October is my favorite month. Mugs full of pumpkin spice lattes. The leaves changing from green to gold, orange and red. Weekends spent sewing my son’s first Halloween costume (bear pattern courtesy of Pinterest).
My husband and I will be celebrating with our 10-month-old son this year. Like many Americans, I’m looking forward to the costumes and decorations that mark the season. According to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, total spending for Halloween is expected to reach $9 billion, the second highest in the survey’s 14-year history.
I will be joining the 95 percent of Halloween shoppers who plan to buy some candy – hopefully to pass out to trick-or-treaters and not consume myself! This year, consumers plan to spend $3.2 billion on costumes, $2.7 billion on decorations, $2.6 billion on candy and $400 million on greeting cards.
And where do consumers plan to shop? According to the survey, of those buying costumes and other Halloween supplies, 45 percent of shoppers will visit discount stores and 35 percent will go to a specialty Halloween store or costume store. In addition, 25 percent will visit department stores, 24 percent will buy online and 24 percent in grocery/supermarket stores.
“The economy is good and consumer confidence is high, so families are ready to spend on Halloween this year,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO, in a recent press release. “Retailers are stocking up to supply children, pets and adults with their favorite decorations, candy and costumes for the season.”
The perfect costume
According to the study, pet costumes are continuing to gain in popularity, with nearly 20 percent of respondents planning to dress their pets in costumes this year. Eleven percent of pet lovers will dress their animal in a pumpkin costume, while 7 percent will dress their cat or dog as a hot dog, 5 percent as a bumble bee and 3 percent as the devil. Millennials (25-34) were shown to be most likely to dress up their pets.
When looking for inspiration for the perfect costume, 35 percent of consumers will look online, 29 percent will look in stores, 19 percent will ask friends and family, 19 percent will look to Pinterest (my personal go-to) and 16 percent will look to Facebook; 16 percent will be influenced by pop culture and 15 percent by YouTube.
National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics asked 6,961 consumers about Halloween shopping plans. It was conducted September 4-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.