After parents cut back their spending last year, back-to-school purchasing is expected to grow again this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

Based on the group's 2012 Back-to-School spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, the average person with children in grades K-12 will spend $688.62, up from $603.63 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $30.3 billion. Combined K-12 and college spending will nearly $84 billion, with back-to-school spending as the second-biggest consumer spending event for retailers behind the winter holidays.

"We fully expect retailers to be aggressive with their promotions both in-store and online, keeping an eye on inventory levels as families look to spread out their shopping throughout the entire summer," said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

Parents will spend the most on clothing, accessories and electronics this summer. Realistic about the cost of items for the school year, parents estimate they will spend an average of $246.10 on clothes and $217.88 on electronics. Nearly six in 10 (59.6%) will invest in some sort of electronic device, a sharp increase from the 51.9% who planned to do so last year. More parents than ever before plan to shop online, paying special attention to free-shipping deals, NRF said.

Stainless steel lunchboxes, glitzy accessories, superhero notebooks and other school supplies, and iPads are among popular back-to-school trends, according to Yahoo! Shine. A Harris Interactive survey conducted for Ebates.com in June revealed that 42% of young people polled said what they really wanted was a tablet computer or a new smartphone.

For girls, skinny jeans and ballerina flats are popular. For boys, retailers are counting on bright colors and classic prints, Yahoo! Shine said.

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