Mastercard SpendingPulse: Back-to-school sales to be up 7.5%

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The 2022 back-to-school shopping season should enjoy strong sales increases from a year ago, fueled by heavy demand for trendy fashion, though the growth won’t be as robust as last year when business was rebounding from pandemic-related virtual schooling. Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all payment forms, forecasts that back-to-school spending will be up 7.5% between July 14 through Sept. 5 compared with the year-ago period when sales rose 11%. For the 2020 back-to-school period, sales fell 0.8% as the pandemic wreaked havoc on schools’ reopening plans and back-to-school shopping. Inflation is helping to prop up back-to-school sales, but overall spending should be healthy despite surging prices.