Mask appeal
The growing popularity of the holiday and a broadening scope of merchandise scare up new sales opportunities for retailers
By Stacy Botwinick -- Playthings, 3/1/2001
Halloween isn't just doorbells, dime-store costumes and penny candy anymore. In the new millennium, the holiday's reputation for fun and fantasy has cast a profitable spell on the retail market. While manufacturers are busy rolling out costumes, candy and pumpkin carving kits, retailers are setting their hopes on another Halloween full of ghosties and ghoulies and registers that go ring in the night.
According to The Halloween Association (THA), Halloween is recognized as the third biggest party day after New Year's Day and Super Bowl Sunday. In fact, the ghosts and goblins are even giving Santa a scare. At more than $6 billion in sales (and growing), Oct. 31 has hit the charts as the second largest holiday after Christmas in terms of dollars spent.
The rise in popularity of Halloween has certainly buoyed industry sales of late. The National Retail Federation (NRF) projects Halloween will become a $6.8 billion industry this year, with candy sales alone expected to generate $2 billion in sales and costumes close behind at $1.5 billion and rising.
Today, the appeal of Halloween spans all generations. With a vastly expanded adult market, an overwhelming number of alleged grownups are exercising their right to party along with the kids. According to the International Retail Marketing Association's most recent figures, more than 60 percent of 18 to 24 year olds, 44 percent of 25 to 34 year olds and 40 percent of 35 to 44 year olds planned to dress up in 1998, with that number showing steady growth over the past few years. In fact, eight percent of households even planned to dress up their pets! Add this to the 78 percent of children donning Halloween costumes, and that brews up a profitable potion for success.
And, according to the Second Annual American Express Retail Index on Halloween Shopping, 28 percent of adults planned to dress up in a costume in 1999, an eight percent gain over the previous year.
The Halloween hoopla has expanded greatly from the simple one-night-only community trick-or-treating of the old days. Malls are welcoming costumed kids for indoor trick-or-treating (stressing safety and comfort-no coats, umbrellas or flashlights needed). Retailers provide candy for the kids and special promotions for their parents. Costume contests, masquerade balls, parades, bar events and city-wide celebrations that cater to children or adults-only are becoming increasingly popular every year.
A survey conducted last year by Virginia-based Market Facts reports that in the 18- to 34-year-old age group, almost 39 percent planned to attend some Halloween event for adults. More than half of the respondents (53.8 percent) said they would wear Halloween-theme clothing or a costume to work. Additionally, a 1999 survey of shoppers by Macerich Company noted that 85 percent of the 4000 surveyed planned to go trick-or-treating, and 47 percent felt that no one was ever too old to join in on the Halloween fun.
Scaring up sales
On the retail side, specialty storeowners who carved out their Halloween niche in the '90s are now finding themselves faced with stiff competition from mass merchants. These "big guys" witnessed a phenomenal success similar to what the smaller stores were experiencing in selling Halloween and moved in to get their piece of the pumpkin pie. This year, even more mass merchants, drug stores, toy stores and even supermarkets will have elbowed their way onto the crowded Halloween scene. In addition, an ever-increasing crop of seasonal specialty stores brings Halloween to the forefront each year by offering variety, convenience and exceptional customer service.
The growing numbers of stores that have expanded their Halloween selections are good indicators of the market's strength. The intense competition for Halloween dollars has kept both retailers and manufacturers on their toes, forcing them to come up with more exciting and innovative ways to promote the spooky celebration.
Toy stores, mass merchants, party supply stores, costume shops and seasonal stores are common beneficiaries of the Halloween "gotta-haves." The influence of the holiday is also witnessed, however, by autumn's rising sales figures of products as diverse as leotards, fabrics or other costume-making supplies, food and liquor sales for parties, florists, balloon suppliers, music and video stores (for seasonal entertainment) and magic shops. Other big winners are secondhand and retro clothing shops; NRF estimates that Halloween business accounts for 75 percent of their total yearly sales.
In terms of sales, candy is the biggest segment of the Halloween business, accounting for approximately $2 billion in Halloween sales in 2000, according to the National Confectioners Association. Traditionally, Halloween has the highest candy sales of any holiday, with a quarter of the candy sold each year purchased between Sept. 15 and Nov. 10.
