Seventy-four percent of U.S. online shoppers cite free shipping as top retailer tactic to encourage back-to-school purchases this year, PriceGrabber says; 72% of respondents cite sales, 66% price cuts, 63% coupons

Andrew Rogers

LOS ANGELES , July 23, 2012 (press release) – PriceGrabber® just released additional results from its Back-To-School Shopping Forecast, revealing that while consumers are planning to spend more money on back-to-school items this year, they continue to look for ways to stretch their dollar and take advantage of retailer incentives to save. According to the survey, 74 percent of consumers chose free shipping as the top retailer tactic that would entice them to make a back-to-school purchase this year. Conducted from May 22 to June 5, 2012, the survey includes responses from 4,450 U.S. online shopping consumers, with 1,509 of the respondents planning to shop this back-to-school season.

When survey respondents were asked to select all of the retailer tactics that would encourage them to make a back-to-school shopping purchase, sales came in second place with 72 percent of the consumer vote; 66 percent of shoppers noted price cuts; 63 percent cited coupons; 43 percent selected online promotions; and price matching and in-store only promotions tied with 28 percent of the vote.

"Whether shopping in stores or online during this back-to-school season, consumers should leverage the multitude of money saving tools and retailer incentives that are available," said Graham Jones, general manager of PriceGrabber. "We can deduce from our survey that free shipping will be a huge deciding factor when consumers purchase online. Savvy shoppers will get the most for their money by searching for coupons and actively using comparison shopping websites to ensure they are getting the best deal."

Consumers plan to use numerous money-saving methods while back-to-school shopping
When PriceGrabber survey respondents were asked to select all of the ways in which they plan to save money while back-to-school shopping this year, online and comparison shopping websites ranked in first place with 62 percent of the consumer vote. Fifty-six percent of consumers said they plan to shop at discount, bargain and outlet stores, and 50 percent will search for school supplies such as pens, pencils and glue sticks already in their house before buying new items. Forty-nine percent of consumers are planning to take an inventory of their kid's closet to see which clothing items can still be worn and which items need to be replaced before going shopping; 36 percent plan to make a list to control impulse buying; and 34 percent plan to visit retailer websites to print out coupons.

"We aren't at all surprised to see that survey respondents selected online and comparison shopping websites as the number one money-saving method for back-to-school purchases," added Jones. "With the ability to monitor prices at one's fingertips and to shop around the clock, today's busy and money-conscious consumers are looking to online and mobile shopping as go-to options for finding the best deals."

Shoppers plan to use mobile phones to compare prices on back-to-school products
Consumers' use of Smartphones to find the best deals while shopping, continues to grow in popularity. Thirty-seven percent of PriceGrabber survey respondents plan to compare prices from their mobile phone while in brick-and-mortar stores this back-to-school shopping season. When asked if they plan to do any back-to-school shopping from their mobile phone, 14 percent of respondents said they plan to do so.

About PriceGrabber.com®|
PriceGrabber is a leading online shopping site with more than 23 million unique shoppers monthly. At PriceGrabber, savvy shoppers can instantly find and compare millions of unique products and services across 25 categories with more than 11,000 merchants. Compare products side by side to find the right retailers at the best prices within popular categories, such as Digital Cameras, TVs, Electronics, Computers, Clothing, Books, and more. PriceGrabber provides shoppers with the right product from the right merchant at the best price anytime, anywhere

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