Article

Survey: Despite economy, back-to-school spending holds steady

Households with school-aged children spend an average of approximately $404 per family on back-to-school items.

September 8, 2010

Households with school-aged children spend an average of approximately $404 per family on back-to-school items, and spend a median amount of $300 per family according to the latest Morpace Omnibus study.

Consumers primarily purchasing books or educational materials spend more on average ($565) than those buying clothes ($402 average) and general school supplies ($241 average).

As in past years, the majority of money consumers spend on back-to-school shopping is on clothing (62 percent). Almost 19 percent of consumers will spend the most money on school books and educational materials and nearly 17 percent will spend the most money on general school supplies.

"We haven’t seen a significant decrease in back-to-school spending despite the continued concern over the economy," said Amy Castine, Morpace research director. "But we see notable trends such as a desire from consumers to use coupons and find discounts, and to do more shopping online."

Another interesting trend is how consumers find coupons and discounted back-to-school items. More than 73 percent have found discount sales and items from direct mail circulars, newspapers and/or other mailed items. Nearly 62 percent have been made aware of discounts through in-store advertisements and 54 percent through television advertisements.

Conversely 42 percent of consumers have seen discount offers from specialty coupon or discount websites such as Coupons.com, Couponmom.com, or Smartsource.com.  And 38 percent have been introduced to specials by visiting a retailer’s website.

However, the way consumers prefer to receive back-to-school discount offers favor online methods. A total of 43 percent of consumers prefer to be notified through email while 37 percent prefer direct mail to their homes.

Warehouse clubs and electronic stores see an increase of “being shopped” for back-to-school items compared to last year while office supply stores and grocery stores see a decrease, according to the study.

Other notable facts from the August Morpace Omnibus Study:

• 38 percent of consumers created a “Back to School” budget. This number is significantly higher among Hispanics (53 percent).
• 40 percent of discount store shoppers plan on “spending more money” for back-to-school items at national discount retailers such as Walmart or Target.  Meanwhile only 14 percent of factory outlet shoppers plan on “spending more money” at factory outlets, down more than 10 percentage points from a year ago.
• Nearly a quarter (23 percent) of online shoppers plan to spend more online this back-to-school season than last year, with 14 percent planning to do at least half of their shopping visiting online retailers. On average, those spending the most on school supplies or books and educational materials do more of their back-to-school shopping online than those primarily purchasing clothes.

An online panel of 1,000 American consumers was surveyed August 12-18, 2010 as part of the Morpace Omnibus. (Photo by quinn.anya.)