JLL: Back-to-school shopping to rise nearly 22%; physical stores most popular option

More than 75% of parents expect to have already begun shopping by July.

There is good news for retailers in an annual survey of consumers’ back-to-school spending intentions.

Parents plan to spend 21.8% more on back-to-school shopping this year, signaling positive implications for retail sales and a successful shopping season, according to JLL’s Back-to-School Shopping survey. They also plan to start earlier than ever.

The survey found that parents across all income groups — especially those with higher incomes — intend to allocate a larger share of their budgets to discretionary products rather than school-required items.

“For the second consecutive year, parents are increasing their per-child spending from $390 to $475, despite concerns about inflation,” said Keisha Virtue, Senior Analyst of Retail Research at JLL. “Our survey demonstrates that parents are prioritizing back-to-school essentials and will continue to play a crucial part in driving consumer spending and foot traffic.”

When it comes to choosing where to shop, Walmart, Amazon and Target remain top choices for parents. Other top retailers include Costco, Old Navy and Dollar General. 

JLL noted that almost 90% of parents will interact with physical stores in some way for their back-to-school shopping, emphasizing the continued importance of brick-and-mortar retailers in this sector. In fact, parents will spend more than 63% of their shopping budgets in stores versus online, and this is especially true of high-income shoppers.