Back to School: How To Find Those Discounts
Posted: Monday, July 28, 2008
by Stephany Springer
It is that time of the year again and retailers are welcoming the season with big promotions and discounts. However, if you are like my family, it isn't the most looked forward to time when it comes to finances.
Retailers are expecting a slow season because of the current financial crisis, so they are stepping incentives up in order to get your loyalty and sells.
The survey found that families with school-aged children will spend 5% more this year on back-to-school purchases, or $594.24 per family, compared to $563.49 last year, largely driven by sales of electronics like computers and cell phones, spurred by economic stimulus payments. Most of the individuals I know have already spent that stimulus and therefore, will spend less this season.
But back-to-college spending, which has helped buoy retail sales for the past five years, will drop 7% this year, from an average of $641.56 per person last year to $599.38 this year, the survey said.
How do we find the incentives and bargain discounts that this news spurs retailers to action? Here are a few tips to get the best bargains.
Visit discount stores
There is nothing wrong with buying discount. A whopping 73% of consumers will be heading to discount stores for their back-to-school gear this year, up from 67.6% last year, according to the NRF survey. So head to those outlet malls and giant retail chains such as Wal-Mart and Target. The clothes at these retail giants have come a long way over the last few years. Most people can not tell a difference between the discount clothes and their high-priced counterparts.
Check online
Before driving from store to store, check out department stores online to see who has the best deals. If you order early enough you can even have your stuff shipped and save on gas. There are also great coupon offers as some sites as an incentive to shop in the store.
Visit comparison-shopping websites such as bradsdeals.com. The site allows users to comparison shop, find the best deals and print out coupons. One of the current top deals on the site right now is $100 graphing calculator from Texas Instruments for $24.99 after two mail-in rebates from Office Depot coupled with Office Depot's $25-off coupon code listed on Wilson's Web site.
Tax Free Weekends
One of the advantages to those who live in Texas is the annual Back-To-School tax free weekend. Shoppers get a break from state and local sales taxes on August 15, 16 and 17 - the state's annual tax holiday. Lay-away plans can be used again this year to take advantage of the sales tax holiday. It isn't a huge savings considering the madness at the stores, but if you go early or late it can be beneficial.
Check with your school
Buy supplies from your local school. Every year, we purchase our supplies from the local PTO. It saves the energy and gas from driving store to store and is really a bargain most times. Any extra money raised goes to our school and it saves us loads of time. The extra bonus is the PTO delivers it right to your child's classroom so no worries about it getting lost on the bus ride to school.
These are just a few suggestions. I am sure those veteran shoppers have some great tips as well. Feel free to leave them in the comments.
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