Stores lure back-to-school shoppers with deals and 'buy now, pay later' plans

NEW YORK (AP) — Mass market retailers in the U.S. are plying shoppers with offers for computers, clothes and other back-to-school essentials at affordable prices. To seal the deal, they are marketing “buy now, pay later” services as a way for customers to spread out the cost of going back to class in style.

The strategies for securing sales are on display to coax consumers, particularly those in lower income brackets, into spending during the retail world's second-most important period behind the winter holidays, retailers and analysts said. Various forecasts project back-to-school sales this year will be about the same or lower than last year.

Even as inflation has come down, the costs of food, rent and other necessities remain much higher than before the coronavirus pandemic. High interest rates have made it more expensive to carry a credit card balance. Savvy shoppers across the income spectrum have proven willing to shop second-hand and to buy store labels and brands, which are typically cheaper than nationally advertised brands.

“Inflation is the main thing dictating the change in my spending," Jasleen Reyes, 43, a mother of three who works as a hotel operations manager and lives in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, said. "Before it wasn’t so bad. Now, I have to watch every dollar.”