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Americans will spend more on back-to-school merchandise this fall than they have in nearly a decade, one retail research firm is saying.
Back-to-school purchases are set to rise by 5.1 percent this year — the biggest such increase in eight years — with consumers forking over a record $616 billion, according to Bloomberg, which cites a report from Customer Growth Partners.
“After a slow start due to the long winter, retail has inflected sharply up since mid-April and has hardly looked back,” said Craig Johnson, the firm's president, in the report.
Big-box store sales will rise by 5.5 percent, says Customer Growth Partners, which surveyed about 100 malls and shopping venues for its report, while online sales are on track for a nearly 12 percent increase.
By Edmund Mander
Director, Editor-In-Chief/SCT
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