4.5% of the South African’s Salary was Spent on Basic School Supplies. Who Spends More?

For many the new school year has just begun and sending a child to school must have set parents back a bit. Picodi Analysis Team conducted research on school supplies costs in South Africa and compared the results with expenditures of parents from 26 other countries. Wondering how much South Africans spent on back to school kit? Here are some of their findings:

• The total cost of the school supplies for the first grader in South Africa comes to R791
• It equals to 4.42% of the average monthly South African salary
• It’s easier for parents in Switzerland and Canada where the school supplies costs are equal to 2.99% and 3.18%
• In Peru, Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador the costs are greater than 20%

The beginning of every school year is often connected with stress. Not only for the future first graders who suddenly need to enter a more ‘grown-up world’, but also for the parents who need to face the financial side of this whole venture. Prices of schoolbooks, backpacks and school supplies are increasing every year and parents all over the world know what a burden it is on the family budget to send a child to school.

Picodi decided to analyze the costs of the first graders’ school supplies for 2019 and to compare the spending of an average South African family to the expenditures of parents from 26 other countries. In order to accomplish an objective analysis, they focused only on the basic yet essential products from the school supplies list.

For instance, they excluded a comparison of the prices of shoes or school uniforms as these matters are often decided by the local authorities or school principals. Since the analyzed basket consisted of over 27 products, we have divided the whole item list into 4 categories: backpack, basic stationery, creativity items, and PE clothing.

Costs per Category for South African Parents:

Study Methodology:

Picodi Analysis Team: “Our data is based on current prices in selected online stores in the 27 countries that are part of the analysis. The analyzed basket consisted of over 27 products: backpack, basic stationery, creativity items, and PE clothing. To calculate the average price, we have taken into consideration the items from the medium and low price ranges. While converting foreign currencies we used an average exchange rate from February 2019.

Expenditure per country:

What is Picodi?

Wikipedia describes Picodi as an international e-commerce platform which provides discount coupons for online stores. Founded in 2010 in Kraków, it currently operates in 41 countries. In 2015 its value was estimated at about at €4.7 million.

Source: www.picodi.com