October 25, 2013
Boo! It’s the Halloween Rush
While much is made about the Christmas rush, Halloween can also be a chaotic time for stores.
The reason is partly because much of the spending is in a compressed time frame as revelers seek out last-minute costumes and candy purchases. According to a survey from Alliance Data Retail Services (ADRS), a marketing and customer loyalty solutions provider, one third of Halloween spenders start spending one week before the holiday, one third two weeks before, and one third one month before.
Further underscoring the rush, xAd, a mobile-location based advertising platform, noted in its analysis of 2012 Halloween-driven mobile searches that 34 percent of Halloween-related mobile searches occurred the weekend prior to Halloween with 23 percent occurring just hours before the first trick-or-treaters arrive.
In a column penned for Forbes, Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at RSR
Research and a RetailWire BrainTrust panelist, related her past experience working retail in the days before Halloween.
"People come in the stores, ransack the costume racks, try things on right on the selling floor (we sure didn’t have dressing rooms), and basically leave them on the floor when they are done," wrote Ms. Rosenblum. Crews would then spend most of the night in "recovery," reassembling and putting the costumes back into boxes.
The last minute procrastinators, willing to "pay anything for a reasonably acceptable costume," support full-price sales until the closing hours on Halloween. On the other hand, with the exception of decorations, there is generally no after-market for Halloween merchandise. With most costumes (nurses, pirates, etc.) remaining relevant year after year, most of the merchandise is re-packed and sent back to warehouses until the following August.
"This might actually be a good thing for retailers by now, as it allows them to do their store and web site resets for ‘The’ Holiday season," Ms. Rosenblum writes. "But between October 15 and November 2, anything goes."
Overall, average spending on Halloween has increased 54.7 percent since 2005, with total spending estimated to reach $6.9 billion in 2013, according to NRF’s Halloween Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Nearly 158 million consumers will participate in Halloween activities this year. Those celebrating will spend $75.03, down from $79.82 last year.
The survey showed that on major categories:
- $2.6 billion is expected to be spent on costumes, with slightly more spent on adult customers versus kids;
- $330 million on pet costumes;
- $2.08 billion on candy;
- $1.96 billion on decorations;
- $360 million on greeting cards.
- Ghouls And Ghosts Galore, 158 Million People To Celebrate Halloween This Year, According To NRF – National Retail Federation
- Mobile Procrastinators Come Out at Night for Last Minute Halloween Needs, Says xAd – xAd
- Halloween Is The Perfect Holiday for Retailers – Forbes
- Halloween is Back (infographic) – Alliance Data Retail Services
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Are retailers missing opportunities associated with Halloween spending? What advice would you have for stores preparing for and capitalizing on last-minute Halloween shoppers?
Poll
I wrote a blog posting earlier this week about this same subject. Since most of my clients are specialty stores, we won’t get much of those billions that are spent. With that said, specialty stores can still use Halloween to engage their customers and deliver a fun and profitable experience.
Some tricks and treats and customer engagement tips include:
* Start using candy and Halloween-themed cookies now to engage customers.
* Make this weekend a Halloween party.
* Create Halloween-themed signs and specials
* Start posting the daily “Scary Good Deal” on Facebook.
* Run a children’s costume contest on your Facebook page.
* Have a Halloween in-store drawing for a prize or gift cards.
* Hold a Halloween-themed potluck lunch for the staff.
* Run a Halloween-themed sales contest for the staff.
Good ideas from Doug Fleener. I would just add that here in South Florida outside/lawn decorations appear to be big business. And, Halloween overall is a much bigger event for kids and adults than it used to be. Makes no sense to me personally, but it’s a great opportunity for retailers, so study Doug’s ideas above.
Perhaps the only shorter holiday selling season in the US might be the 4th of July, but it does not have the total revenue potential of Halloween. Halloween has been be growing year over year, especially in the adult categories. Too much potential profit to ignore.
The critical keys to capitalize on short holiday selling seasons is detailed event planning and execution at a daily level. Since many purchases are impulse and last minute, stores need a detailed plan for merchandising, refresh and promotion.
Doug Fleener has started an excellent of things that can be implemented by stores to capture sales. In addition I would suggest that with today’s omni-channel consumers there are additional mobile strategies to help create a “mood” and capture impulse buys, such as:
* Daily FourSquare and Shopkick special offers.
* Tweets about activities in store as well as offers.
* If the store has a mobile app, post banners, themes, offers and incentives to visit the store.
* Hold a contest for consumers to post their photos of costumes, pumpkin carvings, house decorations.
* Post store themes, displays, costume ideas on Pinterest, Instagram, etc.
