Research: NRF's Back-to-School 2014 Survey

Families will spend slightly more on back-to-school items in 2014, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2014 Back-to-School Survey. The average family with children in grades K-12 will spend $669.28 on apparel, shoes, supplies and electronics, up 5% from $634.78 last year.The survey of 6,178 consumers was conducted the first week of July for NRF by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Among the other findings:Total spending for back-to-school/college supplies is expected to reach $74.9 billion, which represents the second-largest spending season after the winter holidays. (See chart.)Average family spending on clothes will increase to $231.30, up from $230.85 in 2013, and spending on shoes will be $124.46, up from $114.39. (See chart.) Spending on electronics will increase to $212.35, up 7% from last year, while spending on school supplies will increase 12% to an average of $101.18.Discount and department stores will be the most popular channels shopped, with 64.4% of respondents saying they’ll shop discount stores and 59.1% shopping department stores. (See chart.)Nearly 37% of smartphone owners will research back-to-school products using their mobile device, up from 34.7% last year and the highest since NRF started asking in 201. (See chart.) One in five (21.8%) will make a purchase via their smartphone, up from 18.2% last year.One-quarter (25.4%) plan to start shopping one to two weeks before school, up from 21.8% last year. (See chart.) Another 44.5% will shop three weeks to one month before school starts, and one in five (22.5%) will shop at least two months before school starts.Teenagers plan to spend $913 million of their own money on school items, with the average teen expected to spend $34.40, up from $30.13 last year. Pre-teens will spend an average $22.27 of their own money, totaling $544 million.College students and their families are among the biggest back-to-school spenders, with the average family spending $916.48 on dorm furniture, school supplies, electronics and more, up 10% from $836.83 last year. Total college spending is expected to reach $48.4 billion.For more detailed results, download NRF’s back-to-school “Cheat Sheet” and the full survey results from the attached files section at right.

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