Consumers Defer Back-to-School Shopping in Favor of Purchases for the Home, IBM Reports

While U.S. consumers shopped this July and August, they weren't buying clothes and notebooks for their children but rather items for the home. According to findings from IBM, the biggest retail gains this back-to-school shopping season came from home goods purchases, which increased 30 percent in July and more than 25 percent in August over their respective months in 2011.