Whether or not you happen to be a Halloween buff, Halloween is actually a pretty important event for retailers, both online and offline. In the weeks and months (yes, months) leading up to the ghoulish holiday, the 172 million Americans planning to celebrate Halloween will spend a grand total of $8.8 billion on candy, decorations, costumes, haunted houses and greeting cards. So, let’s break down how they’re spending it… because things are a’changing.
How In the World Are People THIS Obsessed with Halloween?
Question it if you want, but people LOVE Halloween. The U.S. is one of only three countries where Halloween festivities are a big deal. The other two are Canada and Ireland. Halloween is celebrated in countries around the world… but it’s a whole big thing in America… which is why we tend to focus our Halloween marketing content on American buyers.
So, you can rest assured, this is not the Sweetest Day of the world, where your next door neighbor has never heard of it because he only moved here from Tennessee a few months ago. Halloween is different from place to place, but it’s still Halloween. And whether festive and cartoonish or dark and menacing, people all over the world take part in their annual Halloween celebrations.
People Start Their Halloween Planning in June
The yearly uptick in Halloween-themed content usually hits Pinterest starting in June. Yes, June. That’s when people really start planning for Halloween.
You may have noticed that right around Independence Day, the Halloween-themed stores started showing up. Not long after, pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns start lining store shelves and the sidewalks in front of stores. That’s because 24 percent of Halloween celebrants shop smart by planning their Halloween purchases in advance.
Waaayyy in advance.
Makes sense, right? Halloween backs right up against the year-end holiday season. So, the earlier shoppers start planning, the easier it is for them to budget and allocate resources.
But don’t worry if you’re not reading this in June. Most people aren’t spending any money until much later in the season. According to the National Retail Federation:
5.9% of Halloween spending happens before September
31.3% happens in September
43.3% of celebrants shop in the first two weeks of October, and
19.6% shop during the last two weeks of October
Halloween Spending Picks Up in September
Actual Halloween spending really starts to pick up in September (or even a little earlier). On average, Americans spend about $87 per celebrant on Halloween stuff. Not bad. To put this in perspective, the average family spends $5 per person celebrating Thanksgiving Day and about $75 to celebrate the Fourth of July, so as far as spending goes, Halloween is a mid-range retail holiday.
By the time September 1st rolls around every year, shoppers have already spent about $500M on Halloween-related purchases. That means, Back-to-School, Labor Day, Halloween, and holiday shopping now officially overlap every year. But most Halloween spending (63 percent of it) doesn’t happen until October.
WHICH MEANS…
Right now, they’re planning, Pinning, bookmarking, saving, Liking, Following, “tutorialing” and budgeting. So, it’s the perfect time to roll out your Halloween marketing campaign on social media.
Halloween Spending Trends to Keep in Mind As You Roll Out Your Halloween Marketing Plan
The world’s spookiest retail event is growing, but it’s also evolving in some really important ways. We’ve put together a list of the things we see in the data that are shifting in this space. Plus, tips on how you can leverage this info to help you better target your Halloween marketing campaigns.
As you would probably expect, two of the most popular categories for Halloween spending are candy and costumes, both of which are fueled, in large part by trick-or-treaters.
Last year, the National Retail Federation reported that 95 percent of Halloween celebrants planned to buy candy to celebrate, while 74 percent planned to spend money on decorations, 68 percent were buying costumes, and 35 percent of Halloweeners planned to pick out Halloween cards.
While candy is definitely the most popular item people will buy for Halloween, it doesn’t account for most of the Halloween spending. The 95 percent of people who will buy candy will spend about $2.6 billion, while the 68 percent of people planning to buy Halloween costumes will be responsible for $3.2 billion in Halloween spending.
Overall candy sales are up, but slowing. Last year, candy sales were expected to be $20.10 per person, compared to $23.64 in 2016. There are a number of key factors that are contributing to this trend.
First, fewer families are venturing out for trick-or-treating. In 2016, fewer than 1 in 3 Halloweeners planned to go trick-or-treating, which, until then, was the lowest participation rate in recent history. This year, only 29 percent of families are planning on the door-to-door treat-collecting tradition. One of the contributing factors may be something we talked about in our back-to-school post and that’s that there are fewer school-aged kids in the neighborhoods these days. America’s aging up.
