Pre-teens and teenagers will be pulling out their own wallets for back-to-school this year. According to the survey, parents say pre-teens will chip in approximately $15.38 of their own money for back-to-school items while teenagers will spend, on average, $31.19 of their own money. And even if they're not spending the most, they have quite a say in what is bought: nearly two-thirds of parents say their children influence at least half of the items that are purchased for back-to-school.
“Pre-teens and teenagers have a tremendous impact on their family's spending decisions,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch. “From backpacks to boots, parents often let their children choose which specific items to purchase, so retailers will be marketing as much to kids as to their parents this year.”
The timing of back-to-school shopping is expected to be consistent with previous years. The majority of consumers (45.2%) plan to begin their shopping three weeks to one month before school starts.
Thirty-two percent will begin one to two weeks before, 14.6 percent will begin at least two months before the start of school and 5.4 percent will wait until the week before school begins. Only 2.7 percent will procrastinate until after school starts to do their shopping.
The NRF 2007 Back-to-School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted for NRF by BIGresearch, was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to back-to-school. The poll of 8,290 consumers was conducted from July 3-10, 2007. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.
National Retail Federation
marketing@alchempro.com