The second major category for Halloween is costumes, a huge industry that has boomed to an estimated $1.5 billion a year and rising. The National Costumers Association reports that 60 percent of respondents to its survey on costume shops reported an increase in sales, with most citing growth of more than 20 percent.
Fueling this surge is a marked increase in adult participation in Halloween festivities. Parents with fond memories of Halloween want to pass this experience along to their own children, while still taking part in the fun themselves. In addition, due to the proliferation of dual career families, there is more discretionary income to be spent on costumes and accessories. Coupled with the large amount of parties, parades and other social events that call for dressing up, the result is demand for more imaginative and elaborate costumes.
All dressed up with places to go
As an upshot, dress-up clothes are increasingly being worn as Halloween costumes.
"We offer dress-up clothes that are beautiful and special," says Betsy Sokoloff, account executive for A Wish Come True. "Their novelty of design, workmanship and quality makes these outfits a perfect choice for someone who is looking for an upscale Halloween costume. What's more, they will last beyond Halloween to be used for dress-up for years to come."
Best sellers for A Wish Come True include princess, cheerleader and poodle skirts for that nostalgic '50s look. New for Halloween 2001 will be a devil, red rock star, Barbie poodle skirt and other additions to the Barbie line.
"We see the market for costumes becoming more and more upscale each year," agrees Howard Beige, vice president of Rubie's Costumes. "As a result, we are developing better quality costumes." Beige finds that consumers are willing to pay higher prices for costumes "if the quality is there."
"Costumes today are a fashion statement," he observes. "They're worn for parties and dress-up-more than just for Halloween."
Upgraded, higher quality costumes are selling better than ever before. Trends for costumes include classic and licensed characters, nostalgia, current events, sports and entertainment.
For 2001, Rubie's is setting its sights on licensed costumes based on Sponge Bob Squarepants, Scooby Doo, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Harry Potter. Costumes based on future movie releases include Josie and the Pussycats, Jurassic Park 3, Lord of the Rings and The Mummy Returns. Also new for 2001 are 'muscle chests' and fiber-optic costumes, which display a 'virtual light show' emanating from the costume itself.
Recognizing a growing trend to accommodate the tween market, Rubie's will merchandise a line of Gothic vampire-style costumes. "This market has tremendous spending power," Beige says, referring to tweens. "Up to now they were primarily buying accessories, but we've spent a lot of time addressing this age group and creating products to appeal to the tweens."
Disguise also has plans to introduce a line with a "Hellrider/motorcycle/ vampire look," complete with fake leather and spikes.
Disguise has "revolutionized the design of Halloween costumes," claims Jeff Coppens, director of marketing and product development. Meeting consumer demands for higher quality, better-fitting costumes, Disguise has improved sizing on its costumes, adding more generous cuts and husky sizes.
The Disguise line ranges from classic characters such as Disney princesses, Spiderman and Power Rangers to new licenses such as Nickelodeon's Bob the Builder and the new movie Final Fantasy, based on a best-selling video game.
Grown-ups get ghoulish
With more adults celebrating on Oct. 31 than ever before, this market segment is fueling the growth of the entire Halloween industry. According to the American Express Retail Index on Halloween Shopping, 28 percent of adults planned to dress up in a costume in 1999. This is an 8 percent increase over the prior year.
"We've seen a huge growth in the adult market," says Tim Hall, general manager at Cesar. "We've seen it grow every year. Everyone was so used to Halloween being a 'kid's holiday,' but now we see that adult parties are way up.
Halloween has become a fantasy holiday. Adults look for cleverness and creativity in costumes; they love to accessorize and are willing to spend more on a basic costume (they won't grow out of it). Adults often want trendy, non-licensed costumes-mostly with a more sophisticated or sexy flair-to express themselves at Halloween. With a growing number of adults celebrating Halloween in the workplace by wearing costumes (or sweaters, ties and jewelry with a spooky motif), a number of manufacturers offer costumes that can be put together with a minimal amount of cost or effort. Often the majority of high-priced spending on Halloween costumes for adults comes well before the holiday, when they are more apt to plan an elaborate outfit in advance. Buyers who wait until the last minute are more likely to be satisfied with a less expensive costume or simple accessories.
