Survey: 57% of Parents Use Smartphones to Shop for School Supplies

BELOIT, Wis., July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FatWallet.com, the savings resource for millions of online deal hunters, announced results of its annual Back-to-School Survey (*Survata), which reveals 9 in 10 parents plan to spend the same or more than last year when shopping for back-to-school items. More than half of parents said they will shop for back-to-school needs online versus in-store, and 4 in 10 said lowest price is the most important factor when buying school supplies. Nearly two-thirds of parents said back-to-school prices are best in July and August, but more than 2 in 10 said prices are best after school starts. Most notably, 70% of parents said they now buy more, or most, K-12 school supplies compared to years past due to increasing budget cuts at their children's schools.

Key Survey Results:

• Up from 2015, 91% of parents will spend the same or more on their children's school needs this year, and 52% will buy back-to-school items online (11% from retail web sites, 13% from deal and coupon sites and 28% from online marketplace sites like Amazon and eBay).
• More than half of parents (57%) will use their smartphones to shop for back to school, 32% will make mobile purchases, while 25% will use their smartphones to just research and compare prices.
• 4 in 10 said "lowest price" is the most important factor when buying school supplies, 26% said "product quality" was most important, 18% said "wide selection" and 15% said "available discounts and coupons."
• Nearly two-thirds of parents said back-to-school prices are best in August (42%) and July (22%), while more than 2 in 10 (21%) said the best back-to-school deals happen after school starts.
• Compared to past years, 70% of parents said they now buy more, or most, of school supplies (40% said they now buy "a little more supplies" and 30% said they now buy the "majority of school supplies").
• 28% of parents will buy new laptops and/or smartphones this year for their children, while only 20% of parents said schools do not supply some form of laptops or tablets in the classroom (32% said they're supplied in all grades).

FatWallet has launched a Back to School buying guide that aggregates hundreds of the best deals for school supplies, kids clothing and student computer needs from dozens of top retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Dell, Microsoft, Office Depot and Verizon. The deal site will also provide comprehensive resources to help parents find the biggest back-to-school savings opportunities, including a 2016 Tax Holiday schedule, a comprehensive laptop buying guide, 2016 student discounts guide, 2016 teacher discounts guide and a special Twitter Chat event on July 27 that will connect parents from across the country. "Families are feeling the pinch of taking on more school supply expenses, so every savings opportunity can be a windfall," stated Brent Shelton, online shopping expert with FatWallet. "The team at FatWallet is focused on providing smart resources to help parents vet out these opportunities so they can quickly make the good purchasing decisions."

See FULL RESULTS of 2016 Back-to-School Shopping Survey, including an INFOGRAPHIC and shopping behavior and concerns for parents planning to purchase laptops and smartphones for their kids.

Back to School Shopping Resources:

• Tax Holiday Schedules
• Student Discounts Cheat Sheet
• Teacher Discounts Cheat Sheet 
• Back-to-School Deals Roundup
• Student Laptop Buying Guide
• Back to School Shopping Twitter Chat

About: FatWallet is a smart resource for millions of online and mobile shoppers to find and share thousands of current coupons and deals from more than 2,000 retailers, like Kohl's, Amazon, Walmart and Ebay. The much-celebrated FatWallet forums represent the pulse of an evolving online and mobile marketplace where the savviest deal hunters in the world gather to share and learn about ways to save money on everyday needs, wants and personal finance decisions.

*This survey was commissioned by FatWallet and conducted online by Survata. Survata interviewed 1001 American adults with children in school (K-12) in July 2016. Additional methodology can be found at survata.com/methodology.

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SOURCE FatWallet