Economic Concerns Curtail Back-To-School Shopping Because of higher gas and food price concerns, 71 percent of respondents in a new Deloitte survey said they plan to spend less on back-to-school items this year. Almost half (48 percent) plan to reduce their household spending by more than $100. In addition, consumers will change where and how they shop. According to a national study of US mothers by the Marketing to Moms Coalition, though, back-to-school spending in 2008 will be modestly higher than last year, with an 8% increase over last year's spending levels, at $484, compared with $449. While consumers will continue to buy supplies, such as paper, pencils and notebooks (95 percent), clothes (92 percent), shoes (86 percent) and backpacks/book bags (68 percent), many indicated that they intend to cut back on these purchases. Notably, more than eight in 10 said they will spend less on clothes, while 48 percent said they will spend less on shoes and 30 percent said they will spend less on backpacks/book bags. Almost one-third (29 percent) said they will spend less on supplies. Products On Which Consumers Will Spend LessProduct% of Respondents Expecting to Spend Less Clothing 83% Shoes 48 Backpack/bookbag 30 Paper, pencils, notebooks, etc. 29 Jewelry 15 Computer/laptop 10 Computer software 10 Cell phone 9 Mp3 player 8 Source: Deloitte, August 2008 Stacy Janiak, Deloitte's U.S. Retail leader, noted that "... consumers will likely stick to the basics this fall, and parents may be saying ‘no' more often as they head to the register... " 90 percent of respondents said they will likely change the way they shop for back-to-school items this year. Changes include: