PHOENIX—According to a new back-to-school spending survey from the National Retail Federation, families with children in grades K-12 plan to spend an average of $669.28 on clothes, shoes, supplies and electronics, up 5% from $634.78 last year, and families with a college student expect to spend $916.48 on dorm trappings, school supplies and electronics. That's up 10% from a year ago. Overall, back-to-school spending is forecast to reach $74.9 billion, up from $72.5 billion last year.

David Birdsall, president, Total Retail Solutions, a division of Phillips Edison & Company, calls the back-to-school retail season one of the seminal retail events of the year—second only to Christmas.

“It's a planned event, like Christmas,” Cincinnati-based Birdsall tells GlobeSt.com. “It is in fact the gateway to Christmas as far as driving traffic. Back-to-school spending is a great indicator of how the gift giving season will play out.”