Back to the Books Costlier in ’24

Now that the July 4^th holiday is in the rearview mirror, many retailers are shifting their attention to the annual back-to-school spending spurt. To provide guidance on the latest trends in that endeavor, JLL looked at how parents plan to shop for the upcoming school year and how this shopping process evolves from year to year. JLL surveyed 1026 parents online in May.

“Just like the lists, some things don’t change: the Big 3  – Walmart, Amazon & Target – retain their top spots. But there are notable differences among parents in when and how they shop, and how much they plan to spend,” the report notes.

Here are a couple of highlights from the survey:

• Parents plan to spend 21.8% more on back-to-school shopping this year, which is considerably more than the year-over-year inflation rate of 3.4%. “What’s more, parents in every major income bracket plan to spend more than they did last year, with wealthier households (earning over $150,0000) upping their budgets the most, by 30%,” the study states.
• While mass merchandisers remain most the popular destination for buying school supplies, more parents will visit office supplies stores this year for such goods, especially those with college kids. “More parents also plan to shop in department, electronics and home goods stores,” the report says. “High-income parents (earning over $150,000) were comparatively more likely to shop at department stores, wholesale clubs, home goods stores and bookstores than other income brackets. Mass merchandisers were comparatively more popular with parents who have younger children. Parents with college students were more likely than other parents to shop at office supplies, department, electronics and home goods retailers. They were also much more likely to shop at six or more different types of retailers.”

Click here to register to get a full copy of the report.