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Dive Brief:

• Parents expect their back-to-school spending to rise 21.8% year-over-year, spending $475 per child compared to $390 last year, according to a new survey of 1,026 parents conducted by real estate and investment management firm JLL in May. 
• Respondents said they plan to shop the most at Walmart (46.4%), Amazon (35.4%) and Target (32.6%), the survey found. Fewer said they plan to shop with other major retailers like Costco (6.5%), Old Navy (3.8%) and Dollar General (2.8%). 
• About a quarter of survey respondents said they’ve already begun back-to-school shopping, followed by consumers who began shopping in June (22.1%) and parents who will start shopping in July (20%) and August (16.8%), the survey found. 

Dive Insight:

Parents in almost every income bracket plan to spend more during the back-to-school season compared to last year, with wealthier households (earning over $150,000) increasing their budgets the most. Additionally, despite inflation concerns, parents earning over $50,000 will not cut back on their budgets. 

Lower-income parents, defined as earning less than $50,000, however, are cutting their budgets because of inflation, are looking for sales, coupons and deals and will start shopping in July or August, per the report. Higher-income parents will start shopping in early June and are buying private label products to save money. 

Last June, JLL’s report found that consumers were expected to spend 15.7% more during the 2023 back-to-school shopping season compared to 2022. 

Consumers plan to buy their back-to-school essentials at the same major retailers as last year, but the proportion of shoppers planning to buy from mass-market retailers has changed. Last year, JLL found that shoppers were buying their back-to-school items at Walmart (58.6%), Target (54.2%) and Amazon (46%).

As consumers prepare to check off their back-to-school shopping lists this year, major retailers have introduced their summer sales events. Amazon is hosting its Prime Day sales event from July 16 to July 17. Other retailers, including Target, Walmart, Best Buy and Kohl’s are following suit.