friday, Christmas, and more.
All you need to do now is,
• Import the product you want into your store and start selling;
• Prepare advertising campaigns for your products;
• Fulfill your store orders automatically with SourcinBox.
One thing you should note is that in the current stressful and difficult economic environment, back-to-school shoppers, especially parents, need more incentives to boost spending. Therefore, product value and discounts should be highlighted in your marketing and advertising campaigns.
You can check more winning product recommendations on our YouTube channel and hot products on TikTok.
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