Back-to-school season is officially the biggest it has ever been. The National Retail Federation’s 2026 survey projects K-12 families will spend a record $43.3 billion this year — up from $39.4 billion in 2025 and past the old high of $41.5 billion set in 2023. College households are set to smash records too, with projected spending topping $100 billion for the first time ($103.5 billion, to be exact).
The average family with a K-12 student now plans to spend $863.86, and college-bound households about $1,437.79 per student. Before you resign yourself to that number, it’s worth looking at where the money actually goes — because that’s exactly where the savings are hiding.
Electronics and clothing eat the budget
The NRF survey, fielded with Prosper Insights & Analytics, shows electronics are the single biggest line item for both groups:
- K-12 electronics: $293.11 per student ($14.7 billion total)
- Clothing and accessories: $250.29 per student ($12.5 billion)
- Shoes: $174.01 per student ($8.7 billion)
- School supplies: $146.45 per student ($7.3 billion)
- College electronics: $341.95 per student ($24.6 billion)
Add it up and a laptop, a few outfits, shoes and a backpack can easily pass $800. Yet a separate Deloitte survey this year found families are increasingly prioritizing — buying new clothes where needed, but delaying tech upgrades and reusing supplies where possible. Value is the theme of the season, and retailers know it.
Where the smart money shops
Here’s the part that rarely makes the news: the categories driving this record spending — electronics, clothing, shoes, accessories — are the exact categories where Chinese marketplaces like Taobao and 1688 are cheapest at the source. A pair of school shoes or a phone case that costs $30 locally can be a fraction of that before it leaves the warehouse. The challenge was never the price at the source; it was the hassle of buying and shipping from China as an individual.
That’s what agent services like 360beestbuy solve. You paste a Taobao or 1688 link, and the service handles the purchase and storage at its warehouse, sends inspection photos before anything ships, and then consolidates your entire back-to-school haul — laptop accessories, clothes, shoes, stationery — into one parcel via EMS. One shipping fee instead of six. Up to 300 days of free storage means you can shop deals as they appear through the summer and ship everything right before term starts.
Plan like the NRF says parents are planning
The survey’s other big finding: families are starting earlier and hunting deals harder than ever. NRF Chief Economist Mark Mathews put it plainly — shoppers are “keeping value front and center as they look for ways to make their dollars go further.” The most effective way to do that for electronics and clothing is to buy at source prices and consolidate shipping, which is precisely how agent shopping works.
Record spending doesn’t have to mean a record bill for you. The categories are the same; the strategy is what changed. Shop early, consolidate, and ship once — your back-to-school budget will thank you.