420. Inside this year’s Halloween spending trends

Retail Gets Real

This episode of Retail Gets Real explores the evolving landscape of Halloween spending, featuring NRF's Allison Zeller. The discussion highl

Key takeaways

• Total Halloween spending is projected to reach $13.5 billion this year, up from $13.1 billion last year.
• Consumer engagement has grown significantly, with 74% of consumers now participating in Halloween compared to 64% two decades ago.

Main topics

• Halloween spending projections
• Early holiday shopping trends

Notable quotes

Nobody's cutting out Halloween, as we can tell, but they're being savvy.

Conclusion

Halloween has transitioned into a month-long retail event driven by so

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:03) We're seeing sustained spending and that's sustained across categories. Nobody's cutting out Halloween, as we can tell, but they're being savvy. They're looking for ways to save money. They're comparative shopping, looking for coupons and shopping around. Speaker 5 (0:22) Welcome to Retail Gets Real, where we hear from retail's most fascinating leaders about the industry that impacts everyone, everywhere, every day. I'm Bill Thorne from the National Retail Federation, and on today's episode, we're talking with NRF's Vice President of Industry and Consumer Insights, Allison Zeller. Now, we're going to talk to Allison about this year's Halloween spending insights and hear how consumers plan to celebrate. The spooky holiday. Most of this information hot off the press. Allison, welcome to Retail Gets Real. Speaker 7 (0:57) Thanks, Bill. And this is Speaker 6 (0:58) your Speaker 5 (0:58) first. Speaker 7 (0:59) It is. It is. Speaker 5 (1:00) Well, congratulations. Welcome aboard. Speaker 7 (1:02) And Speaker 5 (1:02) we're just going to have a conversation. But it's a conversation about a holiday. And I use that in air quotes. I used to have a real problem. Speaker 7 (1:08) Yeah. Speaker 5 (1:09) We had a former colleague and she's listening. I'll hear about it. But she used to just this was the holiday. I kept arguing. This is not a holiday. even though I guess it is. Do you think of it as a Speaker 7 (1:19) holiday? Well, I'm a Libra. I was born in October, and it kind of is my holiday, too. I don't go all out in decorating, but I do go very strongly into the costumes. Speaker 5 (1:33) Yeah. I enjoy watching people take advantage of the holiday to get a little bit crazy, to do fun stuff. But, man, there's a lot to cover today because the one thing that they've been talking a lot about on the media. for the last four weeks or more is the early holiday spend, holiday air quotes, for Halloween. And so we'll talk about that. But anyway, let's talk about the spend. What are we estimating this year for holiday? Speaker 7 (2:00) So we're expecting consumers to spend $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, which is sustained from last year's record, which was $13.1 billion. And consumers are spending an average of $115 of those spending. Speaker 2 (2:17) Wow. And Speaker 7 (2:18) it really has grown into a holiday. I was looking back through the archives of the data, and we've been doing this study for more than 20 years. Speaker 4 (2:26) And Speaker 7 (2:27) 20 years ago, only 64 % of consumers were shopping for Halloween, and now we have 74%. Speaker 5 (2:34) Wow. So Speaker 7 (2:35) three in four consumers are celebrating Halloween. I don't get that. I mean, what? Speaker 5 (2:41) Is there a reason that you can think of why people are more engaged now than ever before? Speaker 7 (2:48) I think there's more to do around the holiday. I'm going to call it a holiday. Even if you don't Speaker 5 (2:55) want Speaker 7 (2:55) to. I Speaker 5 (2:55) keep referring to it as that, so I guess we could just go with it. Speaker 7 (2:58) There's more to do. It's really encompassed. I have kids. I have two little kids, so it is all about trunk or treat, trick or treat. costume parades. Speaker 6 (3:09) And, Speaker 7 (3:10) you know, even some of my younger cousins who don't have children, they go to haunted houses. They do big events around scary movies. And it's very much a month-long social event. Speaker 5 (3:22) Yeah. The trunk retreat is kind of a new thing to me. I just heard about that very recently. I'm sure that it's been going on for quite some time, but I wasn't aware of it. And what a great way to do something for the kids, especially if you're in an urban area and Speaker 6 (3:35) stuff. And it's been very safe as well. Speaker 5 (3:37) So let's talk about that early shopping. I mentioned previously that it seems to me that Speaker 6 (3:42) they've started talking about early shopping. And Speaker 5 (3:45) I always go back to the fact we get a lot of media that calls in. Why are retailers going out early? Why are they putting this stuff out? Speaker 6 (3:52) Christmas, you know, was for years. They Speaker 5 (3:55) finally tapered off asking that question because it's just the way people shop. But now this year, it seems that Halloween coming out much earlier is a media focus. I just, I'm curious as to, is there any reason why that's taking place right now? Speaker 7 (4:10) A number of reasons. We do a study in August that asks when or what triggers a Halloween spending, just to figure out like what is behind this, this phenomenon of early shopping. And a lot of consumers say that as soon as the weather ticks down, as soon as it starts to get a little chilly in the air, they get into the spirit and want to decorate. Speaker 5 (4:31) I'm going to live wherever those people are getting chilly in the air because we have not had that. But continue. But Speaker 7 (4:37) it's also in our study that is hot off the press. Consumers are shopping earlier. 50 % say they're going to shop before October. And 10 years ago, just 34 % were. Speaker 5 (4:47) Wow. So Speaker 7 (4:48) consumers really are shopping earlier than they were a decade ago. Speaker 5 (4:52) Wow. Well, you know, and I go back to the fact, I mean, this is one of the things that when the media call, they say, well. Why, you know, why are retailers putting this stuff out earlier? It's because the consumers are demanding it. You know, retailers aren't going to put something on a shelf that isn't going to sell. And if somebody wants it, they're going to buy it. And if they're going to buy it, the retailer is going to stock it. So it's just, but it is amazing to me that that, that is, tell that stat again. It was 50. Speaker 7 (5:15) 50 % are going