College students select Wal-Mart and Target as the top retail stores they shop, study finds; 62% shopped at Wal-Mart in the past 90 days, 58% at Target, followed by dollar stores such as Dollar Tree or Dollar General with 36%

Graziela Medina Shepnick

OBERLIN, Ohio , May 19, 2011 (press release) – College students selected Wal-Mart and Target as the top retail stores they shop, according to the findings of a new Student Watch study conducted by OnCampus Research, a division of the National Association of College Stores (NACS) that helps companies better understand the college market.

Wal-Mart ranked as the top retailer as 62% of college students reported they shopped there in the past 90 days. Coming in a close second was Target with 58%, followed by dollar stores such as Dollar Tree or Dollar General with 36%.  

When the data is separated by student status, the survey found that more freshmen students shopped at Wal-Mart (69%) and a higher percentage of graduate students shopped at Target (59%).

Additionally, most females shopped at Forever 21 and Victoria's Secret in the past three months, while Kohl's and Dick's Sporting Goods were shopped most by males.

Student Watch™ 2011 The Retail Edge: Insights Into Your Core Consumer on Campus was sponsored and published by the NACS Foundation. More than 15,000 college students from 21 campuses nationwide participated in the survey between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2010.  

About OnCampus Research

OnCampus Research is a consultative research group with one mission: to help companies better understand the college market. With more than 75 years of experience in the college industry, we offer full-service quantitative and qualitative research literally 'OnCampus,' through our online panel of over 18,000 students at 1,100 campuses nationwide. Specializing in online surveys, focus groups, omnibus surveys, syndicated studies, and in-depth interviews, OnCampus works with clients to create a strategy that best fits their needs and positions them as the brand of choice among college students.

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