There seems to be a lot of contradictory information out there regarding the current back to school shopping season. Back in early July, we expected teens and college students to increase their back to school related spending by upwards of 7 to 8 percent to $512. Although our Back To School Retail and Shopping Report won't be completed for another week, it's clear that spending on technology and communications as well as clothing and apparel still looks to be up from last year. This news comes as some major retailers ranging from Wal-Mart to Target have posted some initial results that are considered lackluster. So, what is the disconnect? Our hunch is that some back to school purchases that occurred in June or July of '06 are being put on hold or potentially being put off indefinitely until later this year. At this point, we probably have to go into a wait and see mode until sometime in mid to late September. Is it that much of stretch to think the for one reason or another that parents could wait until the very last minute to make some of the bigger ticket item purchases like computers and other digital consumer electronics devices? We don't think so. In terms of retail, we continue to see a push towards specialty clothing retailers who hawk lower price fare like H&M and Forever 21. That in itself could explain some of the lower figures the huge discount retailers like Wal-Mart and Target are reporting. During a very recent shop along with teens in Southern California, we heard over and over again how they preferred lower priced specialty retailers like the aforementioned stores over staples like Target. Typically, what happens on the west coast heads east, so don't be surprised if this current retail trend only gets larger.
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