Full disclosure: This post truly is about to spill some guts- nothing gory, of course! We will reveal all the Halloween treats ‘in store’ for retailers this year.
And by treats, we’re talking delectable increased sales and profits.
What retailers have up their sleeves this Halloween
Halloween is an excellent opportunity for retailers to catch their customer’s attention and also acquire new customers with spooky, festive online events.
A key aspect of nailing your Halloween campaign is to start early. 44.4% of consumers plan to start shopping in the first two weeks of October, so the early bird catches the worm in this scenario.
Top brands organize all their promotional activity well before October because as soon as the beginning of the month arrives conversion pick up quickly.
Also, think about offering deals as this is where online retailers have the upper edge, it’s much easier to guide your customer to special offers. Using spooky Halloween-themed discount codes to get customers into the trick-or-treat mood. Treat them to a new discount every day of the month to boost site traffic. This is also an opportunity to analyze data on which products and selling methods work as there is plenty of room for A/B testing.
Dig into holiday sales data to create a profit sales bundle. Your metrics should show what products frequently get purchased together and cover a range of holiday needs all at once.
Makeup products, for instance, should be grouped together to recreate a certain Halloween look. The same can be replicated for haunted home and decor that complement each other in a room. Offer a discount when these products are purchased together.
Retail trends and statistics from 2017
Fortunately for eCommerce stores sales were up 29% for online retailers from 2016. And, we see no sign of this trend stopping this Halloween.
Online retailers who create successful Halloween marketing campaigns do so by integrating engaging, festive content all month long. Many retailers design a scattergun approach, placing teaser content across social media with coupon codes and sneak peaks into flash sales to drive leads to the site.
More exciting still is the results of this annual survey published by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics reveals that Americans spent $9.1 billion to celebrate Halloween 2017. That’s a lot of ghosts, witches and, pumpkins!
In terms of memorable trends, a lot of retailers made use of the explosion of unicorn popularity, Moana and Deadpool in 2017. However, it seems that the old reliables are here to stay with superheroes, Star Wars characters, princesses and animals all here to stay.
Even if you’re not a typical Halloween retailer, festive occasions are always an opportunity to maximize sales. Last year, there was a lot of noise around creating less waste around the Halloween season. This is set to continue this year, so if you have durable goods or plastic free candy, this is the time for your product line to shine.
Fang-tastic trends this Halloween
There are more strategic trends, such as dynamic pricing, besides ugly Halloween sweaters that will lead to impressive profits for this quarter.
Analyze your competitors’ previous Halloween trends. Can you spot any product that might sell out? Be sure you are in a position to provide disappointed customers with an alternative.
As for pricing for Halloween, shoppers will be on the lookout for the best deals. However, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to achieve this across the board. This article shows you how you can break free of the endless cycle of undercutting your competitors and instead use our 360°Pricing™ technology to boosts profits by 8-20%.
Last year, men spent more than women on their costumes with the average purchase at $96 and $77 respectively. And surprise, surprise adult’s costumes reap in more profits ($1.6 billion) for business than children’s ($1.4 billion). And don’t forget Fido. 16 percent of dog owners dress up their pooch for Halloween which leads to $440 million in sales.
Candy sales are continuing to slow as trick-or-treating is continually losing popularity which currently hovers at 30 percent. However, the average buyer still stocks up with for the $25 worth of candy spooky season.
Speaking of candy, an effective promotional tool is to offer free candy, or other Halloween-themed promotional product, with every delivery. It’s a useful method of getting customers to commit to a purchase. You’re essentially providing them with a deadline to avail of the offer, and this way they don’t have to think about filling the pumpkin bucket with goodies for the trick-or-treaters.
The #MeToo movement caused a big stir this year, and Etsy predicts that this trending political movement will feature in costumes on Halloween night. Feminist-themed costumes in the form of strong female personalities, both fictitious and real, will dominate this season. Again, if you can wrap this theme into your Halloween campaign, you’ll be strengthening your brand’s community and positioning yourself as a current online retailer.
Attract the last-minute Halloween shoppers
To stay ahead of competitors it’s essential to deliver dynamic pricing systems to draw potential customers in and hence maximize sales. By using Intelligence Node tools this Halloween, you can implement real-time pricing and catalog benchmarking against competitors. With Incompetitor, you can utilize this agility alongside our AI-led insights dashboard.
There’s a reason that the retail giants are continually investing in AI. The data these provide you with giving you a clearer internal and external view of your business than your spreadsheets ever will. And by choosing to partner with Intelligence Node, you are putting your store in the best possible position to capture and convert leads during the spooky season.
Our products ensure that you don’t need to worry about Minimum Advertised Pricing enforcement guidelines for resellers and multi-retailer websites. The Intelligence Node products make sure that all your sales tactics are above board and that your brand is fully compliant.
If you feel your store isn’t reaching its potential, check and see how our expertise will empower your Halloween marketing campaign. Our real-time competitive intelligence, automatic benchmarketing, and price optimization will help you to achieve and surpass targets.
