Oct 7, 2008
Survey: Halloween Doesn’t Look as Scary as ChristmasSource: Flower Promotion Organization (FPO)

Consumers are planning to spend less this year for the Christmas holidays, but a new Halloween consumer intentions and actions survey of more than 8,000 consumers, conducted by BIGResearch for the National Retail Federation (NRF), shows that 65 percent of all consumers will celebrate Halloween. And they plan to spend 14 percent more in 2008 than they did in 2007, making Halloween a $5.77 billion holiday, with the average consumer spending $66.54!

The survey shows that:

31.1 percent of the respondents will throw or attend a Halloween-themed party

50.3 percent of the respondents will decorate with Halloween-themed products

Consumers decorating their homes will spend an average of $18.25, resulting in $1.58 billion in sales.

“Though the economy is struggling, Halloween sales may be a bright spot for retailers this fall,” the survey said. “Consumerswho have been anxious and uncertain for the past several monthsmay be looking at Halloween as an opportunity to forget the stresses of daily life and just have a little fun.”

Stan Pohmer of the Flower Promotion Organization recently sent out an e-mail reminding the floriculture industry that flowers can play an important part in home decorating, especially for themed parties, and that it’s important to remind customers how they can incorporate flowers into their planning process.

The FPO website has a number of tools, including flower recipes like “Floral Creepy Crawlers” and the “Spooky Sheriff,” that garden centers are welcome to use to help entice their customers to decorate with flowers this Halloween. Visit http://www.flowerpossibilities.com for ideas on how to spark your customers’ imaginations and scare up some Halloween sales for your store.