NRF: Economy Fails to Spook Halloween Consumers
by Christina Lee
Published October 7th, 2008
Bleak economic news cannot scare consumers faithful to Halloween, a recent survey shows. In fact, the average person plans to spend $66.54 to celebrate – an amount that has continued to increase over the past eight years.
“Consumers – who have been anxious and uncertain for the past several months – may be looking at Halloween as an opportunity to forget the stresses of daily life,” said National Retail Federation President Tracy Mullin in a statement.
The trade group’s survey, conducted last month by BIGresearch, revealed consumer behavior similar to that of 2002, another recession year. Back then, the average person spent $44.20, only 30 cents less than the year before.
Of more than 8,000 respondents, 64.5 percent said they planned to celebrate Halloween this year. Of these consumers, more than 50 percent said they plan to decorate their homes. Steve Rose, marketing coordinator of balloon and holiday gift wholesaler Burton and Burton, said in an e-mail that the company feels optimistic about this season, despite the state of the nation’s economy. “Consumers may be putting off major purchases like homes, cars and electronics, but they will still spend money to celebrate holidays and annual events.”
According to the National Retail Federation, consumers ages 18 to 34 still plan to spend the most of any other age group this Halloween. In 2002, they spent an average of $67 on holiday-related goods, including costumes, candy and decorations. This year, they anticipate spending an average of $83.
Retailers have also been using Halloween products as a way to market an entire season, “opening the promotional window through much of September and October,” said Tom Holliday, president of the trade group division Retail Advertising and Marketing Association.
“Much of [Burton and Burton’s] product line is treated more like ‘fall décor’ than just Halloween,” Rose said. “Things like decorative pumpkins, scarecrows, and harvest-themed products can be used all the way up until Thanksgiving.”
The holiday also still inspires at least a third of this year’s consumers to either dress in costume, take children trick-or-treating, or both.
“Parents just can’t ignore their children’s wants when it comes to dressing up,” said Kathy Grannis, National Retail Federation spokesperson. “Halloween is one of their favorite times of the year.”
The trade group also examined data from six years ago for a 2008 winter holiday sales forecast – though the outlook is not as good. Two weeks ago it estimated that sales will only rise by 2.2 percent, the slowest growth since the 1.3 percent rise in 2002.
