As the holiday season draws ever closer, consumers are looking to celebrate every holiday, big and small, between now and the end of the year. The coronavirus pandemic stripped away many opportunities for springtime celebrations, so people are looking for something to commemorate. Halloween is historically a big holiday – over the past 5 years, Halloween has pulled in $8-9 billion in revenue. It’s a more affordable holiday than say Thanksgiving and often requires less preparation; all you need is some candy and maybe a witch’s hat.
Halloween 2020 – as every other holiday throughout this year has been – will be its own unique event. The parties may take a different aesthetic and location, but the spirit will be much the same; a consumer survey from NRF shows that:
- 58% of respondents still plan to celebrate Halloween
- 96% still plan to buy candy, 75% still plan to buy decorations, 65% still plan to buy costumes, and 40% still plan to buy greeting cards
- The top three celebration plans are: hand out candy, decorate the house, and dress up
Halloween Haunts
The Gifting, Home Décor, and Pet Supplies retail categories should perform well this Halloween. An average of 18% of respondents in the survey above noted that they plan to dress up their pets for Halloween. Greeting cards and candy baskets could be a fun gift for consumers to share with loved ones if they can’t party in person – and cards are the only category projected to sell more this year compared to last year, according to a Bloomberg report.
According to HubSpot, user-generated content is seen as more impactful than influencer-generated content and 79% of people say user-generated content highly influences their purchasing decisions. Consider hosting contests on social media for consumers to show off their pet’s costume, their own costume, their bowls of candy, home décor, and any other spooky product they bought from you. Don’t let Halloween be just one day of celebration, as this year deserves extra attention.
Google search results for Halloween costumes this year shows that Cobra Kai, Dungeon Master, and the Mandalorian are among the top most searched for costumes. Kids are searching for Supergirl and Hocus Pocus, while those with pets are looking for cat taco and pumpkin costumes. Promote popular costumes on your website, but remember to keep your product listing up-to-date with any stock outs.
While displaying your products and reaching your target audience is important, it is equally beneficial to showcase shipping estimates. If your store offers BOPIS or curbside options, be sure to clearly mark that in your advertising, especially as we get closer to Halloween night to capture last minute treats.
Halloween may be scary, but your eCommerce revenue goals should not be.
