With a jam-packed July in the rearview, August marks the height of summer for many vacation-endowed students and parents across the US… but not without the looming shadow of heading back-to-school.
Interestingly, this time around, America’s in-store and online shopping carts might be filled with less books and stationery than before. The National Retail Federation’s annual back-to-class survey, released last month, forecast the total expected spend on supplies (combined over both college and school shopping) as $125.4 billion, down from a record $135.5 billion last year — more evidence that America’s consumers are starting to pull back on their spending.
Back-to-college purchases are expected to come in at an average of ~$1,365 per household, some $490 more than reported planned spending for its graded counterpart. Of course, these days, classroom spending tends not to be just pens, paper, clothes, and backpacks: the largest category for both school and college cohorts is electronic devices, which accounted for ~35% and ~26% of the budgets, respectively.
Cutting class
Even with spending trailing behind last year’s high, the relative budget for school shopping still remains pretty large considering the consumer pullback that’s been observed so far in 2024. Indeed, as was the case in 2009, times of economic hardship have seen US households pare back on K-12 purchases, but still shell out for college-bound students.
