Deloitte: Back-to-School Shoppers Ready For Higher Prices

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

According to Deloitte’s annual “Back-to-School” survey, released recently, consumers’ days of cutting back-to-school spending are behind them, and shoppers are reverting to more traditional information sources. Nearly 6 in 10 (59 percent) consumers have a budget in mind for back-to-school shopping, and while two-thirds (66 percent) say they will shop for items on sale, fewer respondents feel stores are offering them more value for their money (36 percent in 2012 versus 47 percent in 2011).

Deloitte’s survey shows that traditional media and word of mouth will serve as the strongest influences over what consumers plan to buy this year.

Television ranks as the No.1 source for parents to hear about the items they intend to purchase, cited by 41 percent of respondents, followed by family members (37 percent), newspapers (37 percent) and friends (36 percent).  Among factors influencing children’s purchases, 59 percent of parents claim friends to be the top source of information, followed by television (41 percent).

Among those who plan to visit social media sites during the back-to-school shopping season, 70 percent will seek promotions and nearly half (49 percent) will browse products. Social media users are also increasingly seeking and posting reviews. For example, 4 in 10 (39 percent) plan to seek out reviews, up from 28 percent last year, and the number who plan to post them doubled, from 9 percent in 2011 to 18 percent in 2012.