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 Our
Featured News articles will cover Halloween items from all over the
country. Some industry news, some business news and some just
interesting Halloween news can be found here. We'll try and keep up to
date with new Halloween industry news as we find it. |
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Marketers Carve into Halloween's Bonanza
Consumers Hunt Ghoulish Deals
by Alice Z. Cuneo
Halloween looks to be a real treat for the Web this year,
concludes a study by American Express Co.
The study, "2000 American Express Retail Index on
Halloween," said 6% of Americans are expected to browse or shop online this
Halloween. That's up five-fold from the 1% who did so last year.
In addition, more Halloween shoppers are planning ahead with
25% starting their shopping--both online and offline--by the end of September, the survey
found. Overall, consumers will spend an average of $27 on costumes this Halloween, up 23%
from last year. Consumers' total Halloween budgets, however, have fallen, with this year's
average tab at $84, off 14.3% from last year, but still up from 1998, according to the
data.
Only Christmas spending is greater, said the National Retail
Federation. Overall Halloween spending is expected to reach $6.8 billion this year, the
greatest portion of that being $2 billion in candy sales, followed by costumes at $1.5
billion, according to an NRF survey. Americans also have made Halloween the second-largest
opportunity for home decoration behind Christmas, with sales of home decorations at $659
million in 1999, up 53% from 1998, the NRF study concluded.
BETTER THAN VALENTINE'S DAY
So many marketers are getting into the act that even greeting
card manufacturers are pushing the holiday as a great way to reach people frightened of a
particular day in mid-February. American Greetings Corp. said Halloween cards provide a
less scary venue than Valentine's Day to tell someone you love them.
"We have definitely capitalized on Halloween
online," said Heather Waldman, director of e-commerce for Spencer Gifts' online site, an arm of Universal
Studios. "We had very aggressive plans and we increased our business by 2 1/2 times
that." Shoppers are less fussy about fit for costumes vs. apparel they plan to wear
to work or for other occasions, she said.
TAPPING PORTALS
Spencer Gifts, which also operates Spirit Halloween
Superstores since it purchased the company in mid-1999 , marketed itself this year through
portals such as Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Yahoo!. It also ran banner ads on women's sites
such as iVillage and Women.com, targeting moms who buy costumes for their children and
might even dress up for the holiday themselves; and sites, such as Alloy Online, Bolt and
MTV.com, aiming for teens who might do their own costume buying.
One of Spencer Gifts' most successful promotions, Ms. Waldman
said, was through a regular Friday e-mail by MSN, which touted online shopping deals. The
promotion featured 20% off all costumes, masks and decorations.
Spencer Gifts' site also is mentioned in the retail store's
offline marketing in billboard, newspaper and radio ads. Advertising is handled in-house.
CORNUCOPIA OF OFFERINGS
The Web has responded to the the night of ghosts and goblins
with a cornucopia of Halloween e-commerce offerings.
Among portals, Yahoo! is pushing itself via in-house-created
ads as having "everything you need for Halloween."
America Online's CompuServe is running a banner ad promoting
a Fright Fest at Six Flags amusement parks and offering free Halloween screen savers.
Brick-and-click retailer Kmart Corp. and its BlueLight.com
have the usual costumes, masks and wigs while pure-play e-tailer Petsmart.com proffers
costumes for dogs and other animals.
Many sites, including AOL, are featuring content such as tips
on decorating, making costumes and how to safely go trick or treating.
"Halloween has been the No. 1 item in our 'search' at
shop@aol for the past three weeks ending Oct. 15," said an AOL spokeswoman. Halloween
promotions embarked two weeks earlier this year based on last year's response, the
spokeswoman said.
Just in time for the holiday, Boo.com is relaunching with
billboards using a horror movie theme. Though aptly named for the holiday, the site that
sells fashion clothing is rising from the dead following its purchase by Fashionmall.com.
October 2000, Crain Communications Inc.
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Every
year, Halloween enthusiasts anxiously await the retail
industry to begin their Halloween season and see who's
first to stock products for the spooky season. Many
stores begin stocking Halloween products as early as
July! |
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