A back-to-school (BTS) spending survey conducted in May by PwC has some good news for retailers: shoppers are not planning to curb their BTS spending plans — but they are looking at ways to get the most bang for their buck. Consumers’ most popular money-saving tactic will be to only buy items that are on sale, chosen by 37% of respondents, with the same percentage planning to save by shopping early in the season.
Despite these penny-pinching tactics, nearly three in four consumers expect to spend the same or more as usual on BTS shopping this fall, with more than one in three anticipating they will spend more than they did in 2024.
Parents Most Likely to Cut Back on Tech Spending This Year
Technology will make up a large portion of these BTS budgets: 25% of parents plan to spend $500 or more on tech purchases this season. Apparel and shoes also will claim a large share: 27% of respondents will spend $101 to $250 on these items, with 29% spending $251 to $500.
However, these buying intentions don’t mean that tech brands can rest easy. The survey asked respondents to identify the broad BTS shopping categories where budget-conscious consumers will limit their purchases. Technology was the top choice, at 44%, followed by clothing and shoes at 40%. As might be expected, more basic BTS purchases — school supplies, books and educational materials — will be spared from cutbacks, with just 30% saying they’ll limit spending on school supplies and even fewer, 26%, saying they will skimp on books.
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AI Emerges as Online Deal-Seeking Tool
In another sign of consumers’ growing comfort with AI-powered tools, 20% plan to use them to find online deals for BTS items. This percentage is likely to keep climbing, so retailers will need to enhance their digital channels and search capabilities for AI-powered discovery if they want to claim their share of spending.
How Income and Demographics Affect BTS Shopping Choices
The PwC survey also tracked shopping preferences by generation. Despite their reputation as store-hating digital natives, Gen Z parents are actually more likely than millennial and Gen X customers to shop exclusively in-store. The finding supports other PwC data and suggests that Gen Z may be driving a brick-and-mortar renaissance fueled by tactile experiences and brand engagement.
Most shoppers will use a combination of online and brick-and-mortar shopping for the BTS season, although millennial (71%) and Gen X parents (73%) are significantly more online-oriented than Gen Z (57%) and boomers (54%). These latter two groups are more likely to support a store-only approach, chosen by 27% of Gen Z and 30% of boomer parents.
The online-offline split also occurs between different income groups. Households earning $75,000 or more are nearly twice as likely to shop exclusively online, at 14%, compared to the 8% of those earning less than $75,000 annually. Families earning less than the median household income are almost twice as likely to shop exclusively in-store, at 30% compared to richer households’ 17%.
The survey of 1,198 parents was conducted by PwC between May 6-8, 2025.
