By Ed Avis
The ghosts of last year’s dismal Halloween seem to have mostly flown away – Halloween 2024 was much better, according to our annual post-Halloween survey, which was completed by 26 stores.
Last year, 70 percent of respondents to our survey reported that sales of costumes and masks were "somewhat worse" or "much worse" compared to the previous year. For 2024, only 33 percent of respondents said that, and 29 percent said sales were “somewhat better” or “much better” than 2023. The remaining respondents – 38 percent – said sales were about the same.
Sales of make-up and accessories were evenly split between better and worse in 2024: 35 percent said sales were “much worse” or “somewhat worse” this year and the same percentage said sales were “somewhat better” or “much better.” The remaining 30 percent said sales were flat. That compares very favorably to 2023, when 68 percent said sales of make-up and accessories were down from 2022.
Of course, since sales were so bad in 2023, having an increase in sales in 2024 does not necessarily mean sales were good. But an open-ended question -- “Overall, were you pleased with Halloween this year?” – revealed that a solid number of NCA members enjoyed relatively good sales. Here are some verbatim comments from both ends of the spectrum:
“Yes, the end was stupid busy. The start was very slow. The end made up for it but it was very hard work to serve all those people, but that is how it goes. No snow this year, last year had snow on last weekend that killed us. I'd say this year was what I expected revenue wise. But half way through I was down 15% YOY and I was nervous. Ended up 13.5% compared to last year so I'm happy.”
“Yes, I was pleased and worried at the same time. September the sales were phenomenal, $10,000 above projection. October started out very slow, but October 15 to the end it went gangbusters.”
“Yes. Sales were better than last year. Most companies shipped well with a couple outliers. Our customers were happy with the selection anyway.”
“Yes, it was a different year for us. We brought in more retail merch than we have ever had. It worked well for us!”
“No. Sales were way down. It was such a slow start and didn’t get busy to the very end. I found out the hard way that there were products that I let run out which I should have reordered. Unfortunately, it was too late by the time I knew. I’m relieved that the last few days of the month were a little busier than expected, but I wish I had been able to capitalize better on it. I’m grateful but it didn’t make up for the slower two weeks in the beginning of October.”
“It was a very bad Halloween. Partly because the weather was very warm, partly because the political attitude did not lend the season to parties. Just dismal.”
“Halloween was down a bit last year and this year was about the same as last year. It is a bit disappointing because expenses such as products and labor are up.”
Promotions Helped
The NCA helped promote our members’ stores with a Google Ad campaign that encouraged people to shop at local, bricks-and-mortar costume shops for their Halloween needs. The campaign, which ran for most of October, featured an ad that popped up on people’s browsers when they searched for “Halloween costume” or related keywords, and then linked to our online member directory.
Of course, we don’t know how many customers this campaign brought into NCA members’ stores, but it did generate 89,872 impressions and exactly 700 click-throughs to the member directory. So if some unknown person walked into your store around Halloween, who knows? Maybe it was someone who found your store because of this campaign!
A new question in this year’s survey asked people if they tried any new promotions for Halloween, and asked them to describe the promotions if they did. Here are three of the responses that might give you ideas to try during Halloween 2025:
- “We sent home Costume ‘Cash’ with all the local elementary schools to get the word out where we are. We had 150 returned. Of those, 75% were NEW customers!”
- “We started a Haunt Map for local haunts and displays, and everyone we added to the map got a sign for their yard with our logo and a QR code to our website. This worked to get more awareness of our store, based on conversations with customers.”
- “Early shoppers that came in looking for costumes and did not find what they want were given a coupon for $10 off their costume on their next visit. Had a return rate of about 45 coupons.”
Vendors Not Happy
Weirdly, even though 2024 was better for the stores, it was worse for the manufacturers who supply the stores, at least according to the separate survey answered by these vendors. The vendor survey was only answered by 10 vendors, so it’s not statistically very accurate, but the sentiment is sour: Seventy-five percent of the vendors said sales were “somewhat worse” or “much worse,” and the remainder said sales were about flat. No vendors reported increased sales.
Last year the story was different – 43 percent of vendors said sales were “somewhat better” and only 29 percent said sales were “somewhat worse” or “much worse.”
Regarding shipments, both retailers and vendors said product availability was solid. Eighty-two percent of stores reported receiving 75 to 100 percent of what they ordered; and all of the vendors said they shipped at least 90 percent of what was ordered.
What Lies Ahead?
Next year Halloween falls on a Friday, which historically is a great day for it. Since the Google Ad Words campaign seemed successful, we’ll probably try it again in 2025, so that might help, too. And hopefully you’ll try one of the promo ideas mentioned above – or something else – to get more people in your store.
Let’s all hope the trend of improvement continues!