NRF survey points to Halloween big bucks

This year's Halloween is shaping up to be a rather big treat for retailers.

According to the National Retail Federation's annual survey, total Halloween spending is expected to reach $8.4 billion this year -- the highest in the survey's history.

“After a long summer, families are excited to welcome the fall season celebrating Halloween,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Retailers are preparing for the day by offering a wide variety of options in costumes, decorations and candy, while being aggressive with their promotions to capture the most out of this shopping event.”

Consumers are expected to spend an average of $82.93 this year, up from last year's $74.34. That's among more than 171 million Americans taking part in Halloween this year.

The breakdown of those dollars: $3.1 billion on costumes (purchased by 67% of Halloween shoppers), $2.5 billion on candy (94.3%), $2.4 billion on decorations (70%) and $390 million on greeting cards (35.4%).

Of particular interest to home improvement retailers is that 49% intend to decorate their home or yard. For those selling candy and pumpkin carving kits, 71% plan to hand out candy and 46% plan to carve a pumpkin.

The survey, which asked 6,791 consumers about their shopping plans, was conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

“Consumers are eager to celebrate Halloween, especially given that eight in 10 Americans will shop by mid-October. That is the highest we have seen in the survey history,” Prosper Insights Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow said. “Americans will enjoy taking advantage of early-bird promotions both online and in-store as they kick off the fall season.”