Back-to-school shopping expected to slip
According to the National Retail Federation's 2009 Back to School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average family with students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade is expected to spend $548.72 on school merchandise – a decline of 7.7 percent from $594.24 in 2008. Total spending on back to school is expected to reach $17.42 billion.
According to the survey, the economy is having a major impact on back-to-school spending. More than four out of five Americans (85%) have made some changes to back-to-school plans this year as a result. Some of those changes impact spending, with 56.2 percent of back-to-school shoppers hunting for sales, 49.6 percent planning to spend less overall, 41.7 percent will purchase more store brand/generic products and 40 percent are planning to increase their use of coupons.
