Back-to-school spending to leap
The average family is preparing to spend over $500 on back-to-school items this fall, according to a new survey by the National Retail Federation.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Back-to-school spending will see a big leap this year, with the biggest growth in electronics and apparel purchases, according to a new study.

The average family is likely to spend $527.08 this year, up from $443.77 in 2005. Total spending is estimated to reach $17.6 billion, up from $13.4 billion last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

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Electronics and computer-related purchases are expected to jump by $1.5 billion from last year, after a sharp decline in 2005.

"The back-to-school shopping season serves as an important bellwether for the holiday season by helping retailers pinpoint emerging trends and popular products," said Tracy Mullin, NRF President and CEO.

"Retailers will be tracking the performance of apparel and electronics very closely to ensure that their stores have the right merchandise mix for the fourth quarter."


Related: Target slashes July sales views

Related: Consumer sentiment unexpectedly falls Top of page

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.