California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

According to National Retail Federations annual Back-to-School and Back-to-College
surveys, released in July, total back-to-school and back-to-college spending will
reach $47.50 billion this year. According to the survey, families of students in
grades K-12 will spend $548.72 on school merchandise, a decline of 7.7 percent
from $594.24 in 2008. Families of college students will spend $618.12, up slightly
from last year’s $599.38.

According to the survey, the days of mom or dad letting children put whatever they
want in the shopping cart are over. This year’s survey illustrates that parents are
making careful spending decisions based on price instead of giving their kids free
rein to pick out whatever they want.

In addition, the survey identified that 43.4 percent of back-to-school shoppers
said coupons influenced them to shop at a particular store. Advertising inserts
(42.1%), newspapers (32.2%), in-store promotions (32.1%), word of mouth (29.9%)
and direct mail (16.2%) were also strong influencers in their decision on where
to shop.

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.