Retailers entice consumers to spend more with earlier Halloween start

Directly following last year’s Summer ChristmasWelcome to Summerween.

At many major retail chains, spooky season is starting earlier than ever, and consumers can't get enough of it.

Made famous by the Disney television series “Gravity Falls,” TikTok users are showcasing their Summerween parties with jack-o-lanterns carved from watermelons, coffin-shaped ice cream sandwiches, and skeletons resting on flotation devices.

Starbucks has also jumped on the trend and has launched its popular (or hated, depending on your point of view) Pumpkin Spice Latte on Thursday, the earliest start of sales of the seasonal drink ever.

But all the excitement about starting Halloween early comes from the fact that consumers are more Signs of financial stress. They consume their savings and take on record amounts Credit card debt as they struggle with high prices and a cooling labor market. As a result, consumers are limiting their purchases of burgers at McDonald's to Trips to Disney World.

And yet, water continues to flow from the taps on Halloween, experts say, suggesting that consumers have more gas in the tank for at least some purchases.

“If retailers were worried that consumers were about to dry up, the last thing they would do is buy a bunch of giant pumpkins,” says Laura Champine, senior consumer analyst at Loop Capital Markets. If that were the case, more retailers would sell consumer goods like garbage bags, cleaning supplies and lightbulbs, she says.

At the same time, the early Halloween offensive could be part of a strategy to attract more shoppers, along the lines of: “If they're not spending money in one area, maybe they'll spend money here,” says Joe Feldman, a senior retail analyst at Telsey Advisory Group.

And so far this year – whether it's Valentine's Day, Mother's Day or the Fourth of July – seasonal goods have been “the only area where people have indulged in some luxury items,” he told CNN.

Encourage consumers to treat themselves more

“It's clear that consumers have been interested in buying Halloween products earlier and earlier,” Champine said. A Costco store she visited in Los Angeles began testing some Halloween items around March. In April, she visited a Costco store in New York and saw the same products. “They just introduced them because they were selling well.” (Costco did not respond to CNN's request for comment.)

Michaels said sales of Halloween items began in June, the earliest the retailer has ever done so.

“Consumer demand drives the launch of our seasonal collections, and this year it came earlier than ever before for Halloween,” John Gehre, chief merchandising officer at Michaels, said in a statement provided to CNN. The first launch of Halloween items at Michaels “consistently exceeded our internal expectations,” he added.

This underscores that while consumers may want to limit their spending, “in the specific moment, such as when Halloween products hit the market early, they may spend money instead,” says Kelsey Robinson, senior partner at McKinsey.

Lance Allen, Home Depot's chief merchandiser for holiday decor, said the retailer has started selling Halloween items online in April for the past two years “due to high demand.” However, stores will not begin offering Halloween items until around Labor Day “to ensure consistency year after year,” Allen said.

The spooky holiday, a bright spot for home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe's, comes as expected considerable difficulties in recent years after the Covid renovation boom, when more people were buying homes. Now, with increased mortgage rates and home prices, fewer people are moving. That leads to fewer sales.

As a result, these retailers are even more concerned about having unsold Halloween items in November that they will have to offer at a lower price, Champine told CNN. By selling Halloween items earlier, they likely hope they will have to discount less, she added. Home Depot said its Halloween strategy has “remained the same over the past few years.” Lowe's declined to comment beyond sharing Google search data for “Halloween.”

But just because consumers are increasingly taking the opportunity to start Halloween shopping earlier doesn't mean it will stay that way forever, Feldman says.

“At some point it could bounce back again.”

Despite consumers' financial strain and rising credit card debt, they continue to show interest in early Halloween shopping, prompting retailers like Starbucks and Costco to launch Halloween products earlier than ever before. This trend could be a strategy to attract shoppers who might otherwise be saving on other purchases, as noted by Joe Feldman, a senior retail analyst at Telsey Advisory Group. In addition, companies in the home improvement sector like Home Depot and Lowe's are also benefiting from the early Halloween push as they struggle with lost sales following the Covid renovation boom.

Retailers entice consumers to spend more with earlier Halloween start