• August 9, 2010

While consumers say they are planning on spending more this year on back-to-school shopping, they are in no hurry to do so.

The NPD Group, a market research company based in Port Washington, N.Y., says that only 3% have started back-to-school shopping, compared with 6% last year at this time.

But 38% say they plan to spend less this year. Last year, 44% said they planned to cut back. And they'll put more effort into shopping, with 55% saying they will shop at more stores this year, compared with 53% last year.