Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

Back-to-school shoppers remain cautious, and as in years past, will be motivated by value. According to NRF’s 2011 Back-to-School survey, families with children in grades K-12 will spend an average of $603.63 on apparel, school supplies and electronics, within a few dollars of last year’s $606.40 average. Total spending on grades K-12 is expected to reach $22.8 billion.

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Fast-Casual Restaurants. The following are the predicted Top 3 Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming 12 months:

The apparel industry has long been known for its efforts to build image and generate demand by paying celebrities wear to their brands. And fashion houses often focus on highly visual placements in glossy magazines, and these days, on tablets. But does all of this marketing effort pay off?

Consumer electronics (CE) is a big category for the Back-to-School (BTS) season which will be underway in a few short weeks. The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is forecasting a smaller rise in CE spending this year. And a new report indicates that bricks and mortar stores will not have the entire CE spending pie to themselves.

According to a new study by Technomic, preparing and presenting Hispanic cuisine in an authentic manner and providing a family-friendly environment are two ways restaurant operators can build relationships with Hispanic consumers. Hispanic consumers currently comprise 16% of the U.S. population and are projected to reach 30% by the year 2050. The demographic currently represents about $1 trillion of spending power in the United States, and is the fastest growing population group in America.

The restaurant industry is slowly recovering from the huge losses it suffered during the Great Recession. Operators aren’t expecting a rapid shift to big profits but analysts predict a nominal growth rate of about 3.5% at limited service restaurants this year. As a result, the sector will reach revenue of roughly $192.2 billion.