Looks like less tricks and less treats this October across the nation--but maybe not in the Sunshine State. The Florida Retail Federation (FRF) offered a forecast on Thursday showing less Halloween spending across the nation with the average American spending less this year. Rick McAllister, the president and CEO of the FRF, said on Thursday he expected Florida to buck that trend.
“Even though the national survey shows a decrease in spending on Halloween this year, we don’t expect that trend will hold true in Florida due to the many positive economic indicators showing the continued strength of our state’s economy,” McAllister said. “Recent consumer confidence remains high, real estate continues to surge and state revenues continue to increase, all pointing to a healthy 2015 for retailers and consumers.”
According to figures from the FRF, the average American family will spend $74.34 this year on Halloween, a drop from last year’s $77.52 average.
Still, the FRF pointed a consumer survey from the National Retail Federation and taken by Prosper Insights & Analytics which shows Americans are going to spend almost $7 billion on Halloween this year. Much of that--$2.5 billion--will be spend on costumes as 68 million Americans are expected to dress up for Halloween and 20 million Americans will dress up their pets for the occasion.
Almost 94 percent of Halloween shoppers will spend more than $2 billion on candy while around a third of Halloween shoppers will send out cards, spending $330 million. Another $2 billion will be spent by the 45 percent of Halloween shoppers who decorate their yards.
Pumpkins are still a major part of Halloween as 41 percent of shoppers plan to buy some while almost a third of consumers are either holding or attending Halloween parties.
Americans continue to get an earlier start on Halloween with 34 percent of shoppers already buying costumes and candy before the start of October, up from 32 percent last year. But a plurality of shoppers--41 percent--plan to start in the first half of October while 25 percent of shoppers plan to wait until the last two weeks of the month.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
