Gearing Up Your Local Candy Shop for Halloween: Key Statistics for Growth

Halloween, an evening before All Saints’ Day, is coming soon. It’s an occasion mixed with thrill, excitement, and horror.

Get ready to add a spooktacular touch to your local candy shop this Halloween! As the spookiest season of the year approaches, it’s crucial to prepare your candy shop to take full advantage of the opportunity for growth.

Halloween is one of the busiest times for candy sales – it’s a great event to attract customers and light a fire under your revenue.

According to key statistics, Halloween candy sales in the United States alone reached $4.6 billion in 2020. It presents a shot at tapping into your local candy shop. Thus, mastering the Halloween frenzy and providing a wide range of candy treats can intrigue young trick-or-treaters and adults seeking nostalgic delights.

Something To Chew On

To make the most of Halloween, consider stocking up on popular Halloween-themed candies, creating eye-catching displays, and offering special promotions or discounts. Don’t forget to use social media platforms to showcase your candy offerings and engage with your local community.

So, turn your Halloween into a sweet success for your local candy shop. Embrace the spooky spirit, entice customers with tempting treats, and watch your sales spread their wings.

Halloween Candy Trends

Nothing beats the essence of candies on Halloween. From kids to grownups, everyone loves candies.

In the past, elders gave treats to children to keep them entertained and protected. Gradually, treats evolved from homemade goodies to packaged candies. The convenience of sweets worked wonders, making candies perfect for trick or treating.

Here’s a list of the top five yummy candies:

1. Skittles

Halloween-themed Skittles (Source: Amazon.com)

Known for being fruity and flavorful, Skittles are a Halloween favorite because of the fun-sized packs and the enthusiasm of “tasting the rainbow”.

2. M&M’s

Halloween-themed M&M’s (Source: MMS.com)

M&M’s are iconic chocolate candies with hard candy shells and are a staple in Halloween candy bowls.

3. Junior Mints

Halloween-themed Junior Mints (Source: Amazon.com)

In contrast to the typical Halloween candy selection, the centers of Junior Mints are covered in dark chocolate.

4. Hot Tamales

Hot Tamales for Halloween (Source: HotTamales.com)

These spicy, cinnamon-flavored candies bring heat to the Halloween candy blend.

5. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for Halloween (Source: Amazon.com)

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups combine creamy peanut butter with rich milk chocolate – simply delicious!

Important Statistics

• A whopping 90 million pounds of chocolate are sold throughout the Halloween week. (Chocolatey goodness flying off the shelves!)
• 22% of Americans prefer Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to other candies.
• 45% of consumers start shopping for Halloween prior to October, with younger consumers beginning as early as September.
• Nearly 74% of American households hand out candies to trick-or-treaters.

Emerging Trends

• Increased demand for healthier candy options, including organic and vegan alternatives.
• Rise of unique flavors such as pumpkin spice.
• Inclination towards variety packs involving a medley of tasty chocolate candies.
• Competition for seasonal themes, i.e., ghosts and bats.

Sales and Marketing Strategies for Your Shop

As mentioned earlier, Halloween swarms with busy hours. The season represents a significant opening for financial gains along with a hell of a lot of amusement.

People head outside looking to purchase treats for trick-or-treaters, parties, and themselves. It should be your priority to develop a go-to-market plan.

The crowd will come, and it’s your mission to differentiate your candy shop from your competitors. Remember, your goal is to push your sales and acquire relevant experience for the future.

Willing to pave the way? Here’s a data-driven guide to helping your sales and marketing objectives.

1. Personalization

The shop is yours, and it falls to you to personalize it based on customer data. Leverage that data and tailor your marketing efforts to meet customers’ preferences and behaviors. Personalization drives your shop forward, and customers end up feeling understood.

• 91% of customers are likelier to interact with sellers recognizing, remembering, and delivering the right offers and recommendations.
• Marketers see an average of 20% rise in sales when they resort to personalization.
• Brands equipped with personalization appeal to 80% of customers.
• Personalized emails and messages improve engagement, surpassing 20%.

Lolli and Pops’s Sweet Spooks & Treats!

Loli and Pops features an exclusive Halloween collection

A prominent candy empire, Lolli and Pops enjoys the luxury of premium candy shops owing to the immense trade of personalized products on Halloween.

2. Cross-Channel Data Sharing

Data is vital. Utilizing channels like social media, email, and in-store interactions to extract diverse data enables you to grasp customer psychology. Otherwise stated, cross-channel data sharing is a holistic view to create targeted and cohesive marketing strategies.

