With £134m spent on Halloween products last year, more retailers are beginning to waken up to the spell that the event casts over consumers – and this year is set to be even bigger.
by Émer O’Toole
Halloween has increased in popularity in the UK thanks in part to the influence of American TV and is now considered the third biggest annual event behind Christmas and Easter – so if you’re not getting behind Halloween, you could be in for a fright.
With a total of £134m spent on Halloween-related purchases in October last year, it remains a key sales driver this Autumn. Confectionery is a best seller with 71% of last year’s specific Halloween spend going into this category.
Customers seem to be prepared as well – Halloween shopping begins four weeks before the event so retailers should stock up ahead of demand. Halloween in the UK is focused on children – according to Mintel’s Seasonal Shopping 2014 report, two in five British parents buy sweets for trick-or-treating. In 2013, 28% of customers picked up trick or treat snacks so it is worth focusing on this area since the £602m kids confectionery section remains the largest sector in the market.
Situated between the end of summer and the run-up to Christmas, Halloween offers consumers a reason to celebrate during a relative lull in the calendar year, and with Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, it is even easier for people to celebrate it in a big way. Take advantage of new product launches to generate additional consumer interest.
Nestlé
To help retailers capitalise on consumer spending at Halloween, Nestlé has launched a range of Halloween products, led by Mini Smarties Trick or Treat Pumpkin which comes in a pack of ten boxes at an rrp of £3. Nestlé is also launching Rowntree’s Randoms Spooky Mix (rrp £1).
Milkybar Ghost is also returning to the range and a new Rowntree’s Tub (rrp £6.99) which contains a mix of Fruit Pastilles, Jelly Tots and Randoms.
Cadbury Biscuits
There will be a “spooktacular” promotion and new addition – Cadbury Screme Egg biscuits – to Burton’s biscuits range in time for Halloween. The range will be available from September to November and consists of Mini Animals Halloweenies (rrp £1.89), Halloween Mini Fingers (rrp £1.89), Trick or Treat biscuit assortment (rrp £4.49) and Screme Egg biscuits (rrp £1.79).
Burton’s will partner with Hotel Transylvania 2 in an on-pack promotion which will feature the chance to win a family holiday for four to Transylvania, as well as runner-up prizes, and will be backed by in-store and retailer activation.
Perfetti Van Melle
With the kid’s confectionery market the place to look for sales at Halloween, don’t be too frightened if it looks back. That’ll be Perfetti Van Melle’s Chupa Chups Monstrous Eyes (rrp 20p), which comes in three spooky flavours; Blueberry-Lemon, Cola-Lemon and Strawberry-Lemon.
Fruittella Hotel Transylvania 2 themed bags are also being launched in time for Halloween. Tapping into the biggest Halloween animation film release of the year, these sweets will have a prolonged shelf life and are supported with promotional on-pack activity, with thousands of amazing prizes to be won.
AG Barr
Terrible Twin packs of Irn-Bru Regular and Sugar-Free two-litre will be available this Halloween (price-marked at £2.69), alongside appropriately-themed two-litre packs of Barr SCream Soda, Chilling Cherryade and Creepy Cola, each price-marked at 99p. Consumers will also be haunted by a range of 330ml Barr Halloween packs, price-marked at 39p/3 for £1. As well as Chilling Cherryade and SCream Soda flavours, the range will include new Hubble Bubblegum.
A range of new Barr and Irn-Bru POS is available and retailers should prepare to stock up on all formats to repeat last year’s success.
Strawbrainy Fruit Shoot
Fruit Shoot’s new limited edition ‘Strawbrainy’ is a combination of strawberry, apple and grape, and will be available during the Halloween period.
The drink contains no added sugar, no artificial colours or flavourings and 11% real fruit juice and joins the rest of the Robinsons Fruit Shoot range which includes popular flavours such as Orange, Apple & Blackcurrant, Summer Fruits, Apple and Tropical.
Available in a 4x200ml multipack at a £1 promotional price, Robinsons say the drink will “excite existing customers” and “create a real buzz within the kids soft drinks segment in October.”
Cadbury impulse range
Focusing on immediate consumption countlines, Cadbury will be bringing back the leading Halloween countline Cadbury Screme egg, which comes complete with goo-lish green fondant centre. Cadbury Crunchy Spider, featuring Cadbury chocolate filled with green crispy bites, will also return this year and the company recommends using high-impact POS to encourage impulse purchases.
Halloween M&Ms
This Halloween, M&Ms will launch a new limited edition pack across treat bag and More to Share packs. The new packs will replace standard M&M colours with black, orange and green. M&M says this will “add a bit of fun to the packs.”
The brand has been successful in the past with limited edition packs, including Brazil-themed M&Ms and those launched by the new Ms Brown character earlier this year.
