Save On This Year’s Back-To-School Shopping
photo credit: Paul Worthington
August is just around the corner, and that means back-to-school shopping. While this may be a fun activity for kids, getting them excited for the coming school year, parents feel the economic pressure mounting. In a sluggish economy, retailers know that they need a hook to ensnare customers, so there are plenty of back-to-school bargains to be had.
Back-to-school purchases are expected to increase 5% this year, but back-to-college spending is expected to decline by approximately 7%. Consumers will cut luxuries, like Abercombie & Fitch or Urban Outfitters, out first. Target and Walmart, their less-expensive competitors, are gearing up for big bargains and deep discounts, in order to secure patronage from penny-pinching families.
When hunting for deals, check your newspaper circulars and online sources. Big ticket items, like expensive textbooks or laptop computers, are usually less expensive online, provided you hunt around. When you’ve decide what you’ll buy, search online for product-specific coupons, and you can often save 10-20% on your next purchase. For small items, like binders and folders, shop around. Many retailers are vying for your business, so $0.05 folders and $10 backpacks won’t be hard to find this year.
Though back-to-school shopping is never cheap, you can save a lot of money with aggressive bargain hunting. Use the internet and competitive local stores wisely, and you can easily save $50-$100 on this year’s back-to-school receipts.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 4:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
