Second only to the November-December holiday season in importance, back-to-school shopping has long been a critical time of year for many retailers. Some 29 million U.S. households will shop for back-to-school supplies this year and spend $27 billion in the process. That’s about half of what American families will spend on school-related items this year.

Nationally, spending will average $501 per household this year, relatively flat with last year’s $488 spending, according to a report from consulting firm Deloitte. Spending will vary by region, with the South accounting for 44% of the total ($554 per household), followed by the Midwest with 20% ($443) of all spending. The Northeast and the West each will account for 18% of total spending, $513 per household in the Northeast and $455 in the West.

Year-over-year spending on clothing and accessories is forecast to rise from $239 to $284, while spending on electronic gadgets like smartphones is expected to dip from $286 to $254 per household. Spending on school supplies is tabbed to drop from $122 to $104 and spending on computers and hardware is expected to fall from $456 to $307.

Among retailers, the winners are expected to be mass merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT). Some 81% of respondents to the Deloitte survey will visit these stores for back-to-school shopping, a year-over-year increase of 24%. The increase comes at the expense of department stores, where shopper visits are forecast to be down 26%. A gain of 18% at off-price stores is offset by a drop of 17% in visits to specialty clothing retailers. Not good news for Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. (NYSE: ANF) and other teen clothing sellers.

The Deloitte researchers also reported that in-store spending is expected to be more than twice online spending. Also, about 71% of spending happens in the eight-week period from early July to late August, and early shoppers are likely to spend more than late shoppers.

Methodology: The Deloitte survey was conducted online using an independent research panel between May 31 and June 6, 2017. The survey polled a sample of 1,200 parents of school-aged children and has a margin of error for the entire sample of plus or minus three percentage points. All respondents had at least one child attending school in grades K–12 this fall.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.