Back-to-School Spending Grows: NRF
This article contains excerpts from a press release published on
the National Retail Federation (NRF) website entitled
“Back-to-School Spending Grows as Parents Restock, Replenish
Children’s Needs.” [Read the full press release.]
July 30, 2012 | The National Retail
Federation’s (NRF) 2012 Back-to-School spending survey, conducted
by BIGinsight, reveals that the average American with children in grades
K-12 will spend $688.62 on their children, up from $603.63 last year.
Total spending is expected to reach $30.3 billion. Combined, K-12 and
college spending will reach $83.8 billion, making the back-to-school
shopping season second biggest consumer spending event for retailers
behind the winter holidays.
NRF attributes the jump to more children entering elementary and
middle school this fall and parents hitting the stores to replace and
replenish what kids had to “make-do” with last year, when
families cut back on spending.
“When it comes to their children, there’s nothing more
important to a parent than making sure their children have everything
they need, even in a tough economy – and especially when it comes
to back-to-school shopping,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew
Shay. “Backpacks rip, pencils break, and children grow,
there’s no way around it, but as they begin tackling their
shopping lists, parents will make sure to spend smarter than they ever
have before. We fully expect retailers to be aggressive with their
promotions both in-store and online, keeping an eye on inventory levels
as families look to spread out their shopping throughout the entire
summer.”
Parents are expected to spend the most on clothing, accessories and
electronics this summer, spending an estimated average of $246.10 on
clothes and $217.88 on electronics. Nearly 60% will invest in some sort
of electronic device, a sharp increase from the 51.9% who planned to do
so last year. Additionally, the average person with children in grades
K-12 will spend $129.20 on shoes and $95.44 on school supplies such as
notebooks, pencils and backpacks.
After several years of uncertainty the NRF reports that the economy
is still impacting how Americans shop. This year, 84.8% of consumers say
the economy will impact their spending plans in some way, with more
people planning to shop for sales more often (51.1% vs. 50% last year)
and cut back on their children’s extracurricular activities (11%
vs. 10.2% last year.) Savvy shoppers looking to save some money will
shop online more often (17.9% vs. 15.3% last year) and comparison shop
online (32.1% vs. 29.8% last year.)
In 2012, more families say they will shop at department stores and
online for school items as they look to get the best bang for their
buck. Nearly 60% will take advantage of department stores’ private
label offerings and exclusive product lines, up from 57% last year and
the highest in the survey’s 10-year history. Parents will
also scour the Internet for free-shipping and other promotions. Nearly
40% will take their school shopping lists online, up from 31.7% last
year and nearly doubling since 2007 when 21.4% planned to shop
online.
Discount stores will be the most popular shopping destination,
however, with 67.1% planning to shop there for school items. Clothing
stores (52%), office supplies stores (42%), drug stores (22.7%) and
thrift stores (14.4%) will also see their share of back-to-school
shoppers. Electronic stores, popular with families looking to invest in
smartphones, tablets and MP3 players for their children, will see a bump
in traffic this year (26.3% vs. 21.7% last year.)
Hoping to spread out their spending, nearly half (47.8%) are planning
to begin shopping three weeks to one month before the school bell rings,
up from 42.4% last year, and 22.3% have likely already made a dent in
their shopping list, saying they would shop at least two months before
school starts, up from 21.8% last year. Another quarter (25%) of
Americans will start shopping one to two weeks before school, and 2.7%
will wait until school starts. With some people having less to shop for
and hoping to stock up on clearance items, 3.2% will shop after school
starts, up from 2.6% last year.
[Read the full press release]
About the Survey
NRF’s 2012 Back-to-School and Back-to-College spending surveys
were designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to
back-to-school spending and back-to-college spending. The surveys were
conducted for NRF by BIGinsight. The poll of 8,509 consumers was
conducted from July 2- 9, 2012. The consumer polls have a margin of
error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.
BIGinsight delivers executives timely, consumer-centric insights from
multiple sources. As a comprehensive resource of information, BIGinsight
represents the voice of the consumer and provides knowledge to marketers
regarding consumer views on the economy, personal finance, retail,
lifestyle, media and domestic and world issues. www.BIGinsight.com
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