Cesar is best known for its line of masks. For 2000, Bush and Gore were all the rage; now the company has added the First Lady, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Also new for 2001 are WWF wrestlers and This Is Spinal Tap characters. To complement the line, Cesar also offers such accessories as ears, hands, feet and even molded Halloween ties.
At Disguise, the trend is in mix-and-match costumes adults can put together themselves. A popular theme is the Make-A-Witch collection, from which the customer can choose over 30 different pieces, including hats, skirts and nails, among other things.
"For the last five years, we've seen the Halloween market increasing," observes Joel Levine, president of Hanover Accessories. "More and more adults are really getting into it-it's not just kids going around with candy bags anymore."
Hanover's signature line, Great Pretend-ears, offers 450 styles of headbands, from the traditional bunny ears and devil horns to flowers, bugs and frogs.
"Adults and kids love our line for Halloween and dress-up all year round," says Levine. "It's easy, inexpensive and fun."
Propping up the holiday
But the category encompasses much more than candy and costumes. Now there are 'props' as well, among them, Liqui-lights flashlight/reflectors by Capstone Industries to illuminate a trick-or-treater's path.
The Halloween decor category, however, is one that was practically nonexistent 10 years ago and has today grown to include a dizzying assortment of light strings, windsocks, treat bowls, pumpkin leaf bags and pumpkin carving kits. Decorating ranges from simple fall season ornaments to full-blown haunted houses. THA reported recent survey results revealing that 86 percent of respondents would be decorating their houses and lawns with a Halloween/autumn theme.
"We are going heavily into decor," says Sam Cornish, managing director of Collegeville/ Imagineering. "Decorating your home is increasingly becoming a bigger part of Halloween. It's big business." For 2001, the company will offer pumpkin vine lights, candelabra, 36-inch sculpted characters and an assortment of tabletop products.
Applause takes a 'cute' approach to a scary holiday with its Sad Sam & Honey plush characters Halloween line. "We had not come out with a Halloween line in the past five years," says Bob Giordano, vice president of product development for Giordano, the line's designers. "With the tremendous growth in the Halloween business, we decided to eliminate our Easter line and give Halloween a try."
Easy Street Crafts has designed its first line of Halloween craft kits (retailing for under $10) that allow kids to create such projects as spider bead bracelets and Styrofoam characters.
"Kids are very into Halloween, maybe even more so than Christmas," says designer Sue Begin. "We see Halloween becoming more celebrated with more elaborate decorating. We see it as something that is definitely growing-and growing very quickly."
The NRF reports that Halloween decor is now the second largest segment of the seasonal decorations category, increasing a remarkable 53 percent over 1998 to reach $659 million in sales in 1999, the latest year for which figures are available. It is estimated that U.S. households could spend almost $3 billion this year on greeting cards, pumpkins and other Halloween party goods.
And taking a cue from other big holidays, Halloween is seeing big growth in the greeting card business with 56 percent of all Halloween cards sent to children. Hallmark says Halloween is the eighth largest holiday for greeting card sales (accounting for 23 to 26 million cards), and among the fastest growing. The company offers 250 Halloween cards in its line.
Pumpkins are poppin' all over and Pumpkin Masters gets them while they're ripe. The company offers a wide variety of hugely successful pumpkin carving kits that allow young trick-or-treaters to create anything from the simplest jack o'lantern to more complex carvings. Selling well in 2000 were Kids' Activity Kits with glowing eyes, fright lights and colored pegs. New for 2001 is the battery-operated Ultimate Pumpkin Light that replicates a flickering flame and Sparkling Pumpkin Jewels.
"We are promoting the traditional family aspect of Halloween," says Ross Neading, a company spokesman. "We offer safer alternatives to pumpkin carving so kids can get more involved."
Pumpkin Masters sponsors pumpkin carving contests every Halloween and offers a wide variety of free patterns that can be downloaded from the Internet.
"But even with all this technology, you still can't download a pumpkin," says Neading. "You still have to go out to the pumpkin patch and celebrate Halloween the old-fashioned way."
