Consumers Get All A’s in Back-to-School Spending, Brand Keys Survey

NEW YORK NY August 1 – The average 2010 spend consumers say they will make for back-to-school clothing and supplies is $584, up 10% over a year ago, according to a national survey conducted by Brand Keys (www.brandkeys.com), a New York-based brand and customer loyalty research consultancy.

“It appears that the combination of an improving economy, slightly increased consumer confidence, on-going discounting and promotional activity, and a real need for new clothing and  supplies has increased back-to-school share-of-wallet by 10% this year,” said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys.

“For the past two years, the consumer’s view of the traditional 3R’s had been ‘retailer,’ ‘rates,’ and ‘requirements,’ with shoppers looking at  back-to school-buying by evaluating which retailer was going to offer the best prices for things the kids really require,” said Passikoff. “But consumers have already earned their Ph.D.’s in smart shopping, and this year ‘requirements’ have moved to the top of parents’ lists. Children continue to grow, whatever the economy’s like, and there’s an actual need to make up for the past two years of decreased spending.”

Methodology

The Brand Keys’ survey includes assessments from 10,000 households with school-aged children (pre-school through 12th grade), drawn from the nine US Census regions. Data was collected via telephone and central location intercepts, to account for cell-phone only households, in early July and found average-spends for major back-to-school categories, versus last year: 

Clothing     $315.00 (+13%)

Computers, software, printers  $209.00 (+11%)

Shoes (athletic, dress)   $120.00 (+12%)

Supplies     $ 95.00 (unchanged)

Books and study aids   $ 22.00 (+10%)

“Unlike other major purchase events like Mother’s Day there’s a more lopsided distribution in terms of which retailers will be the beneficiaries of consumers back-to-school shopping,” said Passikoff. “The biggest change was found iamong Specialty Clothing retailers, confirming both children’s needs for new clothing and parents’ greater confidence in the economy.” The breakdown of “preferred” retailer-types was as follows:

Discount Stores   95% (unchanged)

Department Stores   60% (+5%)

Office Supply   55% (unchanged)

Online   50% (+ 25%)

Specialty Retailers   45% (+15%)

Catalogs   35% (+5%)

When asked where they intended to shop, back-to-school beneficiaries –  among retailers included in  Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index – were identified as follows. Please note that while these measures report multiple category responses, the top-10 retailers showing the greatest increase in consumer intent-to-shop since last year were:

1. Amazon
2. Bed, Bath, and Beyond
3. Gap
4. J. Crew
5. Kohl’s Footlocker
6. Nike
7. Staples
8. Target
9. TJ Maxx
10. Zappos

 Within their individual retail categories, here’s how retail brands fared:

Discount Retailers

Target  60% (+10%)

Wal-Mart  65% (-5%)

Kmart   35% (-5%)

Best Buy  20% (-10%)

Department Stores

Kohl’s  45% (+15%)

T.J. Maxx  50% (NA)

Macy’s  30% (-5%)

Dillard’s  35% (-0-)

JCPenney   25% (-5%)

Sears   15% (-0-)

Office Supply

Staples  60% (+10%)

Office Max  35% (-0-)

Office Depot 35% (-0-)

Specialty Stores

Footlocker  55% (+10%)

Stride Rite  50% (+5%)

Old Navy  45% (-0-)

Sports Authority 40% (-0-)

Nike   50% (+10%)

Radio Shack  40% (-0-)

American Eagle 25% (-5%)

Bed, Bath, Beyond 45% (+10%)

Champs  30% (-0-)

PacSun  20% (-5%)

A&F   25% (+5%)

OshKosh B’Gosh 20% (+5%)

GAP    25% (+15%)

On-Line

Amazon.com 90% (+10%)

Zappos.com  75% (+20%)

Staples.com  40% (-0-)

Apple   50% (+10%)

Dell.com  35% (-0-)

Overstock.com 20% (-0-)

Catalogs

J, Crew  65% (+5%)

L.L. Bean  45% (-0-)

Land’s End   35% (-0-)

“While the economy always  impacts overall spend, given the ubiquity of merchandise range and pricing strategies, what brands get what piece of the academic pie is ultimately determined by what retail brands actually stand for –i.e., quality, selection, service, and the like. Brand aspects like those can become surrogates for added-value in today’s marketplace,” said Brand Keys’ Robert Passikoff. “And consumers believe that and act upon that fact, should be a fundamental lesson for all retailers.”