Chicago families expect to spend a little less on back-to-school shopping this summer, according to Deloitte’s annual back-to-school survey.
Chicago-area parents said they expected to spend $501, on average, down almost 15 percent from last year. Nationwide, families expected to spend about 2 percent more this year, or $519 on average, according to Deloitte. The survey included 400 Chicago-area families with at least one child in elementary, middle or high school and 1,200 nationwide.
Most parents who expected to spend less said they didn’t need as many items, and some also said they had fewer school-age children, said Liz Berrill, a partner at Deloitte.
The National Retail Federation predicted slightly higher spending. In a separate survey, families with school-age children expected to spend about $697 on average nationwide, up about 1.8 percent compared with 2018, according to the retail trade group’s annual back-to-school survey. Back-to-college shoppers surveyed expected to spend even more — about $977 on average, or about 3.7 percent more than last year.
“Consumers are in a strong position given the nation’s growing economy, and we see this reflected in what they say they will spend on back-to-class items this year,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said in a news release.
Families also aren’t just shopping for their own kids, according to Deloitte. Both locally and nationwide, roughly 3 in 10 shoppers surveyed said they planned to buy extra supplies to donate.
Most back-to-school shopping still happens in stores, according to the survey. Chicago-area parents told Deloitte they expected to spend about 58 percent of their back-to-school budget in stores, about 24 percent online and hadn’t yet decided where to spend the remaining share of their dollars. Deloitte said the study had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
“Most of the spending is on clothing and accessories, and that drives people into stores. Kids want to try things on,” Berrill said.
Mass-merchant retailers, like Target and Walmart, were the most popular way to shop in Chicago and nationwide, according to Deloitte’s survey. About 87 percent of Chicagoans surveyed said they planned to do some back-to-school shopping at mass retailers, up from 82 percent last year.
But online sales are growing, she said. In Chicago, about 48 percent of people surveyed said they planned to do some back-to-school shopping at online-only retailers, the second most popular shopping destination, up from 41 percent last year, according to Deloitte.
Prepackaged kits, meanwhile, seem to be growing less popular. Nationwide, 21 percent of parents surveyed by Deloitte said they planned to purchase a school supply kit sold by their child’s school or parent-teacher organization, down from 29 percent in 2018. A little less than half of parents surveyed said their school didn’t offer the option to purchase a kit.
Price remains the biggest factor in where people choose to buy supplies, followed by convenience and selection, Berrill said.
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