NRF: Back-to-school shopping kicked off early this year

Two-thirds (67%) of back-to-school shoppers had already begun purchasing items for the upcoming school year as of early July, according to the annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. The early start is up from 55% last year and is the highest since NRF started tracking early shopping in 2018.

The survey found that 51% families are shopping earlier this year compared to last year specifically out of concern that prices will rise due to tariffs.

“Consumers are being mindful of the potential impacts of tariffs and inflation on back-to-school items, and have turned to early shopping, discount stores and summer sales for savings on school essentials,” said NRF VP of industry and consumer Insights Katherine Cullen.

K-12 Students

Families with students in elementary through high school plan to spend an average of $858.07 on clothing, shoes, school supplies and electronics, down from $874.68 in 2024. Despite families budgeting less this year, slightly more consumers are purchasing apparel and electronics, driving expected total spending to $39.4 billion, up from $38.8 billion last year.

K-12 shoppers are budgeting $295.81 on average for electronics ($13.6 billion total), $249.36 for clothing and accessories ($11.4 billion total), $169.13 for shoes ($7.8 billion total) and $143.77 for school supplies ($6.6 billion total).

As with recent years, the most popular destinations for back-to-school K-12 shopping are online (55%), followed by department stores (48%), discount stores (47%) and clothing stores (41%), Chain Store Age reports.