Back to School Trends: What Sold in 2025

 Back-to-school 2025: school uniforms up 231% MoM and backpacks up 180%, per Shopify data. See top categories by region and what's trending down.
A backpack in a circle on a blue panel on a light blue background.Starting each July, families across the US flood stores—online and offline—to gear up for a new school year. This year, Shopify sales data shows which back-to-school categories are most popular. Explore which trending items saw the biggest jumps, which categories lagged behind, and what the differences across regions might reveal about changing school culture.
Back-to-school sales trends: All US
Product category MoM sales* School uniforms +231% School backpacks +180% Lunch boxes & totes +174% Bulletin boards +81% Stickers & sticker machines +80% Calculators +56% Folders +34% Pencils +27% Water bottles +24% Planners +19% Hand sanitizers & wipes +19% Notebooks & notepads +17% Art & craft paper +15% Laptops +11% Sticky notes +11% Binders +11% Pens +8% Sports uniforms +7% Book covers -1% Markers & highlighters -8%

*Shopify sales data comparing July 2025 to June 2025.

The back-to-school categories that saw the greatest spend in July were backpacks, sports uniforms, water bottles, lunch boxes and totes, pens, and notebooks. Categories with the most growth compared to the previous month were school uniforms (231%), backpacks (180%), and lunch boxes and totes (174%).

School uniforms, while a smaller category in total sales, posted the most dramatic month-over-month growth at +230.6%. This aligns with broader market trends: National Center for Education Statistics data shows that 18.8% of public schools required uniforms in 2019–2020, with requirements more common at the elementary level (21%) than in high schools (12%). Recent projections anticipate the school uniform market to reach a 6.1% compound annual growth rate by 2031, signaling stable, long-term interest.

Especially in uniformed environments, backpacks and lunch boxes play a key role beyond function in student identity—often serving as one of the few forms of self-expression. Water bottles, similarly, have become key accessories where students can showcase personal style—a small but important outlet for identity.

While water bottles, notebooks, and pens were among the most popular spending categories, month-over-month increases were more moderate—24%, 17%, and 8%, respectively—signaling the popularity of these purchases beyond the back-to-school season.

The only back-to-school items that saw month-over-month sales decline were markers and highlighters (8%), and book covers (1%). This decline could indicate that they aren’t requirements on school supply lists, or it could reflect increasing reliance on digital tools, like e-readers and styluses, particularly in higher grade levels.

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Back-to-school sales trends by region
Midwest

The top-selling back-to-school item in the Midwest was sports uniforms, followed by water bottles, backpacks, pens, lunch boxes and totes, and notebooks. Stickers and sticker machines saw a more significant month-over-month sales increase compared to other regions, increasing by 174%. Calculator sales declined compared to the previous month, with an 11% drop—the only region to see a MoM decline.
Northeast

The top-selling back-to-school item in the Northeast was sports uniforms, followed by school backpacks, water bottles, pens, and lunch boxes and totes. Sports uniforms saw the strongest MoM growth in the Northeast (25%), while bulletin boards had the smallest MoM growth compared to other regions—24% compared to 104% in the Midwest, 86% in the South, and 49% in the West Coast.
South

The top-selling back-to-school item in the South was backpacks, followed by lunch boxes and totes, water bottles, sports uniforms, pens, and notebooks. The South recorded the strongest MoM growth in water bottle sales (35%), as well as calculator sales (124%), compared to other regions.
West Coast

The top-selling back-to-school item in the West Coast was water bottles, followed by sports uniforms, backpacks, pens, lunch boxes and totes, and notebooks. Even though it accounted for the second-greatest overall sales, sports uniforms sales declined MoM by 14%, perhaps indicating that purchasing starts even earlier compared to other regions.

Upcoming E-Commerce Trends To Attract Customers

Nobody can deny the importance of a strong online presence. In order to do well in the real world you need to have a strong online existence as it is crucial for your future growth. Although the concept of e-commerce is relatively new, it has greatly influenced the manner in which businesses have been carried out so far. A store which is online on the internet can offer a large variety of items as compared to a real store although the main and basic reason would still be to gain profit on the products.
Here’s a look at the upcoming E-commerce Trends adopted by online retailers:

Free or Discounted Shipping

As more and more e-commerce websites are opening up, retailers are finding unique and innovative ways to sell their products. In the past few years we have seen big names such as L.L Bean launching free shipping on all of their items and Macy’s on buying items equaling $99 or more. As traditional retailers’ major competition is Amazon, they strive to adopt business attracting trends such as free shipping, a generous return policy or a large number of product variety to choose form and unedited feedback of the customers.

In-store Pick up or Pick up Depots

In order to attract more customers to their e-commerce website, big names like Walmart are coming up with unique trends to expand their business. They established an in-store pickup for their orders which were placed online. Sears and Kmart can also offer some products to be home delivered to attain as much business as possible. In places like Florida, Farm Store shoppers can place their orders online and then pick them up at drive through.
Online stores which are relatively on a smaller scale are following another interesting trend. They open selected pick up sites for their customers to get access to their online orders. Chronodrive.com is such an example.

A Video does the Trick

Another up-coming trend is to add small videos to the e-commerce website to attract more customers. A model displaying the product can be the best way you can show the customers how the product can be used by them. Whether it’s a clothing item or a kitchen accessory, a small video can do wonders for your product.

Daily Deals

An emerging trend to boost the e-commerce world is to add a daily deal to the online website. As soon as the existing or signed users are sent out an email announcing the specially discounted deal, the customers log in as soon as they can to avail the deal. This gives them a chance to explore other products also on your website and can be another creative trend to attract customers to your business.

Social Media Platforms

Social media channels like Facebook and Twitter are widely used for advertising an e-commerce websites. Users can ‘Like’ the Facebook page of the online store and can also win the ‘Tag and Win’ contests by tagging as many people as possible. This naturally attracts more traffic to any online store and increases the chances of converting potential customers to a large extent. Proper utilization of social media can not only help you in getting more and more leads but can also assist you in your business branding.
As more and more ways of conducting online business in the e-commerce world are being created, only those online businesses which adopt the updated e-commerce trends can survive in the present and in future. Online retailers and market researchers are constantly working on upcoming and emerging trends to sell more and with each passing year we are witnessing more innovating and creative ways to conduct business in the online world.