If you haven’t picked up today’s copy of the Wall Street Journal yet or scanned Bloomberg or CNBC with your morning coffee, you may not have heard. Today NRF released it’s second biggest consumer spending report of the year which shows expected spending for back-to-school and college will increase this year.
According the 2012 survey, conducted by BIGinsight, here are a few of the stats:
- Parents with children in grades K-12 will spend an average of $688.62 for back-to-school, up from $603.63 last year.
- The jump in spending for college students and their families is even higher, with an average spend of $907.22 on everything from dorm furniture and collegiate gear to school supplies and personal care items, up from $808.71 in 2011.
- Combined K-12 and college spending will reach $83.8 billion, serving as the second biggest consumer spending event for retailers behind the winter holidays.
- Eight out of 10 shoppers with school-aged children say the economy will impact their spending plans in some way, with more people planning to shop for sales more often and cut back on their children’s extracurricular activities.
- More shoppers will also be heading online to save a little dough, with three in 10 leveraging the Internet to compare products.
- Additionally, online-only back-to-school shoppers expect to spend 27% more than their offline shopping counterparts.
For all the details on what to expect during the second biggest shopping season of the year, be sure to visit NRF’s Back-to-School headquarters complete with the latest news and stats on back-to-school consumer trendspotting.