Family-friendly alternatives to trick-or-treating are cropping up all over the place. Halloween festivals are on the rise, stores are participating in community events (we talked a bit about this in our recent post on Halloween marketing ideas for the local small biz that doesn’t sell Halloween stuff), churches are opening harvest festivities to the surrounding community and the overall trend toward going for experiences over just grabbing handfuls of candy are all factors that impact this popular Halloween tradition.
Nutrition also factors into trick-or-treating. Parents today are more concerned about gluten, nuts and sugar consumption for their kids than were Boomer and Gen X parents.
Older Halloweeners are further solidifying the “experiences” trend for Halloween by throwing costume parties and participating in fashion shows to display their costumes.
And let’s face it - experiences like fashion shows and parties make for more engaging social media posts than trick-or-treating.
The move away from centering Halloween festivities around candy gives brands and marketers room to create experiences or sponsor local events.
Makeup brands can work with influencers to teach parents and teens how to add gore to the costumes of older kids using regular drugstore makeup.
An example is L’Oreal that has a specific Halloween board on Pinterest where you can check different makeups. Once you’ve chosen one, you can click on the pins to get the full tutorial and information on the products used.
Source: L’Oreal’s Halloween board. Source: https://pin.it/7gkjnqpf6ocabo
Skincare brands can distribute samples of wipes and cleansing scrubs at costume parties, fashion shows, and dance clubs where local radio stations may be having costume contests on or before the big day. Costume makeup is no joke to get off.
If you’re interested in getting to kids and parents, supplying local stores with branded, reusable canvas bags strong enough to hold treats on the big night then be reused after Halloween can get your name in front of parents. The goal is to go where the party is and find creative ways to get your products in front of partygoers.
Interestingly enough, even though more people are planning to spend money on decorations than on costumes, Halloween costume expenditures make up the largest share of Halloween spending, with $3.2 billion in revenue being generated just form Halloween costumes in 2018.
That’s more than one-third of total Halloween spending! And costumes aren’t even the most popular category for Halloween spending!
Come on… don’t you remember how excited you were to dress up in your not-so-ridiculous pumpkin suit, ghostbuster outfit or (like I was every year) a witch with the most awesome pointy hat and magical wand? Ok, just me.
Of all the moms and dads who get dragged out on Halloween to beg strangers for sweets, Millennials are one group of adults who may be doing it willingly… without the kids.
According to the National Retail Federation, Millennials ages 21 to about 35 spend more on their costumes than other adults, $42.39 compared with $31.03. Millennials are also more likely than other adults to celebrate Halloween. Chances are pretty good Millennials are bringing their A-games to the Halloween bash because for good or for bad, pics of them will inevitably end up on social media.
A great Halloween costume is worth its weight in Likes, shares, and retweets. But for Millennials and Gen Z partiers, there’s likely to be a little innovation as well. That usually means planning well in advance and sourcing ideas on social media instead of store racks.
More than 35 percent of Halloween shoppers will source inspiration from online searches, compared to the 30 percent that will go in-store to find ideas. That means your content strategy has to get you found in searches for popular search terms like…
Halloween costume ideas (enormous number of monthly searches for this one with very little competition, comparatively)
Halloween costume ideas for couples (another big one)
DIY Halloween costume ideas
Creative Halloween costume ideas
Halloween costume ideas for groups (another surprisingly big one)
But it’s not just Google searches that will help you get found online. Social media also plays a key role in how Gen Z and Millennial shoppers source their ideas. According to the National Retail Federation:
18.6% of adults 18 - 34 turn to Pinterest for ideas and shopping
14.4% turn to YouTube
16.1% turn to Facebook
11.6% turn to Instagram
Women are more than twice as likely to go to Pinterest than men, and men are more likely than women to default to YouTube.
Source: National Retail Federation
That said, creating visual content that ties your brand into Halloween-related themes is key. Pinterest is an invaluable tool for sourcing inspiration for looks of all kinds. Even if your team does most of its targeting on Facebook and Instagram, it will only help you to repurpose your content for Pinterest, YouTube, and IGTV.
But you’re certainly not limited to just costumes and Halloween looks.
Lush Cosmetics Halloween Skincare
Source: On Instagram
We’re pretty fond of Lush Cosmetics. Lush has run some pretty eye-catching social campaigns (there was even one where everybody was naked!), and this one is actually pretty cool because it’s a branded Halloween post (#LushHalloween) that isn’t the typical Halloween promo post.
