Back-to-School Shoppers Cutting Back Expenditures
BOISE, Idaho -- Mindful of saving money, more than half of back-to-school shoppers will not purchase computers this year, a survey by Crucial.com finds. Fully 57% do not plan to purchase laptops, desktops, tablets or mobile devices for school this year.
Crucial is a global brand of Micron Technology Inc.
The survey found that parents and college students are more concerned about being more prudent with their money and not incurring more debt.
Back-to-school research by Crucial.com showed Americans -- back-to-school shoppers in particular -- are looking to cut back where they can; 73% of respondents said they were very concerned with saving money, a figure that increased to 82% for back-to-school shoppers.
In general, 82% of respondents said they think it’s more important to save money than time and 81% said they would be most inclined to put save the money toward or pay off bills if given $1,000 to spend.
If given $1,000, respondents said they would:
- Pay off bills, 46%.
- Save it, 35%.
- Go on vacation, 9%.
- Buy a new computer, tablet or smartphone, 6%.
- Buy a new car, 3%.
- Give to charity, 2%.
Back-to-school shoppers cited ways they save money, including clipping coupons (82%), do-it-yourself projects (57%) and buying generic brands (57%). In addition, 61% of back-to-school shoppers said they would try to fix a slow computer themselves to save money rather than pay for expensive repairs; 58% said they expect a computer to last at least five years.
"The results of the survey delivered an underlying theme: most Americans seek to be as frugal as possible, but struggle to do so," said Ed Walker, e-commerce marketing manager at Crucial, in a prepared statement. "It's not surprising consumers are seeking to make computers and various mobile devices last as long as possible, given their expense. When back-to-school season arrives, it can make a lot of sense for families to extend the life and performance of their existing computers rather than spend hundreds of dollars on new ones."
When shopping for the new school year, consumers ranked spending money as the biggest stress factor, ahead of locating various items and dealing with crowded stores. Only 2% identified themselves as "big spenders" when asked to describe their money-saving mentality. The largest segment of back-to-school shoppers this year is women ages 35 to 44, 53% of whom said they planned to shop or had already.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition and to our free daily email headlines.