Halloween Spending to Reach $8.4 Billion, Highest in Survey History
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Americans are looking forward to splurging on their favorite candy and
costumes this Halloween season. According to the National Retail
Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics,
total spending for Halloween is expected to reach $8.4 billion, an
all-time high in the survey’s history.
U.S. consumers are expected to spend an average of $82.93, up from last
year’s $74.34, with more than 171 million Americans planning to partake
in Halloween festivities this year.
“After a long summer, families are excited to welcome the fall season
celebrating Halloween,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.
“Retailers are preparing for the day by offering a wide variety of
options in costumes, decorations and candy, while being aggressive with
their promotions to capture the most out of this shopping event.”
According to the survey, consumers plan to spend $3.1 billion on
costumes (purchased by 67 percent of Halloween shoppers), $2.5 billion
on candy (94.3 percent), $2.4 billion on decorations (70 percent) and
$390 million on greeting cards (35.4 percent).
When it comes to preparation, 71 percent of consumers plan to hand out
candy, decorate their home or yard (49 percent), dress in costume (47
percent), carve a pumpkin (46 percent), throw or attend a party (34
percent), take their children trick-or-treating (30 percent), visit a
haunted house (21 percent) or dress their pet(s) in costume (16 percent).
Searching for the perfect costume inspiration will lead consumers to
sources such as online (35 percent) and in-store (29 percent). Social
media is the fastest-growing influencer for the perfect costume,
particularly Pinterest (17 percent), which has seen 133 percent growth
since 2012. Some other places for inspiration include friends/family (19
percent), Facebook (17 percent), pop culture (16 percent) and print
media (14 percent).
“Consumers are eager to celebrate Halloween, especially given that eight
in 10 Americans will shop by mid-October. That is the highest we have
seen in the survey history,” Prosper Insights Principal Analyst Pam
Goodfellow said. “Americans will enjoy taking advantage of early-bird
promotions both online and in-store as they kick off the fall season.”
When it comes to where consumers will shop for the season, 47 percent of
shoppers will visit discount stores to buy their Halloween-related items
this year and 36 percent will visit a specialty Halloween/costume store,
up from 33 percent last year. In addition, 26 percent of customers will
visit grocery stores/supermarkets, 23 percent will visit department
stores and 22 percent will shop online.
The survey asked 6,791 consumers about Halloween shopping plans. It was
conducted September 6-13 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2
percentage points.
If you are a member of the press and require additional information or
insight about our Halloween survey results, please contact Ana Serafin
Smith at press@nrf.com.
About Prosper Insights & Analytics
Prosper Insights & Analytics delivers executives timely,
consumer-centric insights from multiple sources. As a comprehensive
resource of information, Prosper represents the voice of the consumer
and provides knowledge to marketers regarding consumer views on the
economy, personal finance, retail, lifestyle, media and domestic and
world issues. www.ProsperDiscovery.com
About NRF
NRF is the world’s largest retail trade association, representing
discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main
Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and Internet
retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Retail is
the nation’s largest private sector employer, supporting one in four
U.S. jobs — 42 million working Americans. Contributing $2.6 trillion to
annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation’s economy. NRF’s
This is Retail campaign highlights the industry’s opportunities for
life-long careers, how retailers strengthen communities and the critical
role retail plays in driving innovation. NRF.com
Contacts
National Retail Federation
Treacy Reynolds or Ana Serafin Smith
855-NRF-PRESS
press@nrf.com
