SmallBusinessNewz

While doing their back-to-school shopping this year, it seems that parents of young kids are likely to opt for the 8- or 16-color packs of crayons rather than the 1,038-color mongo boxes.  But according to what consumers indicated in an National Retail Federation survey, spending on college-aged individuals is going to rise.

Spending on college-bound students is indeed supposed to increase by 3.1 percent compared to last year's totals - $618.12 versus $599.38.  Which spells good news for small businesses that cater to older youths and young adults, and implies that businesses aimed at kiddies may do well to "grow up" a little.

This is because, unfortunately, spending on children of high school age or younger is expected to decline by 7.7 percent compared to 2008 (landing at $548.72).  The NRF said in a statement, "[F]our out of five Americans (85%) have made some changes to back-to-school plans this year . . . .  with 56.2 percent of back-to-school shoppers hunting for sales more often, 49.6 percent planning to spend less overall, 41.7 percent purchasing more store brand/generic products and 40.0 percent are planning to increase their use of coupons."

Also, "Others say the economy has impacted lifestyle decisions, with 11.4 percent saying children will cut back on extracurricular activities or sports and 5.7 percent saying that the economy is impacting whether their children will attend a private or public school."

So adjust your back-to-school pricing and/or advertising strategies accordingly.  You can either play up the recession angle ("educational products for the budget-conscious Mom or Dad") - or go the riskier route of laying on a guilt trip (think a polite version of "little Timmy deserves good school supplies regardless of your poor stock picks").

At any rate, a bad back-to-school season isn't a foregone conclusion for individual small businesses.  The NRF believes spending on students of all ages will total $47.5 billion this year.