Loathe or love it, Halloween is slowly getting bigger in Australia each year as more families embrace the tradition. But too many of our retailers are zombie-like when it comes to event marketing, tactical promotions and creating interest in their brand.
I surveyed the retail response to Halloween at one of Australia's biggest shopping centres this week. It was half-hearted at best.
![Robert Willis shops for a Halloween mask at a costume store.](/web/20161029103807im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/b/1/6/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsb0ll.png/1477452655290.jpg)
Some discount department stores had Halloween items on display and a few toy retailers, $2 shops, and arts and crafts stores made decent attempts. No store seemed to go all out for the event.
Perhaps promotions will ramp up in the next few days. If last year is a guide, most retailers will ignore the event or make a token effort. Few will have big Halloween promotions, special products or staff dressed in costumes to create a sense of fun.
![Halloween merchandise is offered for sale at a supermarket.](/web/20161029103807im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/b/1/6/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsb0ll.png/1477452655290.jpg)
It's not just Halloween. I was surprised at the lack of retail investment around the football grand final weekend this year, particularly in Melbourne.
Too many of our retailers seem wedded to traditional holiday or gift events and unwilling to invest in new ones and grow the market.
I know what you're thinking about Halloween: why embrace an American tradition? Because it's big business – and harmless fun for supervised Australian kids who enjoy it.
Halloween retail spending in the US is projected to hit a record $US8.4 billion this year, according to the US National Retail Federation's annual survey. Americans, on average, will spend $US83, up from $US74.34 a year earlier, on the event and more than 171 million will take part in Halloween festivities.
![A Halloween display of pumpkins in New York.](/web/20161029103807im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/b/1/6/d/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsb0ll.png/1477452655290.jpg)
What's your view?
· Should Australian retailers do more to promote Halloween?
· Is there a bigger market of consumers here ready to embrace the event?
· Should we avoid US traditions and stick to our own?
Granted, Halloween will never be anywhere near as big here, even in a relative sense. But the size and growth of Halloween spending in the US shows the commercial appeal of this tradition. Compared to other big events, Halloween costs less for consumers and is well timed.
The event is a retail winner for confectionary companies, costume stores, decorations providers and hospitality outlets. Even the US pet industry benefits from the growing trend to dress household pets in costumes for Halloween parties.
Australian retailers, too, could build a bigger annual sales event around Halloween if they invested in product promotion and involved their staff.
My hunch is that there is a market of young families in Australia that are willing to spend more on Halloween products – and embrace the tradition – if only prompted by retailers. The event has huge retail potential, particularly when it is near or on public holidays.
The bigger issue is the inability of too many retailers to create a sense of occasion and fun around their brand. Or to do something surprising. Too many retailers are run on a formula of boring sales that brainwash consumers to wait for cheaper prices. Their idea of event marketing is a long-weekend sale that seems to blur into every other retail promotion.
What does it cost to have staff wear football jerseys during the grand finals weekend, as some retailers did, or employees dressed in Halloween costumes close to the event (for retailers that can profit from it?). Apart from extra sales, staff probably enjoy the change, customers sense some extra brand energy and there is another reason to visit the store.
Some retailers reading this blog will argue that Halloween in Australia is too small to justify extra marketing investment. Those with foresight know traditions have to start somewhere and that some investment in Halloween and newer events can have a long-term pay-off.
If more retailers took a risk, they could build two big events on their annual sales calendar around football grand finals and Halloween over the next decade and encourage consumers to spend in the events lull between Father's Day in September and Christmas.
Heaven forbid, retailers that leverage off the back of emerging events such as Halloween could run low-cost promotions that do not involve discounting goods by 30 per cent to get consumers into their store – a scary thought for companies afraid of taking a risk.
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