The National Retail Federation conducted a Halloween Consumer spending Survey and found some interesting results.
157 million Americans will celebrate Halloween in 2015, spending an average of $74.34 per person, which is down from last year’s $77.52 average. Though total spending is expected to reach $6.9 billion.
“After a long summer, shoppers are excited to welcome fall and all the festivities it brings,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay. “We anticipate that those celebrating Halloween this year will seek a variety of activities to enjoy with family and friends. Consumers are eager to take advantage of deals on candy, decorations, and costumes, and retailers are prepared to meet their needs.” – (NRF)
Consumers will spend around $1.2 billion on costumes for themselves, $950 million on children’s costumes and will spend $350 million on costumes for their pets. It is estimated that about 68 million people will dress up this year and 20 million will dress their pets.
31.4% will find inspiration for costumes online and “millennials remain the drivers of Pinterest traffic around Halloween though with 24.9 percent of 18-24 year olds and 23.7 percent of 25-34 year olds using the site for costume inspiration.” (NRF)
93.7% of Halloween shoppers will purchase candy, for a total spending of $2.1 billion.
Nearly 66% of consumers started shopping for Halloween prior to October 1. “People shouldn’t be too surprised when they see Halloween candy and decorations available in stores as early as September first,” Prosper Insights Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow said. “Given that more than a third of Americans enjoy taking advantage of early-bird deals to kick off their fall celebrations, it seems there’s plenty of appetite among consumers to enjoy a perfectly ‘frightful’ Halloween.” (NRF)
Hopefully if you are a retail operation you have already cashed in on the Halloween spending this year, if not there is time to plan for next year.
In any case, Happy Halloween!