As Halloween approaches, businesses across the UK report a significant increase in spooky spending, signaling a shift in consumer habits. Even before the pandemic, many small retailers—from gift shops to family farms—had seen a major shift. It’s now one of their most successful seasonal times, rivaling Christmas and summer—just the usual busy peak times.
Charlotte Brennan, the owner of Bloom & Brew, a gift shop and café, highlighted the growing importance of Halloween for her business. She stated, “It’s been our busiest year yet for Halloween.” As for the future, Brennan says that post-Christmas, Halloween is her busiest season these days. Consumers are more interested in finding non-holiday specific decorative items they can make their own collections out of, as with Winter Holidays, like they do for Christmas.
More than any other holiday, consumer behavior around Halloween is greatly influenced by social media. Brennan explained that these trends on platforms such as TikTok increasingly start to drive purchases up to a head start by July. She remarked, “People have been asking for pumpkin spiced lattes since August, so I feel like it’s getting earlier.”
Fiona Eastwood, the boss of Merlin Entertainment, echoed this sentiment, revealing that the lead-up to Halloween now rivals its peak summer season in driving profits at some entertainment sites. Eastwood highlighted that major attractions such as Thorpe Park get huge financial boons from Halloween specials. “Take Thorpe Park: increasingly Halloween is almost half of its annual profit,” she said. “That’s because we have special rides in the dark, you have mazes, and that whole thrill that we’re tapping into.”
Andy Owens has been growing apples on his family farm in Herefordshire for 20 years. Like most people, he’s seen the explosion in popularity of Halloween. Since opening a pumpkin patch in 2021, Owens has seen an explosive surge in visitors. To our surprise, our usual pumpkin patch attendance has more than doubled this year. Families come in droves to the farm, eager to scour fields for the best carving pumpkins. Looking back on how the Halloween celebration has transformed over the years, he noted, “Halloween in this country has exploded. Yet when I was growing up, there was hardly any trick-or-treating — there was only The Simpsons Halloween special [on TV]. Now it’s everywhere.
The latest Worldpanel figures illustrate just how big consumer interest in Halloween is becoming. By early October 2024, over a million customers snatched pumpkins off grocery store shelves. This tidal wave of purchases propelled overall sales to an amazing £1.4 million in the four weeks leading up to Halloween. That’s almost double the amount spent during that same lead-up-to-Halloween period of 2023. It was great to see Worldpanel report that British supermarkets witnessed almost £1m of pumpkin sales in one week. That number was captured in the four weeks ending September 29th, 2024.
Vikash Kaansili, a senior retail analyst at Kantar, emphasized one positive trend. Halloween spending is increasing well past the need for costumes and pumpkin carving. He projected a record 37% increase in retail sales on Halloween and fall-themed products. That’s a lot of activity considering that surge over the last two weeks leading up to 10/31/24 vs a median two week period. Sales of candles and pyjamas soared by almost a fifth in this period.
Halloween is no longer just for kids, Kaansili said. “The growth in sales of pyjamas and candles suggests adults are embracing Halloween as an opportunity for a night in at home, not just for children’s trick-or-treating.” He continued that with sustained cost-of-living pressures, Halloween spending continues to show resilience. “Shoppers made more trips in the two weeks leading up to Halloween [2024] and spent 16% more than they usually do,” he explained. This is a sign that Halloween has reached the status of “need to do” event – at least for the average spender.
Spending on Halloween overall reached a record £2 billion just two years ago. This year, we are expecting even bigger things as even more people get ready to join in the fun!