The post is promoting a detoxifying green tea face mask. But there’s no CTA. No coupon code. No talk about the mask being great for Halloween or for restoring skin after piling on horror makeup. And that’s part of what makes it effective as a Halloween marketing post.
In 2017, decorations tied with candy for second place in the top four Halloween spending categories. By 2018, people were spending more on their streamers, ghoulish cardboard cutouts, plastic cauldrons, dangling skeletons, perpetually hissing black cats and other creepily creative Halloween home decor than they were on candy.
Halloween decorators aren’t limited to the stuff you find in the discount stores. And people aren’t always so thrilled to throw purple and orange into their home decor. Both good news because it provides brands with an opportunity to help Halloween shoppers dream up Halloween decorating ideas that won’t ruin their decor.
Share Halloween Accent Ideas
For companies that sell home goods, crafts, used items, furniture, or interior design services the goal should be generating and sharing ideas that include your products. Think about coming up with ideas that will allow customers to transition their interior design from Halloween to Thanksgiving without completing revamping their home.
In the post below, I spy with my little eye… a chic white ottoman, what looks like a vintage clock - similar to something you’d grab from a resale shop and paint black, bats made from construction paper, an oversized mug I can make myself or pick up from my local discount store, a comfy-looking couch, decorative pillows that can be store-bought or made with a little bit of fabric.
Bonus: When it’s time for Thanksgiving, one would only have to swap out the pillows and the blanket, remove or replace the bats, and add warmer colors to the existing collection of knick-knacks (maybe by covering them with a new fabric) would make the Halloween-to-Harvest transition simple.
Know what would be cool? A post that shows how a shopper can double-down on seasonal decor by telling them how to use $57 to decorate for both Halloween and Thanksgiving. Something like…
Spend up to $7 at your favorite Goodwill or local resale shop on an accent piece (clock, oversized plate, creepy painting (resale shops are BRIMMING with horrible, homemade artwork that can easily be rebranded as kitschy.
Buy 3 yards of the z-pattern fabric from Joann Fabric (on clearance this week for $3.97/yd)
Buy 5 yards of orange fabric from Walmart (regular price $1.99/yd)
Buy 3-piece floating shelves from Walmart $10.99
And so on and so on...
Source: Brit Morin on Pinterest
Craft related brands already know how to make the most of this holiday. To go a step further, think about decorations that can easily transition to Thanksgiving. You can find a lot of ideas on lifestyle blogs, like this one.
Create Transformation Videos
Another smart idea for creating Halloween marketing campaigns or themed content is to show and not just tell. This strategy translates really well on social media.
Take this example from Lowe’s Home Improvement. They created a campaign where they showed, through Instagram stories, how to transform a vertical space from drag to fab.
Get a book from The Shelf
A significant part of our most recent post on Halloween marketing had to do with the concept of bringing Halloween to life at work by doing things like creating Halloween pop-ups that were gram-worthy, holding costume contests for employees, sponsoring a Halloween event for the local kids, and a few other really cool ideas that work for brands whether or not they sell Halloween-related products.
Fun fact: 1 in every 10 Halloween searches on Pinterest is related to office decor. So, the opportunity is there for you to suggest cool items for people to use to add a splash of Halloween spirit to their workspaces or even to transform entire office into haunted rooms.
Easy, DIY decoration for your desk! Source: HGTV Handmade YouTube Channel
Pet costumes account for 10 percent of total spending on Halloween costumes. In 2016, owners spent $420 million on Halloween costumes for their pets. A year later, that number was $440 million. That’s because 16 percent of the people surveyed admitted (that’s the correct word for that, right?) they’re going to dress-up their pets to celebrate Halloween.
The pet industry is notoriously bulletproof. Nearly 40 percent of U.S. households have companion pets - dogs, cats, birds, and/or horses. There is an opportunity here for marketers to zero in the focus for this Halloween on the furry friends who are considered members of every two in five households in America.
Marketers can do that by sponsoring live or virtual pet costume contests or fashion shows, or pet-person costume contests, and do it by creating a branded hashtag or using an existing one like #doghalloween (31,248 posts currently (compared to 20,753 posts last year around this time)) or #doghalloweencostume (27,093 posts currently (compared to 13,521 posts last year this time)).
