Will you be celebrating Halloween this year? If so, you’ll be among the sixty-eight percent of consumers in the United States who plan to do so in 2019, an estimated 172 million people.1 However, this is fewer than the 175 million who planned to celebrate the holiday in 2018.
By age group, 18-24-year-olds were the most likely to celebrate. Nearly 90% plan to celebrate Halloween in 2019, up from 84% ten years earlier. However, how they plan to celebrate differs from a decade ago. More plan to wear costumes and dress up their pets. More 18-24-year-olds also plan to pass out candy, carve a pumpkin and decorate. Fewer, though, plan to attend or throw a party, visit a haunted house, or take children trick-or-treating.
Today’s market size shows the total amount U.S. consumers are expected to spend on Halloween in 2019, an average of $86.27 per shopper. This continues a downward trend from the record high of $9.1 billion in 2017. However, it is still higher than the $8.4 billion consumers were planning to spend in 2016.
This year’s ongoing trade war with China is creating uncertainty among some consumers. Fourteen percent of those surveyed said that their concerns about the economy will affect their Halloween spending this year. For those who do plan to spend money, what will they buy? They plan to spend the most on costumes ($3.2 billion), followed by decorations ($2.7 billion) and candy ($2.6 billion). In the past 5 years, social media has had an increasing influence over what people buy for Halloween. Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram have the most influence among social media platforms; however, of these four, only Instagram’s influence grew from 2018 to 2019. Still, a greater percentage of consumers rely on online searches (35%), browsing in stores (28%) and ideas from friends and family (20%) for Halloween shopping inspiration.
1 Source: Survey by Prosper Insights & Analytics for the National Retail Federation.Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2019
Market size: $8.8 billion
Sources: “Social Media Influencing Near-Record Halloween Spending,” National Retail Federation Press Release, Sepetember 25, 2019 available online here and Katie Jordan, “Halloween Shopping Trends: Then and Now,” National Retail Federation, October 2, 2019 available online here.
Image source: Alexas_Fotos, “halloween-cat-weird-surreal-3751095,” Pixabay, October 18, 2018 available online here.