Back to School Shopping Suffering

Posted by: Phil Mintz on August 11

When I was a beginning reporter, I used to do first-day-of-school stories, and one image sticks with me. It was an early September day and the temperature was in the 90s, but most of the elementary school kids lined up outside were in long sleeve shirts and fall outfits. Their parents had shopped for the first day of school and the kids were going to wear the new stuff — the temperature be damned.

Based on reports from the retail field, however, there are going to be fewer new fall outfits on returning students this year — whether it’s 70 degrees or 90 degrees outside on the first day of school.

The Port Washington, NY, research group NPD reported today that back to school shoppers are cutting spending again this year, but not as deeply as in the fall of 2008, when the financial markets appeared to be in full meltdown.

“Last year we had an even bigger drop-off in spending intentions,” Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst, said in the company’s report. “So the good news is that the bigger drop off is behind us. And the ‘not so bad news’ is that back-to-school is in line with the current trend of consumers cutting back but not out.”

Here are the NPD numbers:

Back To School Spending Intentions
2009 2008
Plan to Spend Less? 44% 35%
Plan to Spend the Same? 32% 34%
Plan to Spend More? 23% 31%

NPD also said that there was a 5% drop in the number of shoppers who said they haven't started or don't plan to shop for back to school.

“While this 5 percent drop is not a huge drop, it’s enough of a shift to show us that there is no real rush by consumers to shop, even with the deep discounts being offered early in the season,” Cohen said.

Again, From NPD:

Have you purchased for back-to-school yet? 2009
Yes 6%
Not yet begun 17%
No, won’t shop for back-to-school 77%

This seems in line with a poll we did on BW.com earlier this month:

How will the recession affect your back-to-school spending this year

I'm spending less this year.55%
I'm spending about the same.37%
I'm going to spend more this year. 8%

The question is what are people willing to give up--a new box of pencils or crayons versus reusing last year's -- and what they won't -- brand new notebooks even though last year's are only 1/4 used.

Any suggestions for saving money without diminishing your child's back to school experience?