Retailers could see their best back-to-school season ever. The National Retail Federation expects K through 12 and college purchases to total more than $100 billion.

The retail trade association conducted its annual survey in early July. It found households with children in elementary through high school planned to spend an average of nearly $850 while households with college students planned to spend $1,200.

Research director Katherine Cullen says the group’s annual survey finds more interest in laptops than ever recorded.

“Coming out of the Great Recession there was a renewed interest in spending on electronic items, people may have held off on replacing or buying new items so we may be seeing a little bit of a similar energy here,” she said. “We also may be in a situation where families may have had children sharing devices but now children returning to school may need their own devices or a broader variety of devices.

The other factor behind estimated record spending is a return to in-person classes.

“Children heading off to school, they may not have needed uniforms last year, they may be purchasing those items this year,” Cullen said. “They may need different types of clothing or more clothes than they have in the past and then items like shoes, backpacks, lunch boxes.” 

College students are buying clothes, too, but there’s also more demand for dorm and apartment furnishings which many didn’t need last year.

National Retail Federation Survey Highlights

• $848.90 — average K-12 household spending, up $59 from last year.
• $1,200.32 — average college household spending, up $141 from last year.
• $33.9 billion — total K-12 spending, up $3.2 billion from last year.
• $71 billion — total college spending, up $3.3 billion from last year.