• 73% depend on multiple channels during spending sprees.
• Companies with multi-channel marketing witness a 9.5% escalation in annual income.
• Practicing multiple channels enhances the marketing budget productivity by 15-20%.
• Customer retention rates are 91% higher with multi-channel marketing.

Sugarfina’s Spell-Binding Treats!

A lavish candy boutique celebrated for selling gourmet sweets, Sugarfina’s cross-channel data sharing, from website to physical shops, snowballs on every Halloween.

3. Demographic Data

It’s always a failproof idea to familiarize yourself with your audience’s demographics. The demographics encompass certain factors, namely age and gender.

Why does it matter?

Identifying age groups allows you to zero in on children and teenagers since they’re the major consumers of Halloween candies.

• The average American family spends around $25 on Halloween candy each year.
• In 2023, Halloween candy sales achieved a grand $3.6 billion.
• The likelihood of discovering chocolate candy in a young trick-or-treater’s bag is 60%.
• Out of 1,019 children aged 1-17 in a survey, 45% said they cherry-picked chocolate candies.

Sugary Delights, Personalized by IT’SUGAR!

A prevailing candy retailer with extraordinary and massive candy merchandise, IT’SUGAR analyzes the demographics of the customer base and focuses on serving children, teenagers, and young adults.

4. Engaging Content

In the digital era, online visibility has become inevitable. Harnessing the power of social networking is truly a bonus as it contributes to your brand awareness.

Tip: Halloween-themed posts with festive contests are good for expanding your shop’s presence.

• Content marketing amplifies conversion rates, normally 6 times higher.
• 82% of consumers feel positive about a brand after reading custom content.
• In 2023, American consumers spent nearly $12.2 billion on Halloween, with a considerable portion allocated to candies – thanks to engaging content for capturing consumer interest.
• 73% of American consumers are eager to celebrate Halloween, and a big hunk of those consumers refer to social media for inspiration and shopping suggestions.

Airheads’ Clever Social Media Buzz!

Notable for creative marketing campaigns, Airheads progresses in the candy market as a result of engaging content.

5. User-Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is intertwined with engaging content, except it’s fit for building trust and credibility. The reason behind it is the original material used for images, videos, advertisements, reviews, testimonials, and whatnot.

• 79% of individuals say UGC influences purchasing decisions.
• Social media posts with UGC have 28% higher engagement rates.
• 55% of TikTok users search for confect and chocolate content on the platform, indicating a rich potential for engagement with Halloween-themed UGC.
• Approximately 13% of Gen Z shoppers bought directly from social media, claiming UGC was the biggest persuasion.

Hershey’s Playful User-Generated Ideas

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Hershey Company (@hersheycompany)

As old as the sea, The Hershey Company shares a long, deep history of producing distinct bonbons and relies on UGC to run contests, grant incentives, and feature candy hauls using “#HersheyHalloween”.

6. Influencer Collaborations

Nowadays, it’s not so difficult to contact your local social media influencers to strike meaningful deals. Strategic partnerships between your brand and the influencer are empirical, ensuring the accomplishment of your aims as a candy shop owner.

• 84.8% of brands found influencer marketing to be helpful.
• Influencer marketing leads to 11 times higher return on investment (ROI).
• 67% of brands believed influencers helped draw quality customers.
• Influencer marketing for Halloween on Instagram and TikTok shapes costume trends and do-it-yourself (DIY) choices.

Wrigley’s Sweet Influencer Collaborations

Mars Inc. owns Wrigley, and the continued collaboration of the two companies laid the groundwork for the Handy Candy Calculator for candy shopping, Halloween recipes, and decoration concepts.

7. Themed Decorations

Of course, you’d want to decorate your candy shop accordingly. Decorations are key to sparking zeal and setting huge expectations for your customers.

• Decorations are the second-most common purchase on Halloween.
• Businesses and shops decorated for holidays stimulate positivity and incline customers to hang out at your shop and buy a few items.
• 51% of consumers planned home decorations for Halloween last year.
• In 2023, 77% of Americans incorporated decorations in the overall Halloween budget.

Dylan’s Candy Bar (DCB)

A renowned candy shop chain in the U.S., DCB’s stores emerge as Halloween wonderlands with thorough decorations, comprising eerie displays, themed lighting, and candy assortments.

In Summary

We hope we’ve ignited your fascination with the imminent Halloween and got the ball rolling for your candy shop.

It’s not rocket science – personalize your shop, prioritize multi-channel data sharing, benefit from demographics, construct compelling content, classify UGC, collaborate with local influencers, and decorate your shop with heaps of Halloween themes.

They’re simple and effective steps to skyrocket your candy sales. Beware of the things going bump in the night, though. Happy Halloween in advance!