Total back-to-school and back-to-college spending is down this year compared to last, as consumers turn frugal following a surge in shopping during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Retail Federation’s annual beginning of the school year survey data indicates back-to-college-spending dropped 7.9% and back-to-school spending decreased 6.5% in 2024.
Consumers appear to be saving their dollars for other purchases, such as services, traveling, dining out and entertainment, according to Katherine Cullen, the federation's vice president of industry and consumer insights. Overall, the federation forecasts total retail spending for the year to increase between 2.5% and 3.5%, which is in line with normal retail growth over the past 10 years.
“Consumers are prioritizing back to school… but they are also making sure that they’re spending smartly, that every dollar counts and they’re balancing it again for the other needs in their wallet,” she said.
The federation has been charting back-to-school spending since 2003. It saw jumps of 7% to 13% during the height of the pandemic as families received government stimulus checks and many activities were curtailed to deal with the public health crisis, allowing parents to splurge on their childrens' needs. Many also had to boost their spending to buy things like face masks and setups for remote learning.
Cullen said there was "particular growth in electronics spending, not just tablets and laptops and desktops, but also things like noise-canceling headphones, so that people who were working in the same room could learn effectively,"
This past weekend’s Labor Day sales showed a similar trend of consumers looking to save, according to data from consumer analytics firm CivicScience.
Its end of August survey indicated more people were looking for bargains during the Labor Day holiday.
A majority of survey respondents said they would be spending some amount under $100.
Casey Taylor, vice president of client services at CivicScience, said that this desire to save can be correlated to a higher concern about inflationary prices and sociopolitical factors with the upcoming presidential election.
“So people are just a little more concerned about the prices of things generally as they’re shopping,” Taylor said.