Back To School Spending Up Just 4% Over Last Year
The kids are back in school, big brother and sister are off to college and you are adding up the receipts from the shopping frenzy. If the ever growing price tag seems smaller than in the past you are following the national trend.
The National Retail Federation reports many families got a late start based on concerns about price and value with brand loyalty consultancy Brand Keys saying the average family will spend just four-percent more than last year with an average outlay of $675.
While shoppers didn’t come right out and blame the economy, 73-percent used words like "uncertainty," "anxiety," and "unpredictability" as pressures on consumer confidence.
Brand Keys says people cited the looming Presidential elections (58-percent) as well as income distribution (47-percent), crime (44-percent), and unemployment (30-percent), as well as race relations (22-percent) and a general feeling of insecurity related to terrorism (19-percent).