An easy voting system would be having users comment or double-tap. The comments and double taps will help you to boost engagement and provide one metric for determining the success of your campaign.
Coincident with Millennials taking ownership of Halloween is a trend toward sourcing costume inspiration from pop culture. TV character costumes, Halloween meme costumes, and celebrity costumes are on the rise. Overall, 17 percent of those polled said pop culture would inspire their costumes. For older Gen Zers and younger Millennials who fall in the age range of 18 - 24, that number was 34 percent - one in three.
The first tip is to stay relevant by keeping up on trends. And a simple way to do this is with Twitter and Instagram. A 10-minute cursory view of both platforms once a day will do wonders for you marketing strategies. If your team is able to push out content in hours instead of days, you can capitalize on trends in real time.
Source: Pinterest and Three Little Ferns
The next tip is to use what you have. The Internet went sorta nuts a couple years ago when a 2016 lecture at Getty Museum entitled Designing the Middle Ages: The Costumes of Game of Thrones was mentioned in an article on Apartment Therapy that revealed Ikea rugs are used as capes on the popular HBO show Game of Thrones. The news increased online searches of Ikea’s SKOLD rug by 775 percent. Of course, Ikea released its own official instructions for recreating the GoT look with a pretty funny sketch.
So, did anyone else have to take their candy to the police station to be scanned by the officers growing up, or was it just me? I remember the fun I had as a kid dressing up and trick-or-treating. I also remember CAREFULLY EATING candies that cleared the scan (not all did) hoping Daddy and his cop buddies got all the bad ones out.
(Actually, that probably has a lot to do with why my family doesn’t do trick-or-treating.) As a parent, the idea of handing my little girls a piece of “some guy’s candy” is… umm… not really optimal.
Two years ago, I was in no hurry to get home and spend all evening denying the neighborhood kids treats, so my kids and I stopped off for a few groceries before heading home. I was surprised to discovered Halloween had been moved inside the grocery store - in the produce section.
So, in addition to picking up groceries, we spent more than two hours at my local Kroger playing in a bouncy house, decorating cookies, collecting treats, and playing games. My older daughter hung out with friends from school who were working as ghosts and operating games. My toddlers - though not in costumes like the other kids - got to “go fish” in the produce section… unfortunately they traded the fruit they fished out for candy. Weird choice, Kroger. Then again… probably much cheaper choice.
The point is my desire to avoid Halloween unwittingly put me smack dab in the middle of a community Halloween party.
And it’s not just my neighborhood. More and more, retailers are becoming the community Halloween hubs because yeah, it’s hard to uphold the “stranger danger” message when Halloween is so awesome for kids.
Create family-friendly experiences that parents (like me) can use to distract their kids from the fact that their friends are trick-or-treating. Usually, it’s not that kids want so badly to go; it’s more FOMO - they don’t want to miss out on all the fun their friends are having.
Your Halloween festivities can be the fun thing they look forward to this year. Marketers can use this time to not only build goodwill in their communities, but to introduce parents to new products like gummy vitamins (please, please, please somebody make more nutritious gummies for kids!), sauces, salad mixes, hand wipes, and snack ideas. Let them test the products for free at your event and you will get parents who are happy to add your product to their weekly or monthly shopping lists.
About half the things on my shopping list landed there because I got to try it for free first. Speaking of…
The fine folks at La Colombe can thank Ibotta for the thousands I’ll likely spend on draft lattes (genius idea). I literally have to go out of my way to get them, but… I get ‘em.
Of the $3.2 billion spent on Halloween costumes last year, $1.17 billion of that was specifically for children’s costumes. But for the past two years, the focus for both boys and girls has been on superhero costumes, relegating the former top costume choice of a princess to second place on the list of kids’ costumes.
The trend toward gender neutral costumes pushes against the idea of traditionally girl or boy costumes. And it’s not really about girls wearing costumes intended for boys. It’s more about there being more female heroes from which to choose.
Source: Instagram @platimewith_darrian, posted with the permission of her mother, @ishine89
Were I to venture a best guess at the costume my preschooler would pick in a perfect world, I would say Colonel Nick Fury (not sure why she likes him so much), Megamind (again, what?), Thanos (she sees his point), Hawekeye (full disclosure: her older sister teaches archery), and Captain America’s shield.
