In the last four weeks, as families gear up for back to school, Target, Walmart, and Old Navy have provided the best combination of purchase consideration and value perception according to parents.
While those three retailers stand clearly ahead in the back to school rankings, a second tier of four retailers has as strong a value perception as Walmart, but registers slightly lower in purchase consideration: Kohl’s, Staples, Office Depot, and Costco. The next group: J.C. Penney and Sears are just behind, with a slightly lower value perception.
Gap comes in right in the middle of our ranking, representing the median scores for purchase consideration and value among the selected retailers.
The retail chains which fall below Gap include several teen and tween-focused chains along with two well-established names. American Eagle, Aeropostale, Macy’s and K-Mart fared best in this group, with value scores in particular lagging far behind many retailers. The next tier – Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic and Express – has even lower value scores.
While still holding up among this group on purchase consideration, Hollister’s value perception has hurt it.
Abercrombie + Fitch rounded out the scoring on both measures. The brand had its share of controversy throughout this past spring when its CEO’s comments on overweight customers were rehashed in the media. A story suggesting that the brand has banned the color black from its stores and corporate offices also gained press notice during that same time period.
Every other week until Labor Day, YouGov BrandIndex will issue its ranking of 18 of the most popular back to school retail chains as perceived by adults with children under the age of 18.
Each retailer will be charted by combining two of YouGov BrandIndex’s most relevant scores: Purchase Consideration ("When you are in the market next to purchase, which of the following brands would you consider purchasing?”) and Value (“"Does it give good or poor value for what you pay?").
Back to School retailers: Value and Purchase Consideration
