Canadians want to spend less on back-to-school shopping this year, survey finds

Avalynn Kwok, 4, holds her dad Manny Kwok's hand outside Lynn Valley Elementary School as her parents drop her off for her first day of kindergarten in North Vancouver, B.C., Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Back-to-school shopping is in full swing and while Canadians are more eager to go shopping this year, they want to spend less, according to a new survey.

Conducted by the Retail Council of Canada, in partnership with Caddle, a mobile platform, the survey asked more than 9,000 Canadians what their back-to-school shopping intentions are this year.

With sharpened pencils and backpacks returning as fashion statements, the survey found various differences in consumers' shopping intentions this year, with two thirds (66 per cent) of Canadians planning to make a dedicated trip to purchase back-to-school items, compared to last year when roughly a third (32.7 per cent) did.

HOW MUCH ARE CANADIANS WILLING TO SPEND?

The survey also found that more Canadians are choosing to spend carefully lately.

The majority of Canadians (51.3 per cent) surveyed said they typically spend less than $100 on back-to-school items.

This year, one in two Canadians (52.8 per cent) said they’re expecting to spend the same amount of money as they did in 2022. And the number of people planning to spend less than $50 has gone up by 3.4 per cent compared to last year, according to the survey.

In previous years, the most popular shopping categories have been stationery (60.8 per cent), followed by clothing (54.2 per cent) and books and music (23.4 per cent).

This back-to-school season, most Canadians are focusing on purchasing lower priced items like stationery — including notebooks, pens and markers — and supplies rather than higher priced items like furniture, the survey found.

“This indicates the tightening of purse strings due to the prevailing economic conditions,” a report on the survey states.

While most people are less willing to spend than they were in previous years, the survey found that about 73.6 per cent of Canadians who plan to go back-to-school shopping are thinking they will spend more than $50 since prices have increased across the board over the past several months due to inflation.

CANADIANS PLANNING TO SHOP LATER IN THE SEASON

Although more people are planning to go back-to-school shopping this year, many are preferring to do so at a later date.

Of those who do plan to go shopping, 29.5 per cent — the largest group — said they will go two to four weeks before school begins this year, compared to 42.9 per cent in 2022.

Around 15.7 per cent of people will do their shopping one week or less before school begins.

“This could be due to out of stocks and supply chain issues, which prevailed last year, are no longer a significant concern,” the report states.

WHERE ARE PEOPLE SHOPPING?

Many Canadians preferred to shop online when retail spaces were closed or had limited capacities due to COVID-19 restrictions, but that is starting to change.

In 2022, only 41 per cent of people wanted to shop in person for their back to school shopping. That number has soared to 81 per cent of Canadians, the survey found.

This year, only 19 per cent of Canadians indicated they will do their back-to-school shopping online.

The most popular place to go shopping in person is big box retailers (62.3 per cent), followed by clothing stores (32.1 per cent) and department stores (19.6 per cent).

As well, almost half of Canadians (41.1 per cent) indicated they are planning to purchase back-to-school products in regular grocery aisles this year.

METHODOLOGY

The survey was conducted in July using Caddle’s mobile platform and online panel amongst a representative randomized sample of more than 9,000 Canadian adults. There is a margin of error of one per cent or lower.

The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by Caddle.