Most students are only just beginning to enjoy the summer break from school, but retailers are already gearing up for the onslaught of students and their parents expected in the aisles during the back-to-school shopping season. Unfortunately for retailers, consumers are planning to start shopping later than they did last year and are hoping to spend about the same amount of money they did last year, according to a survey of over 34,000 shoppers conducted by The NPD Group, a leading provider of consumer and retail information. On the brighter side, mass merchants are once again set to lead sales, but there’s some positive news for department stores and footwear retailers, as well.
Mass merchants can once again expect to take the lion’s share of back-to-school purchases this year, 81 percent of consumers plan to shop there, while 45 percent plan to shop office-supply stores and 38 percent will head to chain stores. There’s also good news in NPD’s survey results for department stores, since 27 percent of consumers expect to shop at these types of establishments – a three percent increase over the previous year. Footwear retailers are also poised to capture more back-to-school sales this year than last. While 27 percent of consumers planned to shop for shoes at footwear retailers last year, this year 29 percent plan to do so.
“Department stores and shoe stores have been taking hits from mass merchants for years, when it comes to back-to-school shopping,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group. “So it’s got to be gratifying for them to see an increase in the number of consumers planning to go back-to-school shopping at their stores later this summer.”
Other than school supplies, apparel tops the list of what consumers plan to purchase for back-to-school this year. More consumers plan to purchase clothing this year, compared to last year (71 percent for 2006 and 66 percent for 2005). Planned purchases of footwear are also on the rise (60 percent this year versus 53 percent last year). Other popular planned purchases this year were more in line with plans last year, including cosmetics and other beauty supplies (flat versus last year, at 13 percent), notebooks and other school supplies (79 percent versus 81 percent) and school bags and knapsacks (45 percent versus 41 percent). Combined electronics (computers, printers, cell phones, MP3 players and DVD players/recorders) shows the greatest signs of increased spending with 36 percent planning to purchase in this category, compared to 25 percent last year.
In 2005, 43 percent of back-to-school shoppers had already begun shopping by August 1 and 51 percent shopped between August 1 and September 1. By comparison, just 40 percent of consumers plan to shop that early in 2006, while 56 percent anticipate shopping between August 1 and September 1 – an increase of five percent, year over year.
And while theyll be shopping later, they generally plan to spend on the same levels they did in previous years. In 2006, 21 percent of consumers plan to spend less than they did in 2005, compared to 26 percent who responded similarly last year. Thirty-four percent plan to spend more this year (versus 33 percent in 2005) and 43 percent say theyll spend about the same amount (versus 41 percent in last year’s survey). Overall, almost half (47 percent) of consumers expect to spend under $250 per child this year, while 28 percent plan to spend between $251 and $500 and seven percent anticipate spending more than $1,000.
“Value was the primary decision criterion for what to buy and where to shop this year, and school requirements were also top of mind for many consumers,” Cohen said, “but kids themselves still have a lot of power in the matter. Nearly a third of consumers said they would buy what their kids asked for.”
