News

Halloween spend will be robust thanks to social media

Photo by istock.com

October 1, 2019

Social media is expected to influence this year's Halloween spend which is predicted to be near a record-breaking figure.

Those are findings from the annual National Retail Federation's survey conduced by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Consumers are expected to spend an average of $86.27, a small dip from last year's $86.79 and overall spend total may be the third-highest in the survey's 15-year history, according to a press release.

"Spending hasn't changed much over the past few years, but we are seeing a noticeable increase in consumers whose Halloween purchases are inspired by their friends, neighbors and even celebrities on social media," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in the release.

Online search remains tops for costume inspiration, cited by 35 percent of consumers surveyed, followed by in-store browsing for 28 percent, and ideas from friends and family at 20 percent.

Inspiration from social media has been on the rise since 2015. Pinterest was cited by 18%, up from 13%in 2015; 14%cited both YouTube (up from 8%) and Instagram (up from 7%).

Shoppers plan to spend $3.2 billion on costumes (purchased by 67% of Halloween shoppers), $2.6 billion on candy (95%), $2.7 billion on decorations (72%) and $390 million on greeting cards (34%), according to the release.