Parents Will Spend More on Back-to-School Gadgets Than Computers for the First Time 

(Bloomberg) -- If it feels like more kids than ever have a smartphone or tablet this back-to-school season, you’re not just imagining it.

For the first time, household spending on electronic gadgets will outpace computers and hardware during the school shopping season, according to a report from Deloitte.

Americans are expected to spend $3.6 billion on gadgets -- including wearable devices and mobile data plans -- as parents and students get ready for the upcoming year. That’s $800 million more than they spent last summer, marking a 29% increase. That compares to $3.1 billion they’ll spend on hardware like computers.

Of the about one in five shoppers who plan to purchase electronic gadgets, they’ll spend an average of $305 on those products, up 13% from a year ago. Spending on computers and hardware, meanwhile, is expected to slip about 4.3% to an average of $286.

Younger Americans are increasingly using smartphones, partly because of peer pressure but also because the computing power has gotten so much better in recent years, said Rod Sides, vice chairman at Deloitte.

“We have seen the adoption of the mobile phone keep going down in age,” he said.

Total spending on back-to-school will rise slightly this year to $27.8 billion, with families forking out an average of $519 per household overall, according to Deloitte.

To contact the reporter on this story: Olivia Rockeman in New York at orockeman1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Craig Giammona

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