Yeah. Just the shield. So…
She’s no unicorn. For the past few years, it’s been superhero costumes that have been the top sellers for kids regardless of age or gender.
You can win loyal fans and generate content that gets shared with parents who support gender neutral costumes (and who often can’t find what they’re looking for) by helping parents source the right suppliers (which you can do by repinning Pinterest pins) or by creating content that gives parents simple DIY instructions for customizing their outfits for the best fit, look, and experience for the kids.
Experiences are a BIG part of Halloween celebrations. From attending parties , to driving nearby streets to see the decorations, to walking the streets to check out the costumes - Halloween is a visual holiday.
Among Halloween celebrants, 69 percent plan to hand out candy, 49 percent will decorate their home or yard, 47 percent will wear costumes, 44 percent will carve a pumpkin, 32 percent will throw or attend a party, 30 percent will take their children trick-or-treating, 22 percent will visit a haunted house and 17 percent will dress pets in costumes.
Haunted Houses
Remember when haunted houses were literally a 4-person cart zigzagging on a rickety track through the detached container of a 18-wheeler? I do.
Today, the haunted house industry is… well, an industry. I want to tread lightly here, as the haunted attraction industry is still formalizing despite its explosive growth, and it’s not easy to find up-to-date stats.
Back in 2013, NBC News reported Americans spent around $7 billion celebrating Halloween. At that time, there were 2,500 haunted attractions around the world, most of which were in the United States. The haunted house industry was generating $300 million a year in revenue then. Since then, overall Halloween sales have grown by 30 percent, and Halloween participation is up 11 percent. It makes sense to assume the haunted attraction market has experienced growth as well.
Listverse estimates there are now 2,700 haunted attractions in the U.S. alone, and as many as 4,500 haunted attractions worldwide. In the U.S. 22.7% of the 179 million people planning to celebrate Halloween are also planning to visit a haunted attraction. That’s 40 million people. The averaged haunted attraction costs between $15 and $20 per person, with theme parks charging as much as $100 per person. I would estimate today, the haunted industry rakes in close to $1 billion a year, which HauntWorld.com backs up. Here’s a great quote I grabbed from Listverse.
There are more haunted houses in the United States than Targets.
Isn’t that quite possibly the most devilish thing you’ve heard today?
Experiences are the bee’s knees, man. Haunted attractions have been labeled a 100 percent American export. The fastest-growing market for haunted attractions outside the U.S is the Asian market. As well, the rise of computer generated graphics in Hollywood movies has created an opportunity for makeup artists who specialize in film makeup and horror makeup to offer their services - at least on a part-time basis - to haunted attractions to help create different looks.
Lastly, the emergence of year-round extreme haunts and offshoots of haunted attractions like haunted hayrides, zombie paintball, escape rooms, and virtual haunted houses are on the rise.
The science behind haunted attractions is that they provide a way for people to be downright terrified and to legitimately feel threatened but have an “out” so to speak. Haunted attractions are a great way to be afraid and in a safe place at the same time. Corporate backing and sponsorships of haunted attractions is on the rise. Melissa Cardone’s Ten Thirty One Productions creates spooky hayrides and other haunted events in both Los Angeles and New York. Cardone got a $2 million investment (for a 20 percent stake in her company) from Mark Cuban during her Shark Tank pitch in 2013. Two million bucks may not be your thing, but drink startups may consider striking a deal with haunt production companies to provide energy drinks, soda, water or novelty foods. Smaller brands could target local haunts to provide novelty items, screen printed apparel, or partner programs that provide discounts for haunted house patrons who visit their establishment within the same day.
This Year’s Big Wrap-Up Isn’t Really That Scary
The big takeaway here is that people are loosening their hold on candy and trick-or-treating as the be all end all of Halloween. This current evolution of Halloween means there’s room for brands to dream up family friend experiences… or horrifying ones. Depends on your brand and your demographic.
Is anyone else thinking this is an amazing eyeshadow color? Source: Instagram @worldofsfx
But the one thing that is consistent throughout all eight of the trends we talked about here is that the experience you create has to be grand enough, interesting enough, and unique enough to make it into your customer’s Instagram feed. That’s the ultimate goal.
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