The Back-to-School Shoppers.

The typical shopper expects to spend $458 for back-to-school clothing, footwear, electronics, stationery and other supplies this year, according to the International Mass Retail Association’s consumer survey August 10 – 12. In late July 2000, that figure was $315. And, this year one in eight (12%) expects to have spent more than $850 as the school bell rings in the new academic year.

The IMRA survey results are encouraging for discount retailers, especially those that experienced reasonable to excellent same-store sales in July — while other types of retailers saw flat or lower sales compared with last year.

“Our members are looking forward to the annual crescendo in back-to-school sales during August,” said IMRA President Robert J. Verdisco. “Consumers are using the welcome aggregate of cash from the Federal tax rebates and taking advantage of sales tax holidays in some states.* They are stretching their dollars effectively by shopping at mass retail stores, which offer the best value and selection along with good quality.”

Some mass retailers are offering rebate related services and suggestions for how to stretch rebate dollars. For example, they are offering to cash the rebates and give a coupon as part of the service.

Other examples of spending levels from the IMRA 2001 back-to-school shopping survey:

20 percent of back-to-school shoppers believe they will spend $451 to $600.

6 percent say they will spend more than $1,000 this year.

Another 6 percent are predicting $851 to $1,000 for their total.

“We continue to believe that the collective strength of American consumers is truly awesome and can energize this great country’s economy,” said Mr. Verdisco.

For more information at http://www.imra.org

* Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont and the District of Columbia offer tax-free “holidays,” which exempt purchases of some popular items from sales tax up to a certain limit.