The NPD Group says that teen spending is up 6-8% over last year. And, they’re buying what’s typical: fashion, lifestyle, electronics. I want to believe it, but I still don’t like what I’m seeing, reading and hearing about Back-to-School and the Fall 2010 retail season. Although the Discount/Variety store sector continues to have busy stores and monthly positive trends, there is much hand-wringing in the specialty and department stores.
The BTS period is highly compressed but is a harbinger for the Fall and Holiday seasons. With 09 comps so challenged as a benchmark but most having improved performance in 1st and 2nd quarters this year, many retailers bought product aggressively. And, of course, orders have already been placed for the balance of the year. Not surprisingly, we’re seeing pre-season promotions well before prior years. Check out the Washington Post article about Target, Toys R Us and Sears “Black Friday” sales.
We’ve written before about third-party 
It’s not every day that a retailer encourages customers to try yard sales, thrift stores and comparison shopping to get their children ready for school, but that’s what 
After a week’s worth of intense scanning, reading, searching and analyzing performance data, it seems Moms, Dads and kids are swiping their cards, so to speak. Click and conversion rates look to be steady to last year. Bad news: units look like they’ll be down. No shock. What we’re not seeing so far is a deluge of last-gasp, 50% off, get it now-or-never offers. There are lots of free shipping pricing experiments, but no game-changers.