Survey: Positive outlook for back-to-school shopping

New York — Nearly 70% (68%) of consumers plan to spend up to $500 this back-to-school shopping season compared with 63% in 2012 and 48% in 2011, according to a new spending forecast from e-commerce platform provider PriceGrabber. Additionally, 17% of respondents plan to spend between $500 and $1,000, and 15% of shoppers said they have no back-to-school shopping budget this year. Conducted from June 17 to July 8, 2013, the survey includes responses from 2,191 U.S. online shopping consumers.

“The outlook for the back-to-school shopping season remains positive. With [the] unemployment rate dropping from 8.2% in June 2012 to its current rate of 7.6%, shoppers are more inclined to spend than they were in the last couple of back-to-school seasons,” said Rojeh Avanesian, SVP marketing and sales of PriceGrabber. “However, instead of spending on the newest gadgets, shoppers are looking for ways to get the most for their money by looking for deals, as well as reusing already owned items before purchasing new ones.”

When respondents were asked to select all of the types of stores they plan to shop at for back-to-school items, 80% selected discount stores. Online-only retailers were voted second place (54%), followed by office supply stores (44%). And 42% plan to shop at traditional department stores, while 24% plan to shop at electronics stores this back-to-school season.



In other survey highlights: free shipping, sales and coupons incentivize back-to-school shoppert. Around 72% of consumers chose free shipping as the top retailer tactic that would entice them to make a back-to-school purchase this year, followed by sales (71%), coupons (69%), online promotions (43%), rebates ( 41%) and free items with a purchase (38%).