As the first day of school fast approaches, the need for parents to brave busy malls and shell out hard-earned cash for new clothes, shoes, school supplies, backpacks and computers brings on end-of-summer headaches that can be avoided. ShopRunner, an online shopping service that saves consumers time and money, polled parents across the country to gain insight into this year’s back-to-school shopping season.

While nearly 75 percent of parents said they would prefer to skip the malls and do all of their shopping online, they also cited shipping costs as the No. 1 reason they don’t do their back-to-school shopping online, underscoring the need for a shopping service like ShopRunner.

Parents’ feelings about the stressors of back-to-school shopping also revealed:

- Parents’ budgets versus their children’s expectations: 48 percent say they will spend more money this year than in 2010

- 46 percent will spend $200 per child
Going to multiple stores: 49 percent say that not finding everything their child needs at one store is the biggest challenge when shopping for back-to-school

- 61 percent will visit three to four stores to fulfill their back-to-school shopping needs

- Not enough hours in the day: 45 percent cite that they spend five to 10 hours shopping for back-to-school