Back-to-School Shoppers Have Lots More to Buy

Students and parents seem to want a little more summer, and that  could add a little extra upside for retailers this month. A back-to-school shopping survey conducted by BIGResearch for the National Retail Federation (NRF) revealed that the average American family had completed only 41.6 percent of its back-to-school shopping as of August 11. What’s giving retailers hope for the fall selling seasons is that nearly one-third (30.5%) of families with school-aged children (K-12) said they hadn’t even started to shop and 41.9 percent of families with students already in or planning to attend college still haven’t made their back-to-school purchases.

And, there’s a lot of buying to be done. The survey projects that total back-to-school and back-to-college spending will reach $47.50 billion this year. Families of students in grades K-12 will spend $548.72 on school merchandise, a decline of 7.7 percent from $594.24 in 2008. Families of college students will spend $618.12, up slightly from last year’s $599.38.

Not surprisingly, discounters are likely to be the primary beneficiaries. Six out of ten (62.2 percent) American families who have shopping left to do will head to a discount store; 44.8 percent will check out a department store and 31.8 percent will head to a clothing store.