AUSTIN, Texas, July 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Once summer comes to a close, school-aged children are not the only ones who dread heading back to the classroom. According to a recent survey by RetailMeNot (www.retailmenot.com), a leading digital offers destination that helps consumers save money, saying goodbye to summer break generally causes parents to feel stress about the financial burden back-to-school shopping brings. More than 1 in 4 parents (26%) express concern over the cost of their children's education this year. In fact, a majority (87%) of parents plan on purchasing new school supplies this year, and over a quarter (26%) of all parents plan to spend more than $300 per child this fall alone.

In fact, parents typically spend nearly two weeks, on average, shopping for back-to-school necessities. Even though deep discounts are available as early as July, just over a third (34%) of parents shop for the back-to-school season only during the sales that typically occur in August.

"With more retailers offering 'Black Friday in July' promotions this year, parents have increased opportunities to save big on back-to-school purchases," says Trae Bodge, senior lifestyle editor for The Real Deal by RetailMeNot. "Consumers who shop opportunistically will find strong discounts on school necessities like clothing, school supplies, small electronics and dorm decor beginning this month and extending into September."

Character-themed supplies make school exciting
Retailers know the way to a child's heart, and by offering character-themed school supplies from some of Hollywood's biggest box office hits, they are able to create excitement surrounding the return to school. What's hot this year? Parents are most likely to predict their little ones will favor Minions-themed school supplies the most (33%) followed by Jurassic World (31%), SpongeBob (24%) and Star Wars (22%).

Back in the day
More than half (59%) of survey respondents believe the cost of education has increased since they were in school. Now, as students in the school of life, 1 in 5 wish that classes on how to avoid debt had been offered when they were in school. Other respondents wish they had been guided on budgeting (17%) and retirement planning (15%).

Routine is key
While some parents feel back-to-school shopping is stressful and education costs are a financial burden, 90% are happy to have class back in session for a variety of reasons. More than a third (36%) of these moms and dads are most looking forward to having extra time to themselves, and 23% are eager to return to a more routine budget. Even with kids back in school, only 18% of parents tend to focus on their health in their free time during the school day.

Ready for the first bell to ring? Do you know what's cool for back to school? Take this quiz to find out what's hot and what's not! At the end of the quiz, shoppers can browse the RetailMeNot Back-to-School page, featuring top back-to-school deals.

Report Methodology
The RetailMeNot surveys were conducted by Kelton Global between May 12 and May 18, 2015, and June 23 and June 30, 2015, among 1,006 and 1,076 U.S. residents ages 18 and over, using an e-mail invitation and an online survey. Quotas are set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the entire U.S. population ages 18 and over. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. In these particular studies, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.1 and 3 percentage points, respectively, from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.  The margin of error for any subgroups will be slightly higher.

About RetailMeNot, Inc.
RetailMeNot, Inc. (http://www.retailmenot.com/corp) operates the world's largest marketplace for digital offers. The company enables consumers across the globe to find hundreds of thousands of digital offers for their favorite retailers and brands. During the 12 months ended March 31, 2015, RetailMeNot, Inc. experienced over 720 million visits to its websites, and during the three months ended March 31, 2015, RetailMeNot, Inc. averaged 18.4 million mobile unique visitors per month. In 2014, RetailMeNot, Inc. estimates $4.4 billion in paid retailer sales were attributable to consumer traffic from digital offers in its marketplace. The RetailMeNot, Inc. portfolio includes RetailMeNot.com, the largest digital offer marketplace in the United States; RetailMeNot.ca in Canada; VoucherCodes.co.uk, the largest digital offers marketplace in the United Kingdom; Deals.com in Germany; Actiepagina.nl, a leading digital offers site in the Netherlands; Bons-de-Reduction.com and Ma-Reduc.com, leading digital offers sites in France; Poulpeo.com, a leading digital offers site with cash back in France; andDeals2Buy.com, a digital offers site in North America. RetailMeNot, Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol "SALE." Investors interested in learning more about the company can visit http://investor.retailmenot.com/.

Media contacts:

RetailMeNot Public Relations
media@rmn.com
+1 512 777 2957

Allison+Partners Public Relations
retailmenot@allisonpr.com

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SOURCE RetailMeNot.com