Halloween to deliver a $430 million spending boost for retailers
One in four Australians say they’ll be celebrating Halloween this year, with spending forecast to reach $430 million according to research from the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) in collaboration with Roy Morgan.
People who plan on celebrating Halloween say they will do so in a variety of ways, including attending or hosting a Halloween themed party, decorating their homes, getting dressed up or going out and welcoming trick or treaters.
The joint research found that:
- One in four (or 5 million) Australians plan on celebrating Halloween this year, with spending to reach $430 million, for an average amount of $86 per person
- For 88% of Australians celebrating Halloween, this is the same or more than they spent last year.
- People plan on celebrating Halloween by purchasing treats for treats for ‘trick or treaters’ (mentioned by 51% of people), followed by getting dressed up in a Halloween costume (mentioned by 47% of people), decorating the home (mentioned by 40% of people) and attending or hosting a Halloween party (mentioned by 23% of people).
- Those aged 35-49 are the most likely to celebrate Halloween (37%) – equating to 1.92 million people, just ahead of those aged 18-34 (32%) – equating to 1.9 million people.
- One in five people (20%) who will celebrate Halloween say they will hold or attend a party without children
ARA CEO Paul Zahra said Halloween continues to grow in popularity in Australia and retailers are promoting it in a big way.
“Halloween has been growing in status as an Australian tradition and has become a highly anticipated seasonal event for many retailers. Businesses are coming to the party with themed windows and store displays as part of big promotional push in the lead up to October 31,” Mr Zahra said.
“Consumers are forecast to spend $430 million on their Halloween celebrations, stocking up on food and sweets and purchasing costumes and decorations. Some families go above and beyond with lighting and decorative efforts around their homes, while hospitality venues also get involved with Halloween themed food and cocktails.
“Halloween is a time to celebrate some spooky silliness and with five million Australians expected to do so this year, the event will help build sales momentum for retailers in the run up to Christmas.”
**The ARA-Roy Morgan Snap SMS survey was conducted with an Australian-wide cross-section of 2,853 Australians aged 18+ on Monday September 19 – Wednesday September 21, 2022**
Media Enquiries:
Dominic Cuschieri
M 0418 224 072
About us: The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the oldest, largest and most diverse national retail body, representing a $400 billion sector that employs 1.3 million Australians and is the largest private sector employer in the country. As Australia’s peak retail body, representing more than 120,000 retail shop fronts and online stores, the ARA informs, advocates, educates, protects and unifies our independent, national and international retail community. To learn more about ARA’s exclusive member benefits and more, visit retail.org.au
Roy Morgan is Australia’s largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state, as well as in the U.S. and U.K. A full-service research organisation, Roy Morgan has over 80 years’ experience collecting objective, independent information on consumers. To learn more visit www.roymorgan.com.
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
