It’s a
given that college and university students need some type of computer for their
school work. However, students and their parents apparently pay little heed to
the requirements of the campus and/or specific classes when they buy the
devices.
For the
first time, the National Retail Federation’s annual back-to-college shopping survey asked respondents how much of their electronics spending for fall 2014
was influenced by course and school requirements. Not much, as it turns out.
Only 18.2%
said they were 100% influenced by requirements, while 12.2% replied that they
took no account whatsoever of requirements in making their purchases this year.
The largest group (19.4%) admitted they were swayed 26% to 50% by requirements
in deciding what electronics to buy.
Women were
almost three times as likely to take school requirements into account in
picking out electronic devices, and nearly half of parents over age 65 used
requirements to guide their purchases.
Not
considering class requirements before buying computers and other devices for
use on campus could be a problem for students. NACS member stores report
students often need to purchase additional electronics and/or software later in
the school year in order to fulfill the requirements of their courses.
