Prices of articles for the new school year over the last fifteen years: a marked seasonal profile and promotions in summer

For households that have children of school age, the start of the school year is a big period in terms of expenditure. Clothing and footwear items feature prominently. Over the last fifteen years the price of these items has grown by only 6%, against + 27% for headline inflation. In the course of a year the prices of clothing and footwear mainly fluctuate during the sales periods. The prices of other back-to-school items (stationery, satchels, books, etc.) grew by 25% on average, i.e. much closer to the rate of inflation. Each year these prices drop in August and September. Discounts are given on around 20% of items. One in ten of these discounts come in the form of batch sales with sliding-scale prices. Over the last fifteen years the number of discounted back-to-school items has risen, while the discount rate itself appears to have remained stable.