Our third annual Back to School Retail and Shopping report is now complete. As we expected the combination of reduced funds received from parents (and other relatives) along with a general mindset of deferring big ticket purchases (think laptops and residence furnishings) will put a heft crimp on planned spending for back to school '08. No doubt the sizable decrease in funds from Mom and Dad attributable to high gas and food prices is the prevailing element for the generally weak outlook. But like pretty much everything else with this audience there is a silver lining, at least for a few retailers who will be the beneficiaries of the shift. Without a doubt the back to school shopping season is already underway. Nearly four in ten respondents (37%) said they already made a back to school-related purchase, and mind you, the survey was completed the week of July 7th. It's not like the audience will just sit this crucial shopping season out completely, they're just changing their shopping habits. More than eight in ten respondents said they plan to do the majority of their back to school related shopping at discount mass retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. What's more, and this is certainly symbolic of current climate, more than half of all respondents (64% of females) said they will only purchase products that are on "sale" or products that come will a special offer like a rebate exclusively for students. Within the fiercely competitive specialty clothing retail category, we expect to see the first pull back from some of the higher priced items like premium denim ($80 and above), dresses, knits and even those $40 and $50 fragrances. The beneficiaries will be the lower priced stores that still carry a certain level of cachet with the audience like Aeropostale and Forever 21 while Abercrombie and Urban Outfitters will see more browsers than purchasers. At the end of the day, the audience is looking for a deal and will use the Internet to find those deals. About two thirds of respondents (64%) said they will spend more time this year compared to last year searching for product deals online and about four in ten respondents (38%) said they are more likely to purchase sale products online this season. All told, respondents plan to spend $427 for back to school items, which is down considerably from $616 last year. Tomorrow I'll jump into more of the must have products and brands as well as go over some of the brand purchaser profiles we created.