Dive Summary:

• According to survey results from PriceGrabber, 70% of U.S. consumers plan to spend $500 or more during the approaching back-to-school shopping season.
• Consumers stated that the most popular type of retail destination they plan on visiting during the season is brick-and-mortor discount stores, followed by online merchants and office supply chains.
• “The outlook for the back-to-school shopping season remains positive. With [the] unemployment rate dropping from 8.2% in June 2012 to its current rate of 7.6%, shoppers are more inclined to spend than they were in the last couple of back-to-school seasons,” said Rojeh Avanesian with PriceGrabber.

From the article:

In other survey highlights: free shipping, sales and coupons incentivize back-to-school shoppers. Around 72% of consumers chose free shipping as the top retailer tactic that would entice them to make a back-to-school purchase this year, followed by  sales (71%), coupons (69%), online promotions (43%), rebates ( 41%) and free items with a purchase (38%)