A survey released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation and conducted by BIGresearch showed that department stores, clothing stores and websites are expected to attract most of the last-minute back-to-school purchases.
According to NRF’s 2011 Back-to-School survey, the average family has completed 43 percent of shopping for K-12 students, similar to last year’s 43.2 percent. College students and their parents have completed 44.3 percent f their shopping, up slightly from last year’s 43.1 percent.
While discount retailers will remain the top shopping destination for last-minute back-to-school shoppers (56.9 percent), the number of people who will shop at department stores and specialty clothing stores as school approaches is expected to jump substantially this year. According to the survey, 47.1 percent of last-minute shoppers plan to visit department stores, a 10 percent increase over last year’s 42.7 percent. Just over 40 percent (40.8 percent) plan to visit specialty clothing stores, a 19 percent jump over last year’s 34.3 percent, and 21.7 percent say they plan to shop online, up from last year’s 16 percent.
College shoppers will also flock to discount stores (48.2 percent) for their last-minute purchases. The number of people shopping in department stores (39.6 percent) and clothing stores (27.7 percent), however, also rose among that crowd.
An NRF survey released in July estimated that combined K-12 and college spending will reach $68.8 billion, serving as the second biggest consumer spending event for retailers behind the winter holidays. The average family of K-12 students will spend approximately $600 on back to school while college students and their parents will spend an average of $800.
