As Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers and e-commerce platforms wrap up their summer shopping events, an annual survey published Tuesday by the nation’s largest retail trade group shows that back-to-school shoppers are already stocking up well before the school year begins.
According to the survey, conducted July 1–7 by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics, two-thirds (67 percent) of back-to-school shoppers had already started buying items for the upcoming school year.
The early start increased to 55 percent from last year and is the highest since NRF began tracking early shopping in 2018. Just over half (51 percent) of back-to-school families are shopping earlier this year compared with last year, mainly due to concerns about rising prices caused by tariffs….