A Tuesday Halloween Could Be Terrifying for Retailers Halloween 2016 was a Monday, which is not a good day to maximize holiday sales, and October was the warmest October for 55 years. Tuesday, October 31st won’t be much better for Halloween 2017, which is why retailers should prepare early. According to Party & Paper Retailer’s polling of independent retailers for its January/February 2017 issue, almost 75% said their total Halloween sales and costume sales declined from 2016; only 7% reported an increase. Some Halloween retailers said that the presidential election was a distraction, which may have led to Party City reporting sales that were 7% less during October 2016, compared to October 2015.

Marketing to the Scared and the Scaremongers By extrapolating data from the National Retail Federation, Selling Halloween determined that approximately 61% of adults 18–44 celebrated Halloween 2016 in the US. Selling Halloween also calculated that if the same proportion of children, 5 to 14 years of age, are Halloween celebrants as the proportion of adults 18–24 (or 85.4%), then that would be an additional 35 million children enjoying Halloween. Because most Halloween celebrants are Generation Z members and Millennials, both living a digital lifestyle, it is important for retailers to use both interactive in-store displays and social media to promote merchandise.

Metamorphosis and Mayhem Behind a Mask Once again, licensed products from major motion pictures will drive 2017 Halloween costume choices, including Star Wars, Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy, LEGO Ninjago, Beauty and the Beast and My Little Pony. A Slice Intelligence poll from fall 2016 found that adults were responsible for 36% of all online Halloween costume revenues, compared to 38% for children. Another costume trend, according to Selling Halloween, is Generation Z members and Millennials’ interest in group costumes and themes. In addition, as Millennials women age, they are shunning risqué and skin-revealing costumes.

Candy: The Tricksters’ Payoff According to 4C Insights, M&Ms had the most social media engagements during January 2017, at 107,369; followed by Starburst, 74,131; Reese’s, 50,810; Hershey’s, 27,103; and Twix, 8,026. A good sign for Halloween is that The Hartman Group’s The Future of Snacking 2016 report found that snacking accounts for “50% of all eating occasions.” Although consumers purchase large quantities of snack food items, including for Halloween, at supermarkets and big-box retailers, convenience stores are one of consumers’ top five destinations for buying snacks.

Advertising Strategies Use the “most-popular-candy-by-state” table in the Profiler (and the complete list from the source) to help supermarkets and other Halloween candy retailers feature your state’s favorite on in-store displays and in advertising messages. Despite the popularity of licensed-products costumes, many Halloween revelers love to create unique costumes from accessories. Halloween retailers who prepare for this trend can market themselves as the “make-your-own-costume” headquarters. Although most of the audience for haunted attractions are teens and young adults, suggest to your haunted attraction advertisers that they customize their attraction for a few “Seniors Haunt Night” to attract seniors, who will appreciate a less-intense experience.

New Media Strategies Invite one or more customers who are creating a unique costume from accessories to be recorded on video to show their surprise and creativeness as they find unusual accessories and assemble a costume. Post the videos to social media. Post a contest on social media, inviting the public to create a short scary video similar to The Blair Witch Project or other popular horror movie theme. Post their videos on social media and show in-store. Ask everyone to vote for the scariest, with a prize to the winner. Encourage UCG (user-generated content) with posts of people’s plans for Halloween on social media pages, sharing party, costume, refreshment and other ideas with others, which could also help stores stock and promote popular items mentioned in the videos.