One retailer who is not missing out is Spirit Halloween. They are the quintessential pop up store and expected to operate 1,052 stores nationally this year. They also plan to hire 20,000 employees to staff them. These stores are open for about 10 weeks and the ones I’ve visited have definitely made an effort to have some makeshift dressing rooms.
Just in case you are curious, Spirit’s top 10 hot costume trends are super heros, Disney characters, pirates and The Walking Dead, with “Twerking Teddy” a plush leotard for women, expected to be the hottest pop culture costume, according to Spirit’s manager of marketing, Crystal Rodriguez.
Retailers who want to capitalize on last-minute Halloween shoppers can certainly do so by poking fun at that twerking theme.
Doesn’t 158 million x $75 = $11.9 billion? Well, no matter: whichever of the figures we use – $6B vs. $12B – it’s less than a few hours worth of the $10 Trillion consumers spend each year…meaning either that it’s insignificant, or there’s still a lot of untapped potential.
Although I’m not entirely sure how stores plan for Halloween, I do think that it seems to be a much more “last minute shopping” kind of Holiday than Christmas, especially in the Adult category (adult costumes etc.). I think one of the biggest things stores can do to capitalize on the last minute rush is to make sure they have enough stock to last throughout. While visiting Target with more than a week to go before Halloween, their adult costume selection was already looking very depleted.
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I wrote a blog posting earlier this week about this same subject. Since most of my clients are specialty stores, we won’t get much of those billions that are spent. With that said, specialty stores can still use Halloween to engage their customers and deliver a fun and profitable experience.
Some tricks and treats and customer engagement tips include:
* Start using candy and Halloween-themed cookies now to engage customers.
* Make this weekend a Halloween party.
* Create Halloween-themed signs and specials
* Start posting the daily “Scary Good Deal” on Facebook.
* Run a children’s costume contest on your Facebook page.
* Have a Halloween in-store drawing for a prize or gift cards.
* Hold a Halloween-themed potluck lunch for the staff.
* Run a Halloween-themed sales contest for the staff.
Good ideas from Doug Fleener. I would just add that here in South Florida outside/lawn decorations appear to be big business. And, Halloween overall is a much bigger event for kids and adults than it used to be. Makes no sense to me personally, but it’s a great opportunity for retailers, so study Doug’s ideas above.
Perhaps the only shorter holiday selling season in the US might be the 4th of July, but it does not have the total revenue potential of Halloween. Halloween has been be growing year over year, especially in the adult categories. Too much potential profit to ignore.
The critical keys to capitalize on short holiday selling seasons is detailed event planning and execution at a daily level. Since many purchases are impulse and last minute, stores need a detailed plan for merchandising, refresh and promotion.
Doug Fleener has started an excellent of things that can be implemented by stores to capture sales. In addition I would suggest that with today’s omni-channel consumers there are additional mobile strategies to help create a “mood” and capture impulse buys, such as:
* Daily FourSquare and Shopkick special offers.
* Tweets about activities in store as well as offers.
* If the store has a mobile app, post banners, themes, offers and incentives to visit the store.
* Hold a contest for consumers to post their photos of costumes, pumpkin carvings, house decorations.
* Post store themes, displays, costume ideas on Pinterest, Instagram, etc.
One retailer who is not missing out is Spirit Halloween. They are the quintessential pop up store and expected to operate 1,052 stores nationally this year. They also plan to hire 20,000 employees to staff them. These stores are open for about 10 weeks and the ones I’ve visited have definitely made an effort to have some makeshift dressing rooms.
Just in case you are curious, Spirit’s top 10 hot costume trends are super heros, Disney characters, pirates and The Walking Dead, with “Twerking Teddy” a plush leotard for women, expected to be the hottest pop culture costume, according to Spirit’s manager of marketing, Crystal Rodriguez.
Retailers who want to capitalize on last-minute Halloween shoppers can certainly do so by poking fun at that twerking theme.
Doesn’t 158 million x $75 = $11.9 billion? Well, no matter: whichever of the figures we use – $6B vs. $12B – it’s less than a few hours worth of the $10 Trillion consumers spend each year…meaning either that it’s insignificant, or there’s still a lot of untapped potential.
Although I’m not entirely sure how stores plan for Halloween, I do think that it seems to be a much more “last minute shopping” kind of Holiday than Christmas, especially in the Adult category (adult costumes etc.). I think one of the biggest things stores can do to capitalize on the last minute rush is to make sure they have enough stock to last throughout. While visiting Target with more than a week to go before Halloween, their adult costume selection was already